CLASS EXCURSIONS

From Constantine to Mohammed. Art and Architecture from the 4th to the 8th century A.D.

The excursion intends to reconstruct the art-historical and socio-cultural context of the upper Adriatic area from the age of the soldier emperors to the byzantine conquest (3rd-6th cent. AD); to learn about the early-Christian art and architecture of this region that embraced both shores of the northern Adriatic sea and to define its place within the general artistic context of the late-antique and early-byzantine art and architecture of the 4th-6th cent. AD; to understand the impact of imperial building activity on the urban development of Ravenna, being a capital and ecclesiastical centre of the Western Roman Empire during the late-antique and early-byzantine period; to see better the links between the architecture and the decorative parts of the building (floor- and wall decoration; architectural sculpture; furniture; etc.); to delineate the influence of the East in general and of Constantinople in particular upon the development of art and architecture in the West; to understand the importance of the church architecture in the region within the general development of architecture on the Italian peninsula.

Topics in Ancient Art: Museum History and Theory in Rome

This course focuses on the history of museums in Rome, arguably the birthplace of the modern art museum. In Rome, the idea of turning private collections into what are today public museums was formulated as early as the 15th century; the Capitoline Museums include one of the oldest civic collections in Europe. The great 18th-century palace collections and exhibition spaces of the Villa Borghese and Doria Pamphili Gallery are among the most influential in the world. Rome’s cultural landscape, itself a kind of public museum, was a locus for the 18th-century Grand Tour. With weekly visits to these sites and other ancient Roman ruins, monuments, churches, palaces and villas, illuminated by selected readings and class discussion, students consider the evolution of museums over time and how certain collections, galleries and exhibition spaces have contributed to the image and ideology of Rome as the seat of Western civilization.

Hand Papermaking and Printmaking

This overnight excursion, for students of Papermaking and Intaglio printmaking, focuses on an immersive experience of hand papermaking within the historic city of Fabriano; longtime center of the papermaking trade in Italy and on-going producer of world class fine art and technical papers. Students will learn about the history and contemporary practice of papermaking through site visits to the Museo Istocarta, with its world class collection of watermarks, the Museo della Carta e Filligrana, which holds an unrivaled collection of antique papermaking machinery and tools, as well as the Museo della Stampa, where an impressive array of antique printing presses convey the historical arc of the evolution of printing. The excursion is capped off with a hands on workshop in the laboratory of master papermaker Lorenzo Santoni, in which students learn the fundamentals of paper making and produce their very own collection of hand-formed fine art papers.

Masters of Renaissance Art

This course will explore the construction of artistic identity and style from the mid-fifteenth century to the early-seventeenth century through visual analyses, readings of contemporary sources (biographies/autobiographies, art treatises, and correspondences), and modern scholarship in an attempt to demystify the “Masters” of the Italian Renaissance.

In Rome, this course provides a survey of Italian painting and sculpture from the thirteenth through the early sixteenth centuries. An analysis of the “revival” of painting beginning in the Proto-Renaissance by Cimabue, Cavallini, Duccio and Giotto is followed by a study of significant artistic inventions in the Early Renaissance by Masaccio, Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello (and others). The course concludes with the inception of the High Renaissance with works by Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and the Venetian School. The artistic culture in Rome and its relationship to Venice is examined.

Special Topics in Design: Italian Food, Design and Sustainability

In Rome, this course focuses on Food, food is a social, cultural and aesthetic expression of Italian identity. Italy, the center of Mediterranean culture, and in particular Rome is uniquely suited to be the site for such an exploration. Case studies of companies like Alessi, Illy, and Boffi will focus on the links between industry, product development and communication design. Key “Cradle to Cradle” concepts will guide our analysis of contemporary Italian examples of products, packaging and the built environment.

