Virginia Tech Classical Studies Program will offer a three credit program to Switzerland and Rome during the summer of 2021 under the direction of Trudy Harrington Becker and Andrew Becker--if we are allowed to (by the university and the countries we visit). The program will include visits to historical sites, museum, lectures, guided tours, and readings.

This course examines the history of Rome and its influence in creating and shaping Europe. In particular, the course examines the city of Rome and its influence on one Roman province, the region of modern Switzerland. Though often at great distance from Rome, the capital of the empire, provinces regularly displayed Roman forms of architecture, art or other clear signs of Roman presence. We understand Rome better and indeed more correctly when we look at how life was lived in the Roman empire not just in the big city but in the smaller towns and provinces far away. Our course begins in the province and then proceeds to Rome. We will experience Cisalpine Gaul in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland, our base for week 1. We will then move on to Rome to explore the city directly and experience this city personally.

Our "textbook" will be the sites and museums we visit. Each of these acts like a text, and we will read them as best we can in the time we have. Tentative plans (and travelling always requires flexibility) include visits in the first week to Lugano, the rich town on the opposite shore of Lake Lugano, Bellinzona, modern capital of the Ticino canton of Switzerland, to see its three castles which held the pass and which were fought over for hundreds of years, and to Como, the Italian town perhaps most famous today as the home of George Clooney (and the Plinys). We will pay careful attention to our town too, Riva San Vitale, in which once lived a correspondent of Pliny the Younger. In week two, we head to Rome. While there we will see as much of the old city and its layers as we can. Our focus will be on ancient Rome, but there will be time for students to do some exploring on their own. We will visit the Forum, the imperial fora, Colosseum, Palatine, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Circus Maximus, and more. We will work our way through museums such as the Capitoline Museums (home to the Dying Gaul, the wolf with Romulus and Remus, the colossal head of Constantine, the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius), the Vatican Museum, the Palazzo Altemps, the Museo Nazionale, and perhaps others. Rome's grand churches will also be on our schedule.

Class time is 24/7, almost. Students will be required to attend every class (held in the classroom, held on site, held on buses). Debriefing sessions will occur most nights during which we will recap the day's learning and preview the next day's activities. Handouts, maps, etc. will be distributed during these times. Textbooks will be posted closer to our departure date.

Students will be registered for CLA 3954 in first summer session by the MCLL office. There is an optional three credit pre-course, available to those who need to do six credits in the session in order to qualify for financial aid. The pre-course is not mandatory. If you need to do the pre-course, please contact Trudy Harrington Becker (thbecker@vt.edu) or Andrew Becker (andrew.becker@vt.edu). The pre-course will be done on-line and does not require residence in Blacksburg.

Students will also be registered for a tuition-free post course in the fall of 2020, if they would like. So, you get 6 credits for the price of 3. With permission of your advisor, this study abroad course may be counted as Area 2, 3, 6 or 7 or similar Pathways.

Costs

Cost for this trip includes three parts:

1) Tuition, billed as tuition by the bursar in the normal fashion. 3 credits.

2) Program Fee: $3500. This includes lodging, covered meals as above (all meals in Riva, breakfasts and two dinners in Rome), entrances to museums, monuments and historical sites, transportation to those sites, guides, and excursions, bus pickup at Milan airport on June 11th, bus from Riva to Rome on June 18th, and bus from Rome hotel to Rome airport on June 25th. Also includes mandatory CISI insurance. Virginia Tech has contracted with Cultural Insurance Services International (CISI), a leading provider of insurance for study abroad, to offer travel medical and security evacuation insurance coverage that meets the university’s minimum requirements at very reasonable rates ($9.10 per week or $35 per month, regardless of age or destination). CISI insurance is included in the program fee.

3). Air Fare. Each participant will make his own arrangements for airfare to fly into Milan Malpensa, the closest airport to Riva, and out of Rome Fiumicino. We will choose a flight ourselves and suggest that each of you buy a ticket for the same flight. If not possible, we encourage you to arrive in Milan Malpensa before us on the 11th so you can take the chartered bus to Riva with us. Info on specific flights is on the Flights page.

