Are you wondering what a summer in Reggio Emilia looks like?
USAC offers two summer sessions, one that is five weeks and one that is four weeks long for studying in Reggio. While we recommend you attend both, if you only have time for one you’ll still have a fun-filled couple of weeks of Italian adventures.
Here’s just how much fun we pack into one summer session abroad.
Reggio Emilia Walking Tour & First Pizza
We wouldn’t welcome you to Italy any other way than providing you with a tour of the city you’ll be calling home and a taste of the local cuisine.
On your very first night, you’ll enjoy a delicious group dinner in one of the best Pizzerias in Reggio Emilia and a post-dinner walking tour around the many enchanting piazzas. On Orientation day, you’ll take a second, deeper walking tour, and visit places like the Sala del Tricolore, where the Italian flag was created before Italy was even a country! Today the mayor and the city council reunite in that very room, and they are usually happy to open it just for USAC to be able to visit. You’ll also see the Cathedral, the first stone of the major street of the via Emilia, and of course enjoy some delicious gelato.
Students enjoying their first pizza
Walking tour of Reggio Emilia
Visiting Sala del Tricolore
At the first stone of the via Emilia
First gelato!
Field Trip to Bologna
Before classes can start, we have to take a field trip!
You’ll visit the gorgeous region capital, Bologna. On this trip you’ll see the medieval leaning tower “Torre degli Asinelli”, the huge Cathedral St. Petronio, and the characteristic Mercato di Mezza offering fresh produce from all over Italy. This field trip is included in your program fees so there’s no reason not to attend!
Students in front of the Neptune Fountain
Santo Stefano Church in Bologna
Mercato di Mezzo in Bologna
Students exploring the Mercato di Mezzo in Bologna
Learning Outside the Classroom
There’s always plenty of opportunities to learn outside the classroom when you’re studying abroad. Here are few examples from Summer 2018.
Students in the Italian/International Educational Approaches: Reggio and Montessori class had the opportunity to spend a morning observing daily activities at Nido Giulia Maramotti, an infant-toddler center following the Reggio Emilia Approach.
Education students outside the classroom
Students attending the Early Childhood Education and Italian/International Educational Approaches: Reggio and Montessori courses visited the Loris Malaguzzi International Center. Here they had the opportunity to visit the permanent exhibition and learn about the Reggio Children approach and philosophy. In addition to that, they were also able to discover and play with the materials and the technologies inside the center.
In addition, education students visited REMIDA, a creative recycling center managed by Reggio Children, while Nutrition Across the Lifespan students were able to visit a pre-school in order to analyze pediatric nutrition in schools. Nutrition students also visited Luoghi di Prevenzione, a unique center where doctors teach visitors how to prevent illness by leading a healthy lifestyle. Students learned how to help people quit unhealthy habits and replace them with healthy ones.
Students at the Health & Prevention Center
Students in Healthy Aging: A Global Perspective and Nutrition Across the Lifespan class visited the local nursing home “I Tulipani.” They had a chance to observe the peculiar architecture of the facilities, designed to look like a village, and at the end of the visit they were welcomed to participate in the daily activity with the guests: making fresh pasta from scratch!
Students visiting the retirement home
Learning how to make fresh pasta
Making fresh pasta
Field Trip to the Cheese Factory
By this point, you’ve been in Italy for a few weeks so it’s time for another field trip! This time you’ll get to explore the Consorzio Vacche Rosse (cheese factory). You’ll learn all about cheese production from feeding the cows to milking, cooking the milk, shaping the wheel, aging the cheese, and the right way to taste it. Then you’ll get to indulge on delectable cheese till your hearts end. This is also included in your program fees!
Optional Overnight Tour to Ravenna & Rimini
Just because you’re abroad for a shorter amount of time doesn’t mean there isn’t still time for some overnight trips. On this optional tour (additional fee) you’ll visit the charming Ravenna, once the capital of the Western Roman Empire. You’ll be captivated with her stunning mosaics and churches and treated to a great lunch with typical piadina and squacquerone cheese. The second stop of this tour is in Rimini, also full of history with its tumultuous Renaissance rulers’ love stories, and of course the beach!
Field Trip to Ferrari Museum
Before you buckle down for finals, you’ll have one last included field trip to the Ferrari Museum. The Ferrari Museum in Maranello, linked to the famous Ferrari factory founded in 1947, hosts an exhibition of Gt, F1 and sport-race Ferrari cars, sports trophies, pictures, videos and other souvenirs of the history of Ferrari.
If you’re ready to head to Reggio Emilia you can study abroad for a summer, semester or year! Learn more on our website.
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