Concise Encyclopedia of Tufts History
Sauer, Anne
Branco, Jessica
Bennett, John
Crowley, Zachary
2000
Tufts in Italy, 1961-1968
Tufts in Italy was established in 1961 to give students interested in classics the opportunity to study overseas. Undergraduate students at any university in America were encouraged to apply for the Tufts-sponsored program. | |
Developed by the Department of classics in conjunction with the Vergilian Society of the United States, Tufts in Italy was essentially designed for students with a strong interest in classics. The program was limited to twenty students, and was open to all American undergraduates, not just students at Tufts. Upon arrival in Naples, enrolled students took classes taught entirely by visiting Tufts faculty members. During the first year of the program, five courses were offered, three of them required. The course number would expand to ten, and then to twenty-six courses during the program's life span. The only requirement of incoming students was one year of college-level Latin. | |
In Naples, students were housed first at the Villa Vergilian, about fifteen minutes out of the city, and later at a pair of boarding houses in Naples itself. Meals were served at the boarding houses, but students were given an allowance to eat out once a week. Students participating in the program were also able to experience the rest of Italy. Students in archeology classes participated in weekly archeological digs outside of Naples, and students in Italian Civilization classes took university-sponsored tours of Naples. The entire group of students also took three week-long trips to other cities in Italy. The group spent a week each in Rome, Sicily, and Florence at different points during the year. A summer session was added to the program in 1966 to offer more students a chance to see Italy. | |
Tufts in Italy was suspended in 1968, a victim of rising costs. The university could no longer afford to support the program, as costs had risen dramatically since its inception. | |
Source: TAR, OBS | |
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