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During the May interim, 26 Lafayette students spent three weeks in Italy studying its artistic and literary culture during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Diane Ahl, Rothkopf Professor of Art History, and Rado Pribic, Williams Professor of Foreign Languages and Literature and chair of the international affairs program, led the trip.
“The group dynamics were excellent,” says Ahl. “Students were fully engaged in the learning process and contributed to discussion. They learned together and made new friends. They were moved by the art and architecture they studied, and they learned a great deal about Italian culture.”
From May 21-June 10, the group studied the period’s architecture as well as works by renowned artists, including Giotto, Donatello, Botticelli, and Michelangelo. Students studied Roman ruins in Fiesole, Rome, and Gubbio; examined Byzantine mosaics and churches in Ravenna; analyzed medieval and Renaissance mosaics, sculpture, painting, and architecture on site; and viewed Michelangelo’s David in the Accademia of Florence and his frescoes in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Palace in Rome. They also climbed to the summit of Brunelleschi’s Renaissance dome for Florence cathedral to discuss its engineering and explored the city of Venice by gondola.
As they traveled, students read Boccaccio’s Decameron to gain an understanding of medieval narrative, wit, and anticlericalism. They also read Dante’s Inferno to understand medieval spirituality and the roots of the Italian language.
In addition to nightly discussions, students kept journals to record their personal observations, including photographs, postcards, and sketches. They also completed papers comparing their relationship as citizens of the new millennium to early medieval and Renaissance artistic and literary culture.
English major David Platt ’07(Langhorne, Pa.) found that viewing the actual works as he was studying them brought them to life. He also enjoyed observing the city and its residents.
“When you see the works of art in person, you see detail that cannot be captured in a picture,” he says. “The size of the work is also something that cannot be captured by a photo in a textbook. You also get an idea of how the art fits into Italian society and culture today. The best part of the [trip] for me was experiencing a different culture and seeing how a different society functions. Visiting another country gives one a perspective on his or her place in a larger world outside America.”
Brittany Waldron ’08 (Kinnelon, N.J.) was surprised by how much she learned in a short time about an area she had not previously studied. Pope Benedict XVI’s prayer service in front of St. Peter’s in Rome also impressed the biology major.
“It was so unreal having people from all over the world in one place at the same time,” she says. “It was also cool how the Pope recited the prayer in at least eight different languages.
“I am not an art major and have never taken an art course in my life, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. But with Professors Ahl and Pribic teaching the course, it was brought to an entirely different level. You could ask them about the smallest detail in a painting or type of architecture, and they would be able to tell you every single thing. They knew everything inside and out.”
Other students who participated in the trip include Marquis Scholar Elizabeth Clearfield ’09 (Southampton, Pa.), Marquis Scholar and government and law major Jeremy Cline ’07 (New Haven, Conn.), government and law major Chance Cobb ’07 (Bethesda, Md.), Marquis Scholar and mechanical engineering major Carolyn Fisher ’07 (Mahopac, N.Y.), art and government & law double major Lauren Fisher ’07 (Clarksburg, N.J.), A.B. engineering major Andrew Impagliazzo ’07 (Brooklyn, N.Y.), history major Oren Kalmus ’08 (Princeton Junction, N.J.), art and history double major Margarita Karasoulas ’08(Harrison, N.Y.), government & law and economics & business double major Michael Kent ’07 (Ambler, Pa.), English major Lindsay Laborda ’08 (Media, Pa.), government & law and economics & business double major Luke Matthews ’07 (Barrington, R.I.), civil engineering major John Mitchell ’08 (River Vale, N.J.), civil engineering major Jennifer Namias ’08 (Boxborough, Mass.), chemistry major Jillian Nickel ’07 (Wallingford, Pa.), biology major Lisa Rogosa ’08 (Peabody, Mass.), anthropology and sociology major Kathryn Santoro ’08 (Upper Montclair, N.J.), government & law and economics & business double major Julie Sauer ’08 (Rochester, N.Y.), government and law major Barton Seifert ’07 (Alexandria, Va.), chemistry major Aman Seth ’08 (Short Hills, N.J.), Marquis Scholar and mechanical engineering major Jeffrey Silvan ’07(West Barnstable, Mass.), biology major Christopher Sweitzer ’07 (Jackson, N.J.), art and English double major Laura Tesoriero ’08 (Perrineville, N.J.), civil engineering major Jeremy Turner ’07 (Cherry Hill, N.J.), and mechanical engineering major Elisabeth Verrochi ’07 (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.).
Lafayette offers a variety of faculty-led and other study abroad programs. Over the winter break, more than 170 students took special Lafayette courses in Thailand and Myanmar; Turkey; Greece and Italy; Austria and Germany; Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands; Spain and Portugal; and Hawaii.
For information, contact Roxanne Lalande, director of study abroad programs and professor of French in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, (610) 330-5918 or lalander@lafayette.edu. Her consultation hours are 10 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m. Monday and Wednesday in 409 Pardee Hall and 9 a.m.-noon Tuesday and Thursday in 1 Markle Hall.