PUC Honors Students Journey to Italy to Study the Italian Renaissance

From exploring the treasures of Florence to the coastal villages of Cinque Terre to the canals of Venice, and roaming the historic streets of Rome, eight honors college students from Pacific Union College spent 4 weeks in Italy as a part of their course, Renaissance: Truth and Beauty. This course explored artwork and science from the Italian Renaissance with the locations and works that formed Western tradition.

PUC’s Honors Program started taking worldwide excursions within the early 2000s, with England being the primary nation visited. Throughout the years, college students have had the chance to be taught in France, Spain, and Italy.

Alongside PUC Honors Director and Dean for the School of Arts, Humanities, and Professions, Milbert Mariano, and Chemistry Chair Kent Davis, Music Chair Rachelle Davis additionally joined the honors research tour from June 29-July 24, beginning of their dwelling base in Florence at PUC’s sister faculty, Villa Aurora College.

Beginning their immersive expertise into the Italian Renaissance period in Florence, college students had the chance to see breathtaking figures by Michelangelo on the Galleria dell’Accademia, wealthy work by Botticelli and da Vinci at Uffizi Galleries, and acquire perception into Galileo’s scientific thoughts on the Museo Galileo. They additionally visited the Bargello Museum, the Basilica of Santa Croce, and Santa Maria Novella.

Four weeks in Italy allowed the scholars to discover different elements of the nation. For occasion, they took a day journey to Venice to see the gorgeous Renaissance-style structure of St. Mark’s Basilica, the Doge’s Palace, the Rialto Bridge, and the Grand Canal. From Florence, they traveled south to Rome for 2 days, getting into historical past on the well-known Colosseum, Forum, Pantheon, St. Peter’s Basilica, and marveled on the detailed masterpiece of the Sistine Chapel.

Many of the honors college students loved Rome and the Vatican essentially the most as they walked on historical ruins and noticed the Sistine Chapel. Florence was additionally well-loved because it was their dwelling base, and the scholars had time for themselves to reside the Italian life-style like locals, discovering totally different neighborhoods and their retailers, cafés, pizzerias, and gelaterias. “These unstructured moments balanced our formal studies with personal discovery,” stated Mariano.

With this tour academically constructed, PUC’s honors program spent a day taking a break alongside the colourful Riviera shoreline of Cinque Terre. Comprising 5 charming cities, the scholars took a break to hike the paths, calm down by the Mediterranean Sea, and breathe in la dolce vita — the candy life.

Through this instructional expertise, college students demonstrated their appreciation for Renaissance historical past, broadening their views on the expression of the human situation by artwork and science, not solely within the Italian Renaissance but additionally within the modern world.

When organizing this tour, Mariano wished the scholars to really soak up the Italian Renaissance world by seeing how artwork and science form tradition collectively. “Renaissance: Truth and Beauty was designed to move beyond textbooks, to let students stand where Galileo studied the stars or where Michelangelo carved marble into living form,” he expressed. “My hope was that they would see the Italian Renaissance as more than history—as an ongoing dialogue that still inspires inquiry, creativity, and faith today.”

From the constructive suggestions he acquired from his honors college students, Mariano’s work in planning an academic tour, which additionally allowed for leisure time, offered the scholars with a balanced summer season journey in Italy that they’ll always remember.

Given how these profitable and unimaginable excursions really join the scholars and resonate with them, Mariano and the honors college intend to make these journeys a biannual custom, with the subsequent one deliberate for 2027. Their purpose is to make sure that each honors pupil has the chance to take this life-changing expertise throughout their time at PUC.