Italian Renaissance Cities: Rome, Florence, Venice with Drs. Peter Schmunk and G.R. Davis, Jr.
St. Peter's Square and Bascilia Rome		Mercury, as painted by the Scuolo di Rafaello, in the Villa Farnesina, Rome

Project Description

Participants in this project will explore the cultural history and artistic monuments of the Italian Renaissance, with a focus on the great cities of Rome, Florence, and Venice. We will investigate the regional traditions and rivalries, the historical circumstances and geographic contrasts that make these cities, even today, markedly different from each other. Three days of intensive on-campus study will precede 18 days of travel in Italy, with extended visits to Rome, Florence, and Venice and overnight stays or brief stopovers in Siena, Orvieto, Vicenza, and Padua. This travel itinerary will enable us to explore the ancient Roman ruins that inspired and influenced much of the art of the Renaissance, the grand civic monuments and family palaces of republican Florence, the rebuilding of St. Peter’s in papal Rome, the villas that Venetian aristocrats built in the northern Italian countryside, and the exotic, sumptuous atmosphere of maritime Venice itself. We will see the major collections of Renaissance art in the Vatican, Uffizi, and Accademia museums and other works still in their original locations in monasteries, churches, and city squares.

Day-by-Day List of Activities and Destinations

Course Information

Class Schedule:

• Week 1: Four days of on-campus meetings: 9:00-Noon; 1:00-2:30 PM or longer if necessary.

• During 19 days of travel, we are busy from 9:00 AM-5:00 PM with three free days (one each in Rome, Florence, and Venice) and an occasional free afternoon.

• Eight group dinners (included in course fee) provide opportunity to discuss the day's activities while enjoying meals that are selected to sample the dishes of local reknown.

• A single two-hour wrap-up discussion meeting upon returning to campus. Remaining time is allocated to prepare final report.

Off-campus Activity: 19 days of off-campus travel.

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Travel Forms

Wofford College requires that all participants in a travel project complete several forms to be turned in to the instructors no later than November 29th (at the mandatory meeting.) Friday, December 2nd is the absolute deadline for submitting all paperwork required for travel. These forms are available at the Wofford Interim Website. Since several of these forms require signatures of parents or physicians, students are strongly encouraged to complete these forms as soon as possible. The College will not permit students to travel unless all documents are in order.

Mandatory Travel Insurance

All student travelers are provided with travel insurance from Cultural Insurance Services International. The cost of this insurance is included in the course fee. Claim forms are found here.

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Tuesday, November 29th, 2005 Mandatory Meeting

At this meeting the instructors will collect all travel forms required by the College, make photocopies of passports, consider requests for roommate assignments, present reading materials, assign topics for on-site presentations by students during the travel portion of the project, collect the final payment of the course fee, and make annoucements.

Friday, December 2nd is the deadline for submitting all paperwork required for travel.

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Application Form

Please provide introductory information about yourself for the instructors of the Modern Art and the Mediterranean Interim Project on this application form. If the course is over-subscribed, the information you provide may be used to determine who will be accepted into the course. You are therefore encouraged to make a compelling case that indicates your level of interest and commitment to this project.

You may submit the application form to Dr. Davis or Dr. Schmunk by email or deliver this completed form either of their offices no later than Monday, September 26th. However, you are urged to provide this information as soon as possible.to Dr. Davis's office is in the Biology Suite on the second floor of Milliken Science Hall, room 203E. Dr. Schmunk's office is 220 Daniel Building.

The deposit check of $1000 made out to Wofford College is to be given to Dean Wiseman on or before Monday, September 26th at 2 pm.

This project is listed as JAN 413 and the CRN for this course is ?.

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Contacts

Dr. Peter Schmunk, Professor of Art History

• Office Phone 864-597-4599
• Home 864-585-9853
• schmunkpl@wofford.edu
• fax to Art Department 864-597-4595

Dr. G.R. Davis, Professor of Biology

• Office phone 864-597-4621
• Home 864-948-9025
• davisgr@wofford.edu
• fax to Department of Biology 864-597-4629

Alda Kop, Universal Travel

• 222 East Blackstock Road, Suite B
• Spartanburg, SC 29301
• 864- 576-6616 or fax 576-0393
• toll free 1-800-849-0167
• univtravel@aol.com

Ana Maria Wiseman, Assistant Dean of the College and Director of Programs Abroad  

• Office phone 864-597-4510
• wisemana@wofford.edu

Before the first Class Meeting!

Your packet of reading materials may be picked up after 1 pm on Wednesday, December 14th from Mrs. Blackwell (in the glass office on the main floor of Daniel Building.)

Your assignment: read the first three sections BEFORE our first class meeting on January 3rd in Daniel 101. It is important that you have done the readings since we have only three days of class meetings before our Friday departure. You will be expected to participate in the discussions on the first day of interim and to do so will require that you have completed the assigned readings.

Before leaving for the holidays, you should look up your assigned topic for the on-site presentation in the 6-8 books placed on reserve in the Sandor Teszler Library under Jan 413. Somewhere amongst those materials you'll find a first-rate reproduction of the work of art. Further, you should consult several of those sources and photocopy the information related to your topic so that you can continue your research and begin preparing your presentation over the holidays.

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Links

Artists of the Renaissance

Pictures of Italy

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