Arrivederci Roma
The University of Kent in Rome Spring Term is over and we’ve said our goodbyes after a fabulous 12 weeks in Rome. Our 12 students were quickly into their strides with lectures and visits. We started all together in the Forum, and we ended all together at Tivoli – lunch under the purple wisteria at the Temple of Sibilla was spectacular (watch out for the video once it has been edited and uploaded on the Kent in Rome website!).
The Ancient Historians and Archaeologists were often in the Forum, and had been out to Tivoli earlier in the term with Dr Valerie Higgins, so they were well prepared. Prof Ray Laurence had also arranged a series of other visits, and they all attended the Roman Archaeology Conference in March.
Prof. Ray Laurence teaching in the Forum
Meanwhile the Art Historians had some astonishing visits: to the restoration scaffolds in front of Raphael’s frescoes in the Sala di Costantino in the Vatican, and to Raphael’s loggia and the Cappella Niccolina (all usually off-limits and all thanks to Prof Arnold Nesselrath), as well as to the rest of the Vatican Museums. We visited so many museums and churches and exhibitions across Rome, and the students’ end of term presentations in the church of S.M. della Pace were exemplary. Visits out of Rome to Ostia, Orvieto, Spello, Perugia and Florence were memorable, as was Kate Ganz’s tour of the Palazzo Farnese.
Prof. Tom Henry teaching ‘Raphael’ in the Vatican Museums
At the end of term Kent in Rome hosted a lecture by Prof. Arnold Nesselrath ‘In the light of Raphael’ and a study visit to Tivoli, 496 years after Raphael’s visit with Castiglione, Bembo and others. This visit – see also the report at https://www.kent.ac.uk/events/europe/rome.html – brought together students from all of our programmes, together with academics spanning the range of areas that we teach in order to create a dialogue between the Ancient Historians, Archaeologists and Art Historians.
We’ll be back in January 2017 with a new cohort of students, but for now, in the words of the song, it is: Arrivederci Roma!
Prof. T.F.K. Henry
Professor of History of Art
Director, University of Kent, Rome
www.kent.ac.uk/rome
The Art Historians in Ostia with Dr. Claudia La Malfa