Learning about traditional food culture and its expression through movements such as Slow Food, the global, grassroots organization, founded in Italy to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, will serve as a platform for discussions on social justice and equity. Connecting with one of the UN organizations dedicated to food in Rome will provide a global view of these concepts. As agro-tourists we will spend a weekend at a farm in the region of Lazio, exploring local and traditional approaches to farming and food products such as wine, oil and cheese. The location illustrates the Italian version of “food miles”, or “kilometer zero cooking lesson is included in the weekend’s events.

Contemporary Politics in Europe / Special Topics: Immigration, Race and Identity in Contemporary Italy

The field trip to Lisbon offers students the possibility to getting in touch with the representatives of the EU Commission and Parliament in Portugal and with some local NGOs, as well as to visiting some historical neighbourhoods of Lisbon. Furthermore, thanks to the EU-funded project title Rock (rockproject.eu), students will have the chance to visit Marvila, an historical neighbourhood of Lisbon that is becoming a life-size laboratory of deep transformations and actions for urban regeneration.

Design Studio in Rome

Emphasis on understanding problems of today’s design in historical urban context. The relation between old and new is examined in projects of architectural elements and small public buildings located in the historical center of Rome. Themes are chosen for their aptness to demonstrate the basic problems produced by the context of the old city, rather than for their architectural complexity. Main goals of the course are to orient students progressively into a partial synthesis of the huge visual material of study that a city like Rome offers, and to promote research on today’s attitude towards historical heritage of forms in the city, as they are the roots of our individual and social cultural identities.

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Wonders of Rome: Art & Culture of the Baroque Era

Weekly class lectures and on-site visits in Rome provide students an unparalleled opportunity to examine firsthand painting, sculpture and architecture (from c. 1585 to c.1750) in their original settings.  Organized chronologically from the papacy of Paul V Borghese to that of Alexander VII Chigi, this course gives particular attention to Caravaggio’s paintings, Lanfranco’s frescoes, Bernini’s statues and fountains, Borromini’s churches, the Barberini Palace, Piazza Navona, and Saint Peter’s Basilica and Square. Works inciting wonder (or “meraviglia”) and viewer participation shall be studied from the perspective of the culture of seventeenth-century Rome, as relating to the Counter-Reformation and Catholic Revival, papal propaganda and nepotism, and the rise of powerful new orders, such as the Jesuits. The course includes a two-day field trip to Naples to view seventeenth-century art in the Capodimonte Museum, Certosa di San Martino, and churches in the historic center-“Spaccanapoli”—and to consider artistic production in Naples as a striking foil to that of Rome.

Special Topics: Human Rights Now

In Rome, the Human Rights Now course explores contemporary human rights issues with a specific focus on Europe and the Mediterranean basin. A necessary background study will analyze the foundation of human rights principles, the rationale behind the need to codify a human rights law, as well as the international legal instruments and bodies mandated to ensure its enforcement. After having established the basis of human rights’ history, philosophy and legal status, the course will ensure the issues related to human rights do not remain a theoretical, merely academic nor abstract issue, but will stimulate students at an interactive and participatory level by engaging them through in-class debates, discussions with professionals working in the field, and visits to local institutions. Students will have the opportunity to investigate at depth a particular human right violation of concern. By the end of the course students will be expected to have acquired the ability to answer most of the following questions with a critical viewpoint, and raise other questions autonomously: What human rights are relevant in Europe today? What is their ethical ratio, why do they deserve international protection, how is their enforcement effective and when is neutrality a mistake? How is the human rights core challenged by modern global crises? Are human rights universal or are they culturally bound? How can conflicts between rights be solved and where does national sovereignty draw the line? And, last but not least, what can individuals do, at the micro and macro level, to foster a future respectful of human rights?

