Mary, Jacob, Clare, Sebastian and I went on a pilgrimage to Syracuse, Sicily, to visit the tomb and basilica of St. Lucy.  Lucy is one of the early church martyrs who died under the regime of the Emperor Diocletian. Although we do not have many facts about her life, we do know that at a…

In classic Ron Rombs fashion, we were not content to see the beach from land.  Ron rented a motorboat for two days and explored every cove, bay and beach for a major stretch of the island.  Many of them can only be accessed from water.  It was a high point for all of us. When…

Our family is taking a much-needed break: after an intense homeschooling year, after an international move, and after Ron’s Summer Rome Program, we are all BEAT. The day after he finished the program, we hopped in cars from our new house in Frascati, drove 11 hours to Sicily.     We are staying in Scopello,…

We’ve had the best month taking Italian classes in Rome!  Mary and Jacob were in one class, I was in another, and then Leigh and Clare got a private class for the two of them (since they are under aged but the school made an exception since. . . this is Italy). My Italian has…