Student Programs
Spoleto Study Abroad Summer Session is a hands-on immersion program in the arts and humanities for high school students, ages 15-19, interested in visual arts, photography, creative writing, drama, dance, chamber music and vocal music. This is an experience that will appeal to the high school student serious about art, humanities and gaining a worldly perspective. Students choose between a 2-week and a 4-week program. These programs offer students who wish to grow academically, artistically and personally an opportunity to step into the cultural and artistic heritage of the Italian Renaissance. This is a unique opportunity to work closely with talented faculty and motivated peers from around the world. In addition to developing their artistic talent in the enriching hands-on studio workshops and classes, students will take twice-weekly day trips to cities in Umbria and Tuscany. Living and studying in an environment rich with history, art and natural beauty can be profoundly transformative for a student of the arts.
Spoleto, a gorgeous medieval town emblematic of central Italy, will be your home throughout the program. Spoleto, the seat of a Lombard Duchy during the High Middle Ages, still preserves a vast array of artistic memories from its historic past. In a captivating atmosphere of history and culture, the students live in a beautiful renovated 15th century residence inside the stone walls of ancient Spoleto.
Through our twice-weekly excursions, this in-depth program will take students from Roman time, to the early Christian period, from the Middle Ages to the blooming of the Renaissance. Winding through cobblestone streets of historic towns with vistas of olive groves; exploring an Etruscan ruin; crossing a Roman aqueduct; and visiting the many museums and churches will magically put students in touch with many of the greatest minds of western civilization from Dante to Michelangelo, from Botticelli to Boccaccio.
Spoleto Study Abroad is unique in that it combines an interactive study of the arts and humanities while immersed in a historically and artistically rich environment. Students participate in structured courses to enhance their area of expertise. The 2 and 4-week immersion in the Italian culture affords students the opportunity to live and absorb the rhythm and flow of the daily life of the local people. Our faculty is chosen for their technical expertise, teaching excellence, and genuine passion for working closely with the students. Spoleto Study Abroad's Masterclasses (a series of presentations of work throughout the session) allow our students to share their work in progress to their peers; explain their inspirations; concepts, techniques and challenges they experience in their art form. The setting is supportive and encouraging fostering each student's capacity to reach new artistic and intellectual heights.
All of this intensive work culminates with formal presentations of student work in an art show, drama and dance performances, literary readings and magazine, and chamber and choral concerts.
Spoleto Study Abroad is a non-profit international program co-sponsored by a consortium of carefully selected independent schools. We are celebrating our twelfth year of cultivating the arts and humanities in students from around the world.