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"They say there is no such thing as a perfect moment but when we stepped into the Sistine Chapel, deserted, standing empty just for us, it wasn't just a perfect moment but a mind-blowing, perfect hour. What more can I say other than, thank you with all my heart for a truly life-changing trip."

LF Gap Year Course 2007

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Tutors

NICK ROSS

Director of Art History Abroad. He has taught in Italy for over 22 years, published books on Canaletto, Miro and an artistic guide to Florence. In addition Nick has written numerous book reviews and presented an arts programme for the Discovery Channel. He is an active director whose love of Italy is infectious and he is driven to continually add to the cultural experience of the courses. In May he was voted the No.1 Guide in the Daily Telegraph Review.

ANNABEL HOWARD

Annabel claims to write, but that's really just a cover story for spending as much time as possible in Italy, talking about art and drinking Prosecco. She is about to complete a Masters at the UEA, and is working on a biography of the psychedelic painter Pontormo. She graduated from Oxford with a first in art history in 2007, thinks Vasari was a cunning fox, and given half a chance would live on the Capitol Hill, Rome, and walk through the forum every day.

STEVE NELSON

Studied at Cardiff and Birmingham where he received an MA in Fine Art. In 1999 he was appointed the Arts Council of England Helen Chadwick Fellow which enabled him to work on his sculpture in Rome and Oxford. He exhibits both in Britain and abroad while also teaching at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford, Tate Britain, Hayward Gallery and Whitechapel Art Gallery. Details of his current exhibition can be seen by visiting; http://www.manandeve.co.uk/exhib_current.php

LUKE BRYAN

In 2008 Luke completed a Masters degree in the History of Art at Birkbeck College, London, where he specialised in the painting and scuplture of the early Italian Renaissance. Having spent several months of his own gap year in Italy, Luke loves having the opportunity to introduce others to its wealth of art and culture. He would gladly give his left arm for the chance to own a painting by Cosimo Tura, although probably not his right.

OLIVIA DOBELL

An ex-AHA student whose trip ended with watching sunrise over the forum in Rome, Olivia read History of Art at Cambridge University where she specialised in Venetian architecture and Surrealism, for which she gained a 2:1. Yet to break out of Europe, she uses all available time and resources to return to Italy and, if abandoned in a Venetian campo, could survive quite happily on spritz all'aperol. In London Olivia works on events and exhibitions but most recently she is working as an intern at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice. Olivia's Italian loves are Bernini, Caravaggio and Balla, but her French guilty secret is Gustave Caillebotte.

CHARLIE WINTON
	Studied Art History at Warwick University specialising in the Early Florentine Renaissance and Venetian Art and Architecture. She lived in Venice before working in Bologna where she taught for three years. As well as all her teaching for AHA, Charlie runs AHA's Dilettante & Family programmes.

RICHARD STEMP
		Lecturer at the National Gallery and Tate Modern. After studying Natural Sciences and History of Art at Cambridge, he completed a PhD on fifteenth-century sculpture in Ferrara. He wrote and narrated the video for the National Gallery's exhibition ‘Florence in the 1470's and presented ‘Art in the National Gallery' for Channel 4 Education as well as the follow up series entitled ‘Tate Modern'. His book "The Secret Language of the Renaissance", has been sold all over the world. Click here for Michael Baigent's review in the Mail on Sunday.

ROSE BALSTON

Rose completed her MA in History of Art at Edinburgh University in 2006. After studying languages at Salamanca University she joined the AHA team over 3 years ago. She is unceasingly excited about all things Italian, be it the glorious Pantheon, mysterious Pontormo or bubbly prosecco. She is a keen pianist and singer; one of the many delights of being taught by Rose is to hear her demonstrate the acoustics in churches once noted for their choirs. Alongside her work in Italy Rose is the founder of Art History UK, where she leads cultural days and courses throughout London.

ANDY MACKAY
	Andy studied Art History at St Andrews University before undertaking a postgraduate MA in Arts Criticism at The City University, London. He is about to finish a PhD at Leiden University in The Netherlands (on the work of E.M Forster and Virginia Woolf) and works at The British Library.

ALEX FIELDING

A former student of AHA, Alex has since pursued a real passion for all things Italian. She went on to study History at Oxford University before gaining her MA at the Courtauld in the architectural history of Rome. Since graduating in 2007 she has worked at a commercial gallery in London, specialising in Modern British art. She has curated a number of important exhibitions in this field and written a book on one of the gallery's leading artists. For Alex, AHA trip highlights invariably include Giotto frescos, Bernini buildings, picnics, poems (high-brow or home-made), Martini sundowners, endless chatter (arty or otherwise) and hearty fare of all descriptions. Alex has recently been commissioned to write the history of an old English family which she will be doing alongside her teaching in Italy.

DAN EVANS

After completing an AHA course, Dan studied History of Art at Manchester University where he graduated in 2001 with first class honours. Dan specialized in Italian Renaissance Villas & Gardens and French Revolutionary History Painting. He is currently AHA's Operations Manager and is based in the Suffolk office. He was the silver medal winner of the 2008 Paul Morrison Guide of the Year Award in association with Wanderlust and the Daily Telegraph. His final meal would be an egg and crab tramezzini from the "Football Bar" in Venice followed by an anchovy and tomato scamorza grigliato at "Sausage & Beans" in Rome.

