The town of Spoleto, seen from above

After our first day of classes, we headed into Spoleto–our adopted home for the next three weeks. We toured the city, learning about its history and art.

This program will take 15 students to Charleston, SC’s sister city of Spoleto, Italy where they will write and study literature and meet with local artists and writers who reside there. The students and faculty will be housed at a villa just outside of Spoleto, where they will share meals, hold readings, and spend quiet time writing and reading. Once a week, the students and faculty will share a special group dinner which will feature intensive and lively discussions of the craft of writing. The program will include cooking classes at Locanda Rovicciana, a tour of area wineries such as Antonelli, day hikes in the Umbrian hills, and museum tours in town; in addition, students will be urged to use their railway passes to travel on the weekends. We will also spend three days in Florence, Italy where students will take guided tours of such important artistic and historical sites as the Uffizi Gallery, the Duomo, and the Galleria dell’Academmia, and spend one evening in salon with an area painter, writer and historian.

The Spoleto Valley located in the heart of Umbria is a city rich in history and art. The Arch of Drusus (23 A.C.), the Romanic church of St. Ansano, the Roman theater (its construction goes back to the first years of the Empire), and the paleocristian basilica St Salvatore created in the 4th century are all testimonials of Spoleto’s earliest origins. Take a look at a short video from students who participated in the summer 2010 study abroad program to Spoleto, Italy.