Last June, I had the opportunity to study art history in Italy as part of a summer
program sponsored by Villanova University and Rosemont College. For five weeks, I
lived and took classes in Siena, making weekly day trips to such nearby cities as
Florence, Assisi, San Gimignano, Volterra, Verona, and Perugia. In each city, we visited
Cathedrals and museums that housed influential works of art. Of these, the most
impressive museum was the Uffizi in Florence. Here, I had the pleasure of witnessing
first hand works I had seen countless times in only their reproduced form. The intricacy
and beauty of Italian Renaissance is staggering, especially up close. As part of our
program, the group also took an overnight trip to Venice, and we spent our last two days
in Italy exploring Rome. During our tips to Rome, Venice and Florence, I developed a
new appreciation for architecture as an art form, particularly after visiting such landmark
buildings as the Pantheon, Brunelleschi's Cathedral dome, and St. Peter's Basilica. By the
end of my stay in Italy, my interest in being a history of art major had intensified, and I
look forward to studying art abroad again during my junior year.
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