Field trips throughout Italy are an integral part of Cornell in Rome. Specific itineraries vary from semester to semester, but generally include some travel in northern, central, and southern Italy -- to the country’s most notable cities, towns, archaeological sites, and to some of the world’s most distinguished historical and contemporary art collections.
A typical semester may include one long trip (eight- nine days) to northern Italy (to destinations such as Bologna, Parma, Modena, Mantova, Verona, Vicenza, Padova, Venezia, and Ravenna), or one long trip (eight days) to Sicily (Palermo, Cefalù, Segesta, Erice, Gibellina, Selinunte, Agrigento, Siracusa, Noto, Catania, and Taormina). A central Italy trip (four days) might include some combination of Montepulciano, Pienza, Siena, Florence, Arezzo, Cortona, Gubbio, Urbino. A southern Italy trip (three days) typically includes Paestum, Pompei, and Napoli.
Day trips to sites near Rome often include Palestrina, Tivoli, Hadrian's Villa, Ostia Antica, Caprarola, and Bagnaia. Total travel time is about 20 days over the course of the semester. In addition to tuition, a field trip fee of $1,800 is charged to cover transportation costs in Italy, overnight lodging, museum entry fees and some meals. Students travel together with faculty members by train and bus, and meet with local experts while en route, again depending on the semester. Students also frequently travel elsewhere in Italy or Europe on their own, during the nine-day semester break or on weekends without any scheduled group travel.
Below are some sample field trip itineraries, keep in mind, however, that no two semesters are the same as itineraries constantly get updated and revised.
Northern Italy (PDF)
Central Italy/Tuscany (PDF)
Southern Italy(PDF)
Karl Chan