BENJ WALTON

Benj read History of Art at Cambridge, specialising in Venetian architecture and the paintings of Titian. He works full-time as a curator and general factotum at a commercial London gallery and as a part-time private tutor. Benj thoroughly enjoys painting, singing, cooking and taking long baths (sometime simultaneously). He also knows that the real secret to being a great artist is wearing a fine beard.

JAMES MCDONAUGH
	After taking his degree in Philosophy & Theology at Oxford University, James went on to gain a Diploma in Art History and a Masters in Architectural History at the Courtauld Institute of Art in 2003. He has lectured on trips abroad for the Courtauld Institute, the National Arts Collection Fund, and for numerous schoolsand travel companies. He runs his own touring business for private clients.

KATE BRYAN

Kate Bryan currently lives in Hong Kong where she is Deputy Director of a commercial gallery speciaising in international contemporary art. She is also the HK contributing editor for several art journals and culture magazines. Prior to life in Asia, Kate was a dedicated member of the British Museum staff, working on the blockbuster exhibition, Michelangelo's Drawings. Kate graduated from Warwick University and recently completed her postgraduate thesis on Donatello and Titian's Penitent Magdalens. She is equally serious about feminist art history and the joys of calimari with prosecco.

GRAHAM FAWCETT

Graham is a writer, broadcaster, translator from Italian and French, and teacher. He lived in Tuscany for 4 years working at the British Institute in Florence and now teaches courses, workshops, 'on location' and other special events in poetry from across the world and down the centuries, principally for The Poetry School in London. He is AHA's poetry and literature expert, has worked for BBC Radio 3 over many years as the writer and presenter of literature and music programmes, takes groups to Italy for weekends on the poets of past and present in Florence, Rome and Recanati, and also teaches in Spain. Among Graham's new projects is a brand new series of monthly supper lectures, The Book You Always Meant To Read, on Dante's Divine Comedy, at St Olave's Church in London. For further information visit www.grahamfawcett.co.uk

LUCIE BAIRD
	As well as being an experienced tutor, Lucie works in the Travel department for Guardian News and Media. Lucie completed her MA focusing on Seventeenth Century Italian Realism and the Baroque at the Courtauld Institute in 2002 and her BA Hons in Economics and Business from Durham University in 2001.

NICK READETT-BAYLEY
	An ex-AHA student, Nick studied at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and then gained his diploma at the Bartlett School of Architecture [UCL]. Nick co-founded AROS architects 5 years ago since when he has designed cities and buildings around the world.

CATHERINE MCCORMACK

Catherine joined AHA in 2005. She studied Art History and Italian at UCL, and in 2007 she also gained a Masters degree in Art History from UCL, specialising in Caravaggio's depictions of feet! She is about to embark on a PhD researching the body parts of female saints. Catherine has enjoyed her fair share of dolce vita, amatriciana and baroque ecstacies in Rome where she lived for two years, but now she teaches Art History and Cultural Studies at UCS. She has contributed to various guide books including Time Out Florence (2007) and is author of A Hedonist's Guide to Rome (2006). She has a special soft spot for Dante, and if she could, would eat at Banco Giro by the Rialto in Venice everyday.

TOM NICKSON
	Ex AHA student, Tom read art history at Cambridge before doing a PhD at the Courtauld Institute, London. He is now lecturer in medieval art and architecture at the University of York, specialising in medieval Spain. Tom especially likes saints, stews, and Siena; Borromini, basil and bling; San Giovanni Carbonara in Naples, the mosaics in the baptistery in Florence, and marinated anchovies.

BEN STREET

Ben teaches Art History at Westminster School and is a lecturer and storyteller at the National Gallery for audiences aged 4 to 99. He writes bi-monthly columns on new and old art for Art21 and Saatchi Online, all of which are available at his website. He studied Art History and English Literature at Edinburgh University in the late twentieth century. In 2008 Ben was nominated for the Paul Morrison Travel Guide Award for his work with Art History Abroad. If he could play darts with any art historical figure it would be Poussin, probably.

GRANT ROGERS

Grant is an artist & has worked for AHA for a while now. He likes eating, cycling, dancing & discussing "Stuff" with the air of authority of somebody who really knows what he (or she) is talking about. He has managed to deceive the National Gallery, NPG & numerous other art galleries, publishers & film companies that he is quite clever & they have yet to find out how to get rid of him. Singularly un-ambitious he continues to confuse the Imperial War Museum education department & was recently appointed as a Fellow in Holocaust Education for Yad Vashem, Jerusalem.

HELEN OAKDEN

Helen studied history of art at Manchester University and at the Courtauld Institute where she was awarded her Masters in the architectural history of Rome. An ex AHA student, she has worked in many galleries, including the Whitworth Museum in Manchester, Somerset House and the Royal Academy. Helen was an editor of the Burlington Magazine and continues writing for other art journals and magazines. She teaches History of Art A-Level at St Mary's School in Ascot. Helen has been known to weep in front of Botticelli paintings and to wildly throw away all maps & itineraries in order to have an adventure.

SIMON CALLERY
	An artist known internationally, his work is in the collections of Tate, British Museum and Arts Council of England. Educated at Campions school in Athens, before graduating with first class honours from Cardiff college of Art, he has worked in Turin and now lives in London. In 2006 he will be working with Wimbledon College of Art on Urban landscape development and regeneration.

OLI ROSS
	Currently the Vicar of St Olaves in the City of London and Chaplain to the Cloth Worker's Guild and Trinity House. Oliver's first degree was in African History and Anthropology, before studying Divinity at Cambridge. He is an authority on the Early Church, particularly in Rome, Ravenna and Istanbul.