Quick Links
Florence
Program Summary
A relatively small town, Florence led the rest of the world in art, science and political idealism from the Middle Ages to modern times. Home to Dante, Giotto, Boccaccio, Brunelleschi, Leonardo, Michelangelo and many others, Florence has also been a city favored by illustrious visitors such as Milton, Goethe, Hawthorne, Henry James, and the Stanfords.
Stanford University established its Program in Florence in 1960. Today, the Program is located in an historical building, just across the Arno river from the Uffizi Museum, and it offers a wide variety of courses as well as of extracurricular activities aimed at helping students achieve a full academic appreciation of the city, its culture and Italy. The curriculum revolves around two main areas of concentration: The Renaissance (with courses in Art History, the History of Science, Literature, etc.) and The Contemporary World (with courses in Political Science, Sociology, Film, History, etc.)
| Program Location | Quarter(s) Open |
Prerequisite(s) | Language of Instruction | Internship Type | Living Arrangements | Enrollment Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florence | Autumn Winter Spring | ITALLANG 3 or ITALLANG 2A | Italian | Academic, part-time, unpaid | Homestay | 40 |
ObjectivesThe Program's academic objective is ambitious. It strives to turn the students into academic travelers (not superficial tourists) who shall leave the city having mastered first-hand a culture (the Renaissance) central to the historical and artistic development of the Western world, and having also become fully immersed in many of the issues facing Europe and the Mediterranean today. The relatively small size of the Program as well as the great emphasis it places on the acquisition of the Italian language also contribute to an academically challenging and versatile experience which will prove rewarding for a number of majors in the Humanities, in the Social and Political Sciences as well as in Human Biology, Engineering and Computer Sciences. Academic PrerequisitesFor all quarters, participants must have completed ITALLANG 3 or the equivalent. For students who have completed the language prerequisite by other means, please contact the Stanford Language Center to determine if that preparation serves as an equivalent prerequisite. |
||||||
| Related On-Campus Courses: | ||||||
| ARTHIST 105A | Islamic Art around the Mediterranean | |||||
| FILMSTUD 130 | Italian Cinema | |||||
| HISTORY 31 | Science, Technology, and Art: The Worlds of Leonardo | |||||
| ITALGEN 247 | Petrarch and Boccaccio | |||||
| ITALLIT 127 | Inventing Italian Literature: Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarcha | |||||
| ITALLIT 128 | The Italian Renaissance and the Path to Modernity | |||||
| ITALLIT 129 | Modern Italian History and Literature | |||||
| MUSIC 2C | Men, Women, and Opera | |||||