Two weeks ago (21 feb... yeah, my posts are lagging), my Friday morning began with a nerve-wracking solo trip on the train to a mysterious train station (okay, not mysterious, but small and somewhere I wouldn't normally go...) behind the Vatican to meet up with my classmates and Renaissance Art professor for our first site visit. We were given little audio boxes hooked up to our professor's mic set, were herded onto a train without really knowing where we were going, and sat staring at the Roman "countryside" (I mean, there were lush hills and sheep but it was nothing compared to barren German fields) for close to an hour until we arrived at Stazione Bracciano. We were going to the castle.

The town surrounding the castle was adorable, and we walked through the small non-touristy streets as our professor chattered away into his microphone (and our earbuds) about how everything is so pristine even outside of the city center, well-preserved and featuring several elegant cafes and municipal buildings because that is the Italian way of life -- to live surrounded in beauty and elegance. It wasn't hard to notice that among all of this adorableness at the end of the street we were on was a huge castle tower and wall... Such a casual sight on a Friday morning stroll.

As we entered through the iron gates to the fortress our professor was making his rounds cheerfully greeting all of the security guards and we were wondering if it was a bit of Italian hospitality and tradition, but turns out he is very good personal friends with the princess of the castle and she allows him and his students in for a personal viewing of the castle and some of it's private rooms. WHAT. How. Why. Yep. That happened. Our professor is friends with a princess, whose house we privately toured. They have that saying, "When in Rome...," but I think this takes it a bit further.

So we entered the castle after gazing over the beautiful Lake Bracciano and surrounding forest and towns, learning about the Orsini family and its ties to Pope Sixtus IV. As per most important fortresses, this castle was build overlooking the water and town, dominating the scene and imposing power upon the rest. Lining the banks and made our way through the artillery rooms that used to be filled with weapons of war and ammunition to protect the powerful Orsini family who built and lived in the castle in the 13th to 15th century. We then were let in through a locked door (and I mean this to say there were several locks on this huge wooden blockade of a doorway) into the secret garden where there were dogs and hogs carved into the stone to represent the importance of hunting, and we again marveled at the views of the beautiful lake. The water is so gorgeous it looks blue because you can see the sky flawlessly reflected, clouds and all, as well as the lakeside towns upside down and twinkling in the waves. Oh how Monet would have loved this.

As we toured the inside of the castle and Fabio, the personal lock-opener who followed us, kept letting us enter exclusive areas and take photos of everything we walked through the Papal rooms and bedrooms, admiring frescoes and learning about all of the people in the images from Gentil Virginio Orsini and Paolo Giordano to the numerous Popes and Cardinals who ran in the family. We studied the shadows cast upon the walls by the cross windows, symbolism of the Guelphs, and ventured into the courtyard through a heavy curtain to marvel at the portal decorated with oak leaves and rosettes that signified the Della Rovere and Orsini families. Once we had reached the other side of the castle in the other tower, we crossed over the red velvet rope, walked through a double set of doors, and arrived in a beautiful room with frescoed ceilings celebrating Alexander the Great. We were told to sit down on the gorgeous green velvet couches as our professor casually mentioned that this is the princess's private quarters which used to be the bedroom of Isabella and Gentil Virgio. Yep, we all had lecture on a princess's couch. We even took a photo in that room so Fabio could text it to her to show her that our professor had brought all of us there (is this real life?). The rest of the tour consisted of more famous figures in friezes, rooms filled with one of Rome's largest collections of ancient artillery, gorgeous views across the lake from the top of the ancient tower, and a wrap-up with the outer facade from which we could see the holes at the tops of the towers from where soldiers used to pour hot oil at the intruding army beneath.

Our day in Bracciano concluded with a little walk around the rest of the surrounding town, our train back being cancelled and waiting an extra hour and a half for the next one (in the meantime we got pizza, hurrah), and my friend and I frantically rushing from train to metro to bus at Termini to arrive an hour late to our internship meeting in Pigneto (we basically made our way across the entirety of Rome in one afternoon). It is just so surreal to think that we were in one of the oldest Renaissance castles ever built, and there is so much history packed into that place that housed so many important and powerful historical figures. Not to mention the venue for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes's wedding... And I still cannot believe our professor is friends with the princess. What is this crazy country called Italy!? I don't understand. Nevertheless, it was an amazing, unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime experience to be part of a private tour of Castello di Bracciano.