Summer Holiday Courses in Southern Italy - Art History Abroad
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"AHA courses are much better than A level History of Art as a preparation for university work. Exposure to real paintings, sculpture and buildings develops visual alertness. Seeing art in the cities where it was made reveals how it was shaped by its cultural context. Students from AHA have been made aware of many of the problems and excitements of academic Art History before they begin their BA."
Professor John Onians
The School of World Art Studies, University of East Anglia
Summer Holiday Courses in Southern Italy
Southern Italy is the less obvious Summer option from AHA. This course travels through Sicily, across the Straits of Messina to Reggio Calabria, up to Naples and finally to Rome over a period of two weeks.
Uniquely, this course starts and is largely based around Sicily, the most vibrant, extraordinary and dramatic part of Italy. Yet Sicily seems as daunting as it does alluring. Perhaps it is because it has a sinister mystique or that it was conquered by so many peoples. First the Greeks, then the Carthaginians, then the Romans, followed by the Arabs, then Normans, the French, the Spanish and finally the Italians. The result is an amazing array of art. There are inspiring Greek and Roman remains, startling and immense Norman mosaics and sensational baroque sculpture. There is less painting in Sicily, save the mesmerizing Antonello da Messina, the bulk of paintings comes later in the trip in Naples and Rome. Naples has the obvious antique attraction of Pompei and Herculaneum as well as being the most populous Baroque city in Europe. Finally, no amount of time in Rome is wasted because since the ancient world, Rome has never left the centre stage of culture.
