Academics
Learning objectives
The ACM Florence: Arts, Humanities, & Culture program is designed to develop students’ ability to analyze works of art in situ and within the context in which they were created.
The program has three overall learning goals:
- To develop students’ understanding of the creative processes and the historical and cultural context in which Florentine medieval and Renaissance art, sculpture, and architecture were produced;
- To build language proficiency in Italian sufficient to allow students to communicate with host families and other Italians and to read newspapers and other documents;
- To develop in students a broad understanding of present-day Italian society and culture.
Immersed in Italian arts and culture, as well as present-day life, students learn how to understand the works of art (paintings, architecture, and sculpture) that are Florence’s extraordinary legacy. Through an elective studio art class, students can accompany their daily immersion in the local richness of Italian art and culture by learning drawing skills in order to gain an appreciation for the creative process. In learning Italian, staying with Italian host families, and interacting with Florentines on a daily basis, students gain an immersive understanding of contemporary Italian culture.
At the end of the program, students should have the analytic tools to observe the arts in a city and understand the social processes that led to their creation as well as a close understanding of one of the world’s most richly productive moments in history and a working command of Italian sufficient to live independently in Italy.
Academic overview
All students take a required course in Italian language and enroll in three elective courses which explore various facets of Renaissance art, history and literature, and classical figure drawing.
During the first four weeks, students learn about contemporary Italy and receive intensive instruction in Italian language. Afterwards, students continue these courses less intensively and choose three of the other five courses for the remainder of the semester.
With the exception of language courses, all classes are conducted in English.