4). Mandatory fees from VT Global Ed, including an application fee of $50 and another fee of $50 upon acceptance.

Note: Program Fee does not include textbooks, personal spending money, and personal incidentals (nor tuition). This Program fee will be billed by Virginia Tech separately from tuition, and will be due in two installments due in March and April.

In sum, estimated:

+ Summer tuition, 3 credits (check Tuition and fees, Summer 2021) at: www.bursar.vt.edu

+$3500 (program fees)

+$1500, rough estimate (airfare)

+$ ? personal spending money

Tentative plans include study in Riva San Vitale and Rome, and further study, site visits, and trips:

• Explore and study the three medieval castles of Bellinzona, Switzerland.

• Follow the Roman route across Lake Lugano & study the history of Lugano.

• Visit the Roman town of Como (home to George Clooney!)

• Recreational activities in Riva: swim in Lake Lugano, climb Monte San Giorgio.

• Study the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Pantheon, the Circus Maximus, Trajan’s Column, the Campidoglio and museums, St. Peter’s, and much more

• Study Roman history, literature, and art.

Lodging and Meals

In Riva San Vitale, students stay at Virginia Tech's Casa Maderni, a 200 year old villa (Steger Center for International Scholarship, Via Settala 8, 6826 Riva San Vitale, Switzerland). In Rome, we stay at the Grant Hotel Palatino on Via Cavour.

• Villa Maderni: The villa includes a classroom, dining room, student rooms with frescoed ceilings, a library, computer facilites (wireless as well) and an immaculate garden. Riva San Vitale is a town of about 3000; it's quiet, beautiful, and situated on Lake Lugano. Breakfast, lunch and dinner included.

• www.hotelpalatino.com In Rome, we stay at Grand Hotel Palatino. Breakfast is included each day in Rome, and dinner on two nights is included . Lunch and several dinners in Rome are at the student's expense. This helps to keep the cost down. Pizza a taglio and gelato make an inexpensive lunch.

Transportation

Students will purchase their own airfare to Milan Malpensa and home from Rome. A chartered bus will pick us up at the airport in Milan (included). Faculty will choose a flight and encourage students to travel on the same flight with us or to arrive in Milan Malpensa around the same time as us so they can be on the chartered bus to Riva.

Details about flights on Flights page, forthcoming.

In Riva, we will visit sites either by train or by chartered bus (included). Travel to Rome from Riva will be by fast train. In Rome we will walk (be prepared) or use the buses or subway.

Program Leaders

Trudy Harrington Becker,

Senior Instructor,

Department of History

Winner of University awards: Alumni Award for Teaching Excellence, the Alumni Award for Excellence in International Education (with Andrew Becker), the Wine Award for Sustained (career) Excellence in Teaching, and the Alumni Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising; plus college awards for teaching, for undergraduate mentoring, and international initiatives.

Andrew Becker,

Associate Professor ,

Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures

Winner of University Awards: the Wine Award for Sustained (career) Teaching Excellence, the Alumni Award for Excellence in International Education (with Trudy Harrington Becker), the Sporn Award for Excellence in Teaching Introductory Classes, and the Alumni Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising; college awards for teaching, for undergraduate advising and international initiatives, and a national award for excellence in advising.

Contact Information:

Riva address: Villa Maderni, Via Settala 8, Riva San Vitale, Switzerland 6826. phone number: 011 41 91 648 3652.

Rome: Hotel Palatino, www.hotelpalatino.com. Phone number: 0113906481492. Via Cavour, Rome.

Becker phone numbers: 1-540-267-6290 (Trudy, also on WhatsApp) or 1-540-267-6295 (Andy).

Dr. Trudy Harrington Becker

History

430 Major Williams Hall

(540) 231-1733

thbecker@vt.edu