Find Out How To Study While Abroad
Study Abroad programs in Italy take students beyond the country’s romance, history and food. For a summer or a semester, students become residents. They study at local colleges and universities, explore diverse sites, live with area families and come to understand different cultures and traditions. The summer study programs abroad participants are only a few of the millions of people who each year visit the boot-shaped country each year, and they are likely also among those who get to know it best.
Each year for the past couple of decades, more students have been participating in Study Abroad programs. The Institute of International Education, in a 2009 Open Doors report, noted that the number of Americans in 2007-2008 academic year Study Abroad programs increased by 8.5 percent over the previous year and by more than four times the number who participated in Study Abroad programs 20 years prior. Italy, with the Western European countries of England, France and Spain, has consistently remained a leading Study Abroad destination, the Open Doors report noted.
Study Abroad programs in Italy might involve studying architecture in Rome, which is home to the circa-1st century AD Colloseum, or St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. Study Abroad programs in Italy might also take art students to Florence, where they might enjoy the creations of Botticelli, Michelangelo and others within area galleries. Studying Abroad in Florence, students are likely to study around the Historic Centre, which is considered rich in history in that it once set the scene for an Etruscan settlement.
Spending time in Milan, one of the world’s four fashion capitals, students might gain greater inspiration for sketching couture designs. This is, after all, the country that produced Giorgio Armani, Roberto Cavalli, Dolce & Gabbana and so many other talented designers. Business students as part of Study Abroad programs in Italy might come to better understand how the country came to rank as what the BBC calls the fourth largest European economy – one where residents enjoy some of the highest per capita incomes on the continent. In Venice, the city of canals, students in environmental Study Abroad programs might witness the rising waters that are the results of global climate change.
In addition to colleges and universities throughout the United States, private organizations offer Study Abroad programs to Italy. Study Abroad Italy is one such outside organization, offering Study Abroad programs in design at the Domus Academy and the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti di Milano, both in Milan. One of the study art abroad opportunities offered by CAPA International Education, on the other hand, takes students to Florence, where they take up residence either with host families or other students and carry out studies in Italian language, fine arts, literature, life and more.
Still other Study Abroad programs take students to lesser known regions of Italy. The University Studies Abroad Consortium, for one, offers Study Abroad programs in history, art and environmental and Italian studies in the central medieval, agricultural city of Viterbo, which is home to the University of Tuscia. Studies Abroad Consortium participants can study international business, art and architecture and Italian studies in the northern Italian city of Torino (Turin), which is home to churches, opera houses and museums as well as the headquarters for companies such as Nutella, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Martini & Rossi. While some refer to Torino as the “capital of the Alps” or the “Detroit of Italy,” this cosmopolitan city is perhaps best known for a cloth, the Shroud of Turin, that bears an image of a man whom some believe to be Jesus of Nazareth.
A company known as CIEE, on the other hand, takes Study Abroad participants to study language and culture or the liberal arts in the lesser known Italian city of Ferrara. In addition to learning about subjects such as art history, cultural and gender issues, students participate in intensive Italian language courses for beginners and intermediates. Studies are carried out at Italy’s circa-1391 University of Ferrara, and students visit area cathedrals, museums and nearby cities as part of their Study Abroad experience.
The Study Abroad opportunities in Italy are diverse and cover a wide geographic region. Study Abroad programs in Italy might start at about $10,000 and extend up to around $15,000, not including airfare. In instances where students want to travel with Study Abroad providers outside of the college or university they attend, they might ensure that their institution accepts its academic credits. Students might also be able to obtain study abroad scholarships or apply a semester’s worth of financial aid to their educational travel program, making it that much more enriching.