Course of Study Coursework Italian Classes Art History Living with a Family Research and Studying
Course of Study
The program of study at the Villa offers students an interdisciplinary engagement with the history and culture of Italy. All courses are taught in English, with the exception of Italian language classes. A background in Italian, while not required, is highly recommended for students who plan to study at the Villa. The program is open to undergraduate students from all schools and departments at Georgetown who wish to enrich their academic curricula and experience a new culture.
The Villa programs welcome not only Georgetown students to apply, but also undergraduates from other American universities and colleges. Past Villa alumni include students from Amherst, Duke, Penn, UCLA, the University of Chicago, the University of Virginia, and Yale. All students interested in enrolling in the various programs follow the same application procedure.
Accepted students are required to enroll in a minimum of fifteen credits each semester. Students may take up to eighteen credit hours while at the Villa. With prior approval from the students' deans and/or departmental advisors, the courses offered at the Villa may serve to fulfill both degree prerequisite requirements and major requirements. As Villa Le Balze is part of Georgetown University, grades for Georgetown students transfer directly into their grade point averages. Non-Georgetown students receive a GU transcript at the end of the semester.
The commonly used Number 7 bus
Coursework
All students are required to take a minimum of 4 courses at the Villa, but may take up to five. Each course is 3 credit hours, with the exception of the Italian classes which follow the guidelines of the GU Italian Department and go from 6 credits for the basic and intermediate level to 5 credits for the advanced level and 3 credits for Italian Writing and Literature. Two of the classes are mandatory: Italian language, (offered at all levels), and Art History. In addition, students may choose to take at least two electives. Each semester, the Villa offers a wide variety of elective courses, usually including an English course, a History course, a Government course, and a Sociology course, in addition to the course taught by the Professor in Residence. In the past, elective courses have included Contemporary Italian Politics, Italian Cinema, Modern Italian Literature in Translation, Italy and Imagination, Creativity, Madness, and Genius, The Age of Dante, English and American Writers in Italy, and Social History of Early Modern Italy. Please see the syllabi page for more information about the courses being offered.
Classes at the Villa are held on Monday through Thursday, leaving Friday free to allow students time to explore Florence or travel to other cities in Italy. Mandatory, course-related field trips take place on several weekends throughout the semester, in addition to the regular Art History field trips during the week. These trips may include travel in and around Florence, as well as to other cities such as Rome, Pisa, Venice, and Ravenna. Classes during the week frequently meet in Florence, allowing students the opportunity to visit important monuments and museums with their instructors.
Click here to read pieces written by past students participating in the Villa programs.
History class outside in the garden
The David by Michelangelo
Living with a Family
Students are hosted either at the Villa or by Italian families. Living with an Italian family offers the opportunity to improve language skills and to develop a deeper understanding of Italian culture and day-to-day life. Families are personally selected for each student. When placing a student with a family, the student's individual needs and interests are considered in an effort to make the best possible match.
Students living with families normally live either in single rooms with private baths or double rooms with private baths with another student from the Villa. The families provide students with two meals a day; lunch is taken at the Villa with the other students, faculty, and staff.
The library
Florence itself is a center for ongoing medieval and Renaissance studies. Archives, libraries, scholars in the city, and the citizens themselves create an interactive and ideal environment for research and study. As an international intellectual center since the birth of the Renaissance, Florence attracts thousands of students, professors, and scholars from all over the world each year.
The front gardens
The dining room
The academic year at the Villa is divided into two semesters. The fall semester runs from early September to mid December and the spring semester from mid January to late April. Each session offers a different course of studies, allowing students the option of a full year's stay at the Villa. Courses in areas such as Italian History and Art History run chronologically throughout the year, focusing on the period before the Renaissance first semester, and the Renaissance and beyond second semester.
The small size of the classes at the Villa and the accessibility of the faculty create an environment for intellectual discovery and exchange. Most of the instructors at the Villa, while of different nationalities, live in Italy and are therefore able to introduce students to the complexities of its culture and traditions.
Each semester, one member of Georgetown's main campus faculty joins the full-time faculty at the Villa as the Professor in Residence. This faculty member teaches an elective course and contributes to the co-curricular life of the Villa. Students and faculty share pranzo (lunch) each day which allows conversations and learning that extends beyond the classroom.
The fall 2006 students and staff
Christmas party
Italian Classes
Italian language courses are offered at multiple levels, from Basic to Advanced Writing and Culture. Most courses meet four days a week for a total of five hours each week in order to fully exploit the students opportunity to practice newly acquired skills in speaking, understanding, reading, and writing. Italian Writing and Literature meets twice a week for a total of three hours each week. Basic Italian focuses on fundamental communication skill, while Intermediate Italian further develops practical skills, asking students to use the language as they move around Fiesole and Florence. The advanced Italian courses use literary texts, newspapers, and films to improve the students' abilities to understand the written and spoken language and to develop fluency in both.
Art History
One of the most unique aspects of the Villa program is its focus on art history. At the Villa, art history is not confined to the classroom. Linda Reynolds (link), the Villa's Art History professor, helps students to develop the proper language to evaluate art and its significance, then takes the students into Italy to directly interact with the pieces and works they have studied. Students in Florence visit great works of medieval and Renaissance art, often in their original context. Masaccio's The Trinity, Michelangelo's David and second Pieta, Fra Angelico's Annunciation, and Donatello's David are among the numerous renowned and historically significant works housed in Florence. Throughout the course of their studies at the Villa, students have an opportunity to encounter these, as well as countless other works of art. Classes are often held in the city at sites like the Uffizi, the Church of San Lorenzo, and the Convento San Marco, making possible insights and observations that no book or slide ever could.
The Art History class in the fall semester begins with Byzantine art and moves through the Medieval period to the beginnings of the Renaissance. The course in the spring beings with the high Renaissance and concludes with the Baroque period.
The view from the Villino
Research and Studying
The Villa Le Balze houses a rich library containing approximately six thousand books, all at the constant disposal of the students. Thanks to a generous donation by his family, the library now also houses part of the collection of the esteemed American historian, David Herlihy.
The Ponte Vecchio in Florence