Some of the things Ashley wants to do in Italy

 

The Sistine Chapel

This is on my bucket list to see.  My goal is to lay down and look at it, I have been told that is frowned on. So I will do it on my way out of Vatican...

Grave of St. Rita

She died on  May 22, 1457 and she is in a glass coffin. 

In a nut shell: She was married against her will when twelve, to a husband who was both cruel and negligent. After her  husband was murdered Rita then found that her two sons were entertaining thoughts of avenging their father's murder; she feared they would put their desires into effect in accord with the evil custom of the Vendetta. With heroic love for their souls, she begged God to take them from this life rather than allow them to commit this great sin. Not long afterward they both died.  She applied for admittance to the Augustinian Convent in Cascia. She was refused three times. But she got in... Long story later (to late I know) On death bed she asked a friend to get her a rose from her family's estate. In the depths of the January winter, the friend found a single rose on a bush at the estate. Innumerable miracles took place through her intercession, and devotion to her spread far and wide. St. Rita's body in the shrine at Cascia, was preserved perfectly incorrupt for several centuries, and at times it gave off a sweet fragrance. At the beatification ceremony, the body of the Saint raised itself up and opened its eyes. We got to see this however if she dose sit up and open her eyes, I think I might freak out (to say the least)

Florence Cathedral

The Duomo, as it is ordinarily called, was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to the design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed structurally in 1436 with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi.