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Arts and Letters in Arezzo: Recovering Cultural Heritage
Offered in cooperation with the University of Siena at Arezzo, this across-discipline program will explore the Classic, Medieval and Renaissance roots of Western civilization engaging students with the legacy of the past in contemporary times. Classroom lectures will be combined with experiential work under the guide of experts from the l... read more
Offered in cooperation with the University of Siena at Arezzo, this across-discipline program will explore the Classic, Medieval and Renaissance roots of Western civilization engaging students with the legacy of the past in contemporary times. Classroom lectures will be combined with experiential work under the guide of experts from the local University who will introduce students to the diverse components which are at the basis of contemporary Italian and European cultures. This five-week program will bring students backwards to the Etruscan, Roman, Medieval and Reanaissance times, studying the legacy of the past through its visible traces in and around Arezzo. Located between Florence and Rome, Arezzo was once a major Etruscan city, an important Roman settlement, a bishop seat and an independent commune in the Middle Ages. In its area illustrious figures were born, from the inventor of the musical notation Guido Monaco to poet Francesco Petrarca and artists Piero della Francesca , Michelangelo and Vasari. Standing on a hill rising from the floadplain of the Arno, Arezzo retains its Medieval appearance, yet it is also a very contemporary city for its jewellery and fashion industries, its innovative technologies applied to art conservation , and for its university, which, dating back to 1252, is today in the vanguard for humanistic studies.
A series of lectures and discussions by different instructors will lead students through the Etruscan mysterious language and myths, the great Latin culture and literature (with special attention to characters and events dealing with Tuscany), through the Medieval culture and the new artistic language elaborated in Arezzo in the Renaissance. Work in the University labs will introduce hem to the most updated techniques and methodologies used today to preserve this cultural wealth.
The Arezzo program will also offer students the opportunity to visit a Tuscan area off the beaten track, enjoying the many small towns in the surroundings with their castles, churches, and historical and literary associations while walking along fascinating tracks that lead, for example, to where St. Francis received the stigmata or Dante resided. Field trips and site visits will be part of the program, which will include participation in the Arezzo Medieval tournament and a visit to the 'medieval' village of Bevagna. Less
