As we scampered down the hills of Segesta to head back to the bus, I couldn’t help but feel like I was an extra in the Sound of Music. The stunning landscape of Segesta presented nearly every shade of green to my hungry eyes as I tried to take it all in. As we frolicked the fields, I was reminded of descriptions of the nature of Sicily in Book V of the Aeneid. The scenery of these games is mentioned as being amidst a “gramineum campum” (line 286; a grassy field). This grass is noted as being “viridis” (line 330; fresh/green) in contrast to the red blood which sabotages Nisus’ victory. This brilliance of color in Sicily is also mirrored in Cavalleria Rusticana, the first film that we watched with the Italian class. Cavalleria Rusticana features several scenes that take place in green, grassy sprawls of land, just like the ones here in Segesta. The Aeneid also notes that the two Sicilians competing in the footrace, Helymus and Panopes, are uniquely “adsueti silvis” (line 301; accustomed to forests). The rustic nature of Sicilians is also reflected in the film, as the characters sing as they frolick across the hillsides, tending to their animals and completing their farm work. As a Classics major who can usually be found cramped up in the Stacks, translating hundreds of lines of Latin and trying to imagine the scenes which ancient authors describe, it was truly extraordinary to be able to actually experience the breathtaking Sicilian countryside which Vergil had promised.