Renaissance Florence and the Birth of Modern Europe
Italy - Florence
June 28 - July 28, 2008

Class Size: 18-25

Instructor

Brenda Schildgen, Ph.D.*
Director, Comparative Literature Program, UC Davis
* Academic Federation Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2001
bdschildgen@ucdavis.edu

Focusing on Renaissance Florence’s contribution to modern European culture, this course studies the Florentine writers, Dante and Boccaccio, using their major works, Dante's Comedy and Boccaccio's Decameron, as source text, with supporting selections by Petrarch, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, and others, to explore how modern institutions, politics, and society were being invented in fourteenth and fifteenth century Florence. Making full use of the artistic and cultural legacy that the city of Florence and environs offer, the course considers how institutions and developments like banking (and early capitalism), universities, libraries, hospitals, the arts and sciences, and the struggle for free republics are represented in Florentine life and culture of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Florence bridge

Ellen Curtis, parent of two students on the Florence program 2005

The orientation program was excellent in terms of giving us a sense of what to expect and providing key planning information. My husband and I attended since one of our daughters was on a study abroad program in London, and the other was attending UCSD...transferring to Davis, but not there yet. We came away with most of our questions answered and, importantly, a name and number...thank you!Florence photo
The program itself was wonderful. One of my daughters told me today that her side trip to Venice was the single most exciting art experience of her life (she's an art major). My daughters loved their accommodations and the autonomy they had to plan side trips (Venice, Pisa, Naples, Rome, Pompeii), while still having the safety net of their classmates and instructor.
I really felt that my daughters were well prepared and appropriately overseen during their summer abroad experience. They returned home with increased self-confidence, bubbling over with enthusiasm, and with greater intellectual curiosity about the world beyond California! We were absolutely thrilled with our family's experience with the summer study abroad program.