Description

With a small student-to-faculty ratio, the AIRC Rome Program is dedicated to encouraging academic achievement in its students and offers a curriculum designed to balance high academic standards with an active learning environment. In a given semester, students can select from a range of course offerings in an interdisciplinary learning environment, including classes in archaeology, topography, digital archaeology, history, art history, religion, architecture, Latin and Greek philology, as well as Italian language instruction. Students have the exciting and rare opportunity to participate in ongoing AIRC archaeological projects and intensive course-related field study throughout Rome and its Empire, thereby imparting an unparalleled understanding of--and a hands-on feel for--Roman Civilization.

With Rome as both backdrop and focus, the double-credit course "Forma Urbis - The Archaeology and Culture of Rome" is the cornerstone of the AIRC Program. On-site and in class, the course provides an in-depth introduction to the history and archaeology of Rome and its environs. By exploring the social, religious, political, urban and artistic development of the city from the eighth century BC to Late Antiquity and beyond, students gain a rich and nuanced understanding of the formation of Rome and its continually changing urban fabric. Students also learn about recent and ongoing excavations during regular site visits in Rome as well as various regions of Italy and even abroad. Finally students have the singular opportunity to participate in a week-long and-on archaeological project as a capstone experience of their time in Rome.

Students are housed in typical Roman apartments in centrally located neighborhoods to allow maximum access to all that Rome has to offer. Students receive one meal a day, five days a week (excluding spring break) at specially selected restaurants in Rome. Otherwise, the AIRC Spring Semester program is self-catering; students learn to shop at local markets, further establishing their connection to the neighborhood and to the contemporary culture of the city.

Highlights

Students have the opportunity to explore Rome and farther a-field in the former Roman Empire - with as much as fifty percent of a student's learning opportunities conducted outside the classroom. The "Forma Urbis" course includes regular half-day visits to study important sites in and around Rome and may include week-long cultural excursions to world-renowned historic sites as far away as Naples, Sicily, Athens, Carthage, or Tunis.

Through specially-arranged permissions, students associated with the AIRC also have access to otherwise restricted historical sites closed to the general public. In the past, two of those sites included the Cloaca Maxima (Rome's 2,000 year old sewer system that is still in use) and Santa Maria Antiqua in the Roman Forum.

Examples of recent field-study learning include trips to Palestrina, Tivoli, and Hadrian's Villa in Lazio; Herculaneum, Pompeii, Vesuvius, Paestum, Baiae in the Bay of Naples; as well as Roman North Africa.

Academic excursions such as these afford students the opportunity to delve into Roman provincial culture and the complex, symbiotic process of acculturation within the empire. Recognizing Rome's ancient influence on these myriad cultures, students gain insight into the evolved cultural diversity of Rome's great legacy to the modern world.

Degree Level

Bachelors Degree (Undergraduate)

Subject Areas

Cost in US$:

Approx. 16,000

Program Fees Include:

Tuition, housing in a centrally-located apartment, 1 meal each weekday, all academic excursion fees, student visa information, required student cellphone and plan, all entry fees for museums and sites.

Experience Required

no

This Program is open to

Worldwide Participants.

Typical Living Arrangements

• Apartment/Flat

Participants Travel

Independently

Typically Participants Work

Independently

Application Process Involves

• Essay
• Letters of Reference
• Transcript

The American Institute for Roman Culture's Mission Statement

To promote and defend Rome's cultural heritage through educational programs, projects, and public outreach in archaeology and Mediterranean culture, conservation, video, and social media.

Year Founded

2001