A Report on the Program's Activities -- Summer 2006

from the Director, Antonella D. Olson ad.olson@mail.utexas.edu Office: HRH 2.106B; (512) 471-5706 The Rome Study Program gives students of all majors the opportunity to spend six weeks in Rome, Italy, during the first summer session and visit some of the most beautiful Italian sites on weekends. Some field trips are included in the cost, others are optional. Italian families host students providing an in-depth experience of Italian life-style and language.

Summer 2006

Thirty students from UT-Austin enrolled in this year's program. Douglas Biow, Professor-French and Italian, taught with Antonella Olson-Senior Lecturer, French and Italian. Students spent their class time (1 1/2 hours for each class) from Monday to Thursday in the Palazzo Antici-Mattei. The cost of the program was $3,500. The fee did not cover airfare, UT tuition and fees, or textbooks. It covered all the rest: housing and three meals per day, classrooms in the Palazzo Antici-Mattei, transportation from and to the airport, bus tickets, a monthly bus-card, admissions to Tivoli’s Villa Adriana and Villa d’Este, a conference on the Sistine Chapel and on Caravaggio (Prof. Maria-Cristina Paoluzzi), admissions and guided visit to the Galleria Borghese (Prof. Maria-Cristina Paoluzzi), all the guides in the field trips as well as several social gatherings among students, host families and faculty. This year, there was a remarkable increase in the scholarships assigned to deserving students participating in the program: $ 23,000. Our warmest gratitude goes to Professor Richard Flores, Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Professor Lucia Gilbert, Vice Provost and Professor Sheldon Ekland-Olson, former Provost and Vice President. The program was visited by John Sunnygard, Director, C-GEO and by Richard Flores, Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. At the end of the program, writer Dacia Maraini gave a lecture in Italian.

Courses

ITL 312K Second-Year Italian Language and Culture I. 3 credit hours, taught by Antonella Olson. (Enrollment: 12 students) The focus of this course is on a partial review of first year grammar and on culture. The city of Rome is a living laboratory in which students can improve their language skills and vocabulary and immerse themselves completely into the Italian culture and environment. At the end of the session, the 312K students performed in an adaptation of “I quattro veli di Kulala” by Stefano Benni.

ITC 349 Rome, Eternal City: Myths and Realities. 3 credit hours, taught by Douglas Biow. (Enrollment: 23 students) This is an interdisciplinary course taught in English with focus on the powerful myths of Rome--political, religious, cultural--from antiquity to the present. Its curriculum was revised and students greatly appreciated the new structure. The analysis of historical, literary, and cinematic works was added to the artistic and architectural resources of the city itself. The study was enriched by on-site lessons where students were active participants and learned how to discover and recognize the many treasures of Rome.

ITC 365 Contemporary Italian Culture. Conference Course in Italian. 3 credit hours, taught by Douglas Biow and Antonella Olson. (Enrollment: 16 students) This is an upper-division course taught in Italian with emphasis on listening, reading and comprehension skills. Students read a novel by Rossana Campo, L’uomo che non ho sposato, and analyzed two one-act plays. At the end of the semester, they performed remarkably well in “Stravaganza” by Dacia Maraini and “Il folletto delle brutte figure” by Stefano Benni. The presence of one of the authors, Dacia Maraini, and an experienced light designer, Alberto Chinigò, added to the quality of the performances.

School

The Palazzo Antici-Mattei has been used as classroom space since summer 1999. The Centro Studi Americani (CSA) is one of the major Italian libraries of American Studies and is situated in the majestic Palazzo Antici-Mattei, a seventeenth-century palace. Its rooms are frescoed by Tuscan and Flemish painters of the early 1600s. The CSA provided and will provide again next year a spacious, elegant and distinct environment for our students.

Field Trips

Included in the program's cost: 1. An orientation session in Rome; 2. Two guided visits to the sites of Ancient Rome; 3. A guided visit to the Museum of Galleria Borghese; 4. A visit to an Italian high school; 5. a guided visit to Tivoli (Villa Adriana and Villa D’Este) Optional field trips organized by the Director: 1. A three-day visit to Florence; 2. A three-day visit to Sorrento, Pompeii, Capri and the Museum of Capodimonte in Naples