Home, Sweet Palace

As our flight started the approach into Rome, Mary Hester and I looked out the window and we couldn’t believe our eyes. We were overlooking the beautiful rolling hills of Italy. We were awestruck and Mary Hester said, “I can’t wait to get down there!”

It’s been a few of days since our feet have been walking across the Italian ground and it has been wonderful. We arrived on a gorgeous day – blue skies and high in the 50s. We pulled up to our home for the next three months – and a magnificent palace in the heart of the town. The Chigi Palace of Ariccia was one home of the Chigi family – a family of the prestigious Italian papal lines. Gian Lorenzo Bernini transformed it from the Chigi home to into a prestigious baroque museum years later. The palace is filled with collections of exquisite and precious art.

Our wing of the palace is on the left. When you enter, there is the “hall” that is the center of our house. There are couches, chairs, a meeting area and workspace. Off this room is the kitchen with great, stainless steel appliances and a cute eating area. The bedrooms are also off the hall and are spacious and comfortable. Some former Auburn Interior Design students designed the lofts. Each girl has a twin bed, shelving unit, and an armoire – the area is called a “nest”.



Chigi Palace (our wing is on the left side)


Sign on our door


The Hall - Common Area


The Hall - Meeting Area/Workspace


Dining Area


Kitchen



"Happiness IS being a Tiger" War Eagle!




My bedroom "nest" (there are four nests in my room)



Me and Mary Hester in front our our house.

It is simply unbelievable. I actually am living here. Home, Sweet Palace.

“He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe