The Renaissance in Italy

The Italian Renaissance is one of the few historical eras that still speaks to our modern sensibilities. It was an age of pandemic disease, endemic warfare, and tremendous social and economic disparity, and yet it was also a time of intense beauty, great innovation, and profound spirituality. We are moved by its great paintings and sculpture, we are inspired by Leonardo and Michelangelo, and we still read Machiavelli with pleasure—or perhaps dismay.

This study abroad program will introduce you to the fascinating history and culture of Renaissance Italy while traveling from the Dolomite mountains in the north to the heart of the Mediterranean Sea in the south. Highlights include Venice, Florence, Rome, and Palermo, but we will also see many smaller, less-visited places such as Verona, Trent, Milan, Genoa, Palermo, Lecce, Assisi, Siena, Otranto, Spoleto, Padua, Mantua, and Naples. We will also slip across the Adriatic to visit Croatia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to study the expansion of Renaissance ideals into the Mediterranean. We will see many of the masterpieces of Italian Renaissance art and architecture, but will also explore the countryside, climb mountains, soak in volcanic hot springs, hike along picturesque coasts, cook and eat incredible food, and contemplate matters of the soul.

“A man who has not been in Italy, is always conscious of an inferiority, from his not having seen what it is expected a man should see.” – Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)

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