Purchase College, SUNY conducts a five-week summer program in Italy offering classes in Italian Language and also courses such as: Art History, Drawing, Anthropology, Italian Drama Studies, and Marine Biology. The program is located in Pisciotta, a small town on the Mediterranean coast about ninety miles south of Naples and even closer to the world-famous Roman and Greek monuments of Pompeii and Paestum. Students will pursue the intensive study of Italian language and culture in a beautiful and historic setting, while earning full undergraduate, graduate and in-service credit. Class size is small and students receive individual attention. With the exception of Italian language, all classes are taught in English.

Pisciotta is located in the recently established Cilento National Park, the Columns in Italysecond largest in Italy. Famed for its unspoiled mountains, forests and spectacular beaches, the National Park also features ancient and medieval archaeological sites, beautifully preserved hill-towns, and some of Italy's oldest groves of olive trees. Pisciotta is also within easy reach of the stunning Greek temples at Paestum and the historic and wildly picturesque medieval towns of Amalfi and Ravello. The unique buried city of Pompeii and the outstanding art collections of Naples are only two hours away. The program includes a two day excursion to Florence and concludes with three days devoted to the monuments of Rome and the Vatican.

Though the academic program is a demanding one, students will also have time to enjoy the slower pace of life in Pisciotta. The outdoor cafés and restaurants are delightful, and the nearest beach is just a fifteen minute walk down the hill. Hiking in the National Park is another option, and there is some nightlife in the area too.

FOR SUMMER 2016, students will choose from one of the following electives:

1. Theater and Performance:
Contemporary Italian Drama
Prof. Lenora Champagne
Italian performance and plays from the 20th century are considered in their social and political contexts, including the works of Dario Fo, a performer and playwright who received the Nobel Prize in literature. The course culminates in a student performance of selected scenes and excerpts, staged in an ancient piazza.

2. Art & Design/Painting:
In the Field: Landscape Painting and Its History
Prof. Beth Livensberger
This studio course uses observational painting to deepen students’ connection to Pisciotta, and to personalize their study of the Italian plein air tradition. With intensive one-on-one instruction, the course is appropriate for all levels of studio experience. Novices will learn techniques to build observational drawing skills as well as the basics of oil painting: composition, paint mixing and color, and perspective. Intermediate and advanced painters will focus on conveying their sense of the environment through quick sketches as well as fully developed projects. Looking at art, journaling, readings and discussion, and field trips inform the course’s dual focus on history and practice. Painting as act and record of perception serves as an anchor for engaging questions of how artists build relationships to place.

3. Art History:
Land of Pleasure and Destruction: Campania’s Role in the History of Art
Prof. Sarah Warren
This course examines the region around Pisciotta as an originating point for two distinctly modern discourses—the discipline of art history and international tourism. From the seventeenth century, Campania served as the terminus of the Grand Tour, the trek undertaken by upper-class Northern Europeans to educate themselves in the classical heritage of the ancient Mediterranean. This model of international travel and personal enrichment served as the basis for some of the first examples of modern art historical scholarship. We will further examine the influence of such sites as Pompeii, Paestum, Naples, Amalfi, and Ravello on the development of neo-classicism, the gothic, and romanticism in Western art and literature.