Why study in Florence?

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Study in Italy with Gonzaga-in-Florence
MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN

Dr. Patrick Burke
Dean, Gonzaga-in-FlorenceDean of Gonzaga-in-Florence, Dr. Pat Burke
For 45 years Gonzaga-in-Florence students have discovered that Florence is still the place of Renaissance, of the emergence of a new image of self, and a deepening and enriching of the meaning of human life and history. The energy and vision that was required by the Gonzaga Jesuits who founded the Gonzaga-in-Florence program in 1963 has been passed on in various ways to all the students who have studied under its aegis. Having been a student in the program during the 1964-65 academic year and having taught in the program since 1989, I speak from personal experience of its remarkably transformative effect.

With more than fifty different courses across fourteen different disciplines, we seek to refine the quality of your oral and written expression in English and Italian and the quality of your thinking relative to the analysis, synthesis, and interpretation of arguments and texts.  What makes Gonzaga-in-Florence truly distinctive among all study abroad programs is its interdisciplinary approach to the curriculum characterized by plenary sessions in which professors challenge each other on timely issues that traverse their disciplines. This challenge approach made the Jesuits historically the school masters of Europe, and is manifest in the Renaissance Track and the social science block. This spirit is infused in the travel part of the program.

Essential to the Jesuit character of our program, we offer many occasions for you to examine and enrich your spiritual and religious life. Because the program is committed to a faith that does justice, several community service opportunities will be made available to you. Our Student Life Associate Dean and staff will address every aspect of your stay in Florence with the utmost concern for your personal health, safety, and growth.

I invite you to consider spending a semester, or your junior year, abroad with us to experience a journey of a lifetime.

"Florence instantly felt like home with the help of the entire Gonzaga-in-Florence faculty and staff. There are no other study abroad programs like it - a once in a lifetime opportunity."

- Via Hersholt, GU
  • challenge your thinking
    Gonzaga-in-Florence offers courses to challenge, maximize, and enhance your study abroad experience.
  • explore Italy and beyond
    Gonzaga-in-Florence travel program brings into equilibrium your experiences in the classroom and during your travels.
  • expand your global perspective
    through the Gonzaga-in-Florence program
  • develop your total self
    Spend a year, semester, or summer in Italy with Gonzaga-in-Florence.

Study in Italy with Gonzaga-in-Florence

To the Gonzaga-in-Florence student, Italy is much more than a boot-shaped peninsula in the Mediterranean; it is an opportunity of a lifetime.  In 1963, Gonzaga University, a Jesuit institution located in Spokane, Washington, developed a program in Florence, Italy, which was designed to immerse students in both Italian and European life and culture.

Gonzaga chose Florence because the city is central to the past of Italy and to European civilization itself. Capital of the region of Tuscany, Florence inherits the culture of the Etruscans, the mysterious forgotten people who were heirs to the glory of Greece long before there was a Rome. The city was founded by Roman veterans returning from the wars. More than any other city of Italy, Florence was the stalwart defender of civic liberty during the Renaissance. Her intensely loyal citizenry produced the people and ideas that served as models for a Europe in transition from the medieval to the modern.

Florentine museums are crowded with the paintings that transformed European taste in the fifteenth century; her streets are lined with buildings that initiated modern architecture. Yet, the city is more than a museum piece. It is intensely alive - a center of modern art, fashion, and refinement.

Florence is also central to Italy’s present. It is three hours by train to the region of Lombardy, the humming center of Italy’s economic miracle and a stepping-off place for the ski slopes and lakes of the Alps. It is also three hours to Venice, a city which no photograph can do justice. It is two hours to Rome, capital of Italy and of the Church, where ancient, medieval, and modern culture mingle in every street. It is four hours to Naples, Pompeii, and Mount Vesuvius, the southern region no traveler would want to miss.

Here in Florence, Italy’s center, Gonzaga maintains a campus offering a core of historical, business, cultural, and sociological studies, rich and varied in content, but unified by the experience of Italy, past and present.



Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act: Information regarding crime prevention advice, policies concerning the reporting of any crimes which occurred on the campus (and other specified locations), other security and safety-related policies, as well as the crime statistics for the last three calendar years may be found in the Gonzaga-In-Florence Safety & Security Guide, available at: http://www.gonzaga.edu/Student-Life/Student-Handbook/default.asp. This Guide is revised each year and the most recent version is available after October 1.