Experience life in a traditional, small Italian community (Bracciano) and one of the world’s great capital cities (Rome).
Term: Summer
Arrival: June 19, 2009
Departure: July 25, 2009
Cost: $6,650 (details)
Housing: hotel
Emphasis: no special emphasis
Application Deadline: April or until filled
Language Requirement: None
Co-Directors: Dr. Eric Apfelstadt and Dr. Rebecca Edwards
Program Overview:
Like many Romans, Santa Clara summer students will escape the heat and crush of the central city by residing in the beautiful nearby lakeside town of Bracciano. Bracciano is a popular haven for both tourists desiring a more affordable base for their excursions to Rome and Romans in search of a quieter, safer place to live. Regular commuter trains from this suburban redoubt, located in the midst of a large regional nature park, reach downtown Rome and the Vatican in less than an hour. Students will have the opportunity to experience life in both a traditional, small Italian community and one of the world’s great capital cities, while taking classes in both Rome and Bracciano.
Course Offerings: Students take 2 classes from the following courses. (Accepted students are required to complete the online course preference form below to rank their top 3 courses):
ARTH 97/197. Bernini and Baroque Rome
Instructor: Eric Apfelstadt, PhD, Princeton
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the greatest European sculptor of the seventeenth century, also excelled in architecture and many other media, to the extent that he, more than any other, fairly may be regarded as the quintessential artist of the Baroque age in Italy. This class will survey Bernini’s unparalleled series of dynamic, illusionistic masterpieces in the context of his talented and often fiercely competitive contemporary artists, his powerful patrons, and the larger forces at work in his society. Museums, galleries, churches and palaces in Rome, where Bernini spent nearly all of his long and fruitful career, will be visited (entrance fees approx. 50 euro). No prerequisite.
CLAS 107. The World of the Etruscans - CANCELLED
Instructor: John Heath, PhD, Stanford
Study a fascinating ancient culture while living under the Etruscan sun! Taking advantage of our location in the heart of southern Etruria, we will explore the history and culture of the Etruscans, an enigmatic people who dominated much of the area between Florence and Rome until their ultimate subjugation by the expanding Roman republic. In addition to classes in Bracciano and Rome, we will visit archeological sites and museums in Cerveteri, Tarquinia and Florence. Students will also explore nearby sites on their own. Topics will include Etruscan religion, daily life (especially the status of women), art, and cultural connections with the ancient Greeks and Romans. No prerequisite.
ITAL 15. Italian Conversation and Composition
Instructor: James Schwarten, PhD, Wisconsin
This intensive course is designed to enable students to develop their speaking, listening, writing, and reading skills in everyday situations. Instruction will be carried out both in the classroom and on location (e.g., in neighborhood markets and cafés) in Rome and its surrounding area. Students will also gain knowledge of Italian culture within the scope of this course. No prerequisite.
MUSC 112. Writing About Music (CORE 3rd Writing)
Instructor: Rebecca Edwards, PhD, Princeton
The rich Italian musical tradition—from chant to opera and Gabrieli to Boccelli—has helped to lay the foundation for what today's listener hears and thinks. Utilizing the vivid backdrop of Rome's historic sites and performing venues and building upon each student's personal listening habits and level of musical comprehension, this class will promote critical thinking and writing about music—its moods, messages, cultural contexts, historical importance, audiences and, where appropriate, its complexity. Attention will be paid to the continuation of topics and tools acquired in Composition and Rhetoric I and II, including purpose, genre, authorial voices, methodologies, specialized vocabulary, drafting and revising. Prerequisite: Engl 2. No prior musical training is necessary. Fulfills CORE 3rd Writing Requirements
TESP 146. The Morality of Violence in the Political Thought of St. Augustine (CORE 3rd Religion)
Instructor: Robert Dodaro, OSA, DPhil Oxford
Augustine’s attitudes to state-sanctioned violence have shaped Western thinking for centuries, and they continue to engender debate today, especially in the Anglo-American world. Through readings of his letters to public officials, the course will investigate Augustine’s thinking about the moral issues surrounding capital punishment, war, imperialism, criminal justice, torture, and religious coercion. Augustine’s letters, along with some of his sermons, offer today’s students an opportunity to see how a pastor living in a corner of the Roman Empire tried to confront the massive political injustice of his day. Fulfills CORE 3rd Religion Requirements.
About the Location: The program is based in the historic
town of Bracciano, dominated by the imposing Orsini-Odescalchi castle, on beautiful Lake Bracciano about twenty miles north of Rome.
The town, best known to most Americans as the site of the Tom Cruise-Katie Holmes celebrity wedding, is home to degree-granting programs of
Rome’s Università La Sapienza and Viterbo’s Università della Tuscia, as well as its own museum and historic archive.
Classes will be held in both Bracciano and
Rome, with plenty of time left over for personal exploration.
Regular commuter trains reach downtown
Rome, the Trastevere neighborhood and
Vatican City in less than an hour.
From there, an inexhaustible wealth of eye-opening experiences awaits.
Accommodations: Students will reside in shared rooms with private baths at the Hotel Villa Maria in Bracciano, with breakfast and one full meal provided seven days a week by the hotel’s restaurant. This small, family-run establishment sits in a park-like hillside setting, a ten-minute walk from both the town center of Bracciano above and the lakeside beaches below. Numerous recreational opportunities, ranging from hiking and biking to swimming, sailing, wind-surfing, dining and dancing, are available around the lake.
Program-sponsored Travel: The directors will lead day trips to the historic hill towns of Assisi and Siena. Optional outings at student expense also may be arranged to Florence and Venice.
Other Special Events: Walking tours in Rome, excursions on and around Lake Bracciano, musical performances, and a closing banquet will round out the formal program.
Program Fee: The fee (actual amount to be determined by the Board of Trustees and published here) includes tuition, orientation, housing, breakfast and one meal each day, some local transportation, day trips to Assisi and Siena, outings and special events in and around Rome.
Airfare, airport transfers, textbooks, other meals and personal expenses are the student’s responsibility.
About the Directors: Prof. Eric Apfelstadt (eapfelstadt@gmail.com) and Prof. Rebecca Edwards (redwards2008@gmail.com), former SCU faculty members and more recently directors of Loyola University Chicago’s Rome Center, specialize in Italian art and music and have lived and taught in Italy for many years.
Contact Former Students:
- Rebecca Nagele (rnagele@scu.edu)
- Katie Cole (kbcole@scu.edu)
- Katherine Tolentino (ktolentino@scu.edu)
- Sean Murphy (scmurphy@scu.edu)
- Moana Ferry (mferry@scu.edu)
- Omid "Cyrus" Loloi (ololoi@scu.edu)
- Nicole Wadley (nwadley@scu.edu)
- Meg Howe (mhowe@scu.edu)
Useful Websites:
How to Apply: Click here when you're ready to apply.
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