Selected Topic: Italian Mafia

In Rome, this course is concerned with the contemporary foundations of mafia seen in sociological and social science perspective. Roots are traced from the unification of Italy, with attention to the peculiar character of the Italian state formation process. The evolution of organized criminality is traced through its 20th century developments, and up to the present day, with ramifications in the USA and in other international criminal networks. Special focus is placed on the impact mafia has had on both the landscape and the modern growth of many Italian cities, especially in the south. An important part of the course concerns contemporary institutional and political responses to mafia, including reforms in the criminal justice system to deal with mafia-related crimes. Prison reform provisions dedicated to mafia criminals are considered. Ecomafia receives special attention, examining the implications of mafia for the environment, agriculture and food markets.  Multiple responses to criminal activities are reviewed, including the use of social farming on expropriated mafia estates. Attention is paid to the varieties of criminal organization in Italy today, from Cosa Nostra, to Camorra, to ‘Ndrangheta.  Students will also be introduced to anti-mafia activists in both urban and rural contexts.

Ancient Roman Historians / Roman History

This survey of Roman History begins with the foundation of Rome in the 8th century B.C. and ends with the founding of the Christian capital of the Empire at Constantinople. Students will read a narrative history, a study of various aspects of Roman society and culture, and a selection of the ancient sources upon which our knowledge is based. Archaeological material will be used to augment the literary sources. The influence of Rome on later Western Civilization in government and law will be studied as well as its role in determining the foundation of Christianity.In Rome, the historical reality is analyzed as broadly as possible, in its political, economic, cultural and social aspects. Attention is paid to the literary and archaeological evidence; ancient texts are read and Roman sites are visited. Special topics include the origins of Rome between fact and fiction; the Hellenization of Roman society; literature and the age of Augustus; and the “end” of the Roman Empire.

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History of Art in Rome

Weekly class lectures and on-site visits provide a survey of Roman art from the Etruscan through the Baroque periods, and therefore, from the founding of the ancient city in the 8th century BC to circa 1700. Students study each period’s art and architecture and define its place within the general context of Roman civilization. Rome’s position as both capital of the ancient empire and of the western Latin Church has earned her the well-recognized sobriquet, Eternal City. Consequently, students confront how the “idea” of Rome had bearing upon the formation of its art and architecture within the chronological context. The course as a whole can be considered an introduction to art history in the field, as each week the class visits a historical site or museum in order to reconstruct through living examples the artistic fabric of the city. On excursion to Tivoli participants visit the beautiful Villa Adrian and Villa D’Este.

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Rome Sketchbook

Multiple sections of the Rome Sketchbook class travel together for an all-day drawing marathon to the medieval hill town of Tuscania, near Viterbo. The morning session begins outside the town’s fortified walls at the churches of San Pietro and Santa Maria Maggiore, used in the films “Romeo and Juliet” by Zeffirelli and “Uccellacci and Uccellini” by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Students sketch from remnants of Etruscan coffins and artifacts, Romanesque stone creatures and frescoed devils munching on some unfortunate sinners in hell. After a regenerating lunch at a local “hosteria,” the group gathers at the Park of Torre Lavello where a vast, rolling landscape inspires panoramas in pencil, charcoal and watercolor. Occurring at the beginning of each semester, this field trip is a wonderful opportunity for the new Temple Rome students to get to know each other and their professors, while exchanging feedback on their artwork in a magnificent setting.

Advanced Painting / Advanced Drawing / Visual Studies Hybrid Painting / Galleries And Studios

PDS courses offer the opportunity to combine studio work with the Rome experience as a way to explore ideas and materials as well as the development of an individualized approach to drawing and painting. In the AH 2622 course students receive an overview of the artistic developments in Rome in the past 25 years.

Topics in Ancient Art: Museum History and Theory in Rome / Special Topics: Museum History and Theory in Rome

Museum History and Theory of Rome Goes to Vienna!
The Austrian capital of Vienna is home to some of Europe’s richest royal collections. The Hapsburg Emperors travelled the world for over 400 years in search of magnificent, beautiful and curious objects, vying to create the most sumptuous museums in the world. Early 20th century Vienna also witnessed an explosion of Modernism with the Viennese Secession, where Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and other groundbreaking artists proved ahead of their time. The palaces and modern museums that display these riches are all located in Vienna’s center and provide a wonderful complement to the famous museums students visit in Rome, enriching their understanding of the historic, artistic, and increasingly civic significance of museums throughout Europe.