Texas Tech University’s Department of Landscape Architecture faculty-led study abroad in the College of Agricultural Science and Natural Resources is an extensive semester long program in Italy. The program is housed at the Santa Chiara Study Center in the rural hill town of Castiglion Fiorentino. The center is located in southern rural Tuscany, approximately 50 miles southeast of Florence and 125 miles northeast of Rome. The landscape setting offers the opportunity to experience a rural and urban landscape that is a blend of Etruscan, Greek, Roman, Medieval, Renaissance and contemporary expressions.
The primary academic studio emphasis for the semester will focus on the organization, form and character of urban spaces such as piazzas and villa courtyards. As part of the 12 credit academic program the students analyze and develop an urban design solution for Piazza Garibaldi the primary civic space in Castiglion Fiorentino. An integral part of the academics are structured weekly trips to such noted sites as: Piazza del Campo-Sierra, Piazza della Signoria-Florence, Piazza San Marco-Venice, Villa d’Este-Tivoli and Villa Medici-Fiesole.
Special guest lectures and activities are included by prominent Italians which introduce the students to the culture and art history of the region and Italy. In addition the students have the opportunity for individual travel on the weekends as well as a week-long fall break that in the past the students have chosen such locations as Paris, London, Berlin, Prague and Athens. The program concludes in late November with a formal exhibit of the design work by all the academic programs at the center during the fall semester.