Duke in Venice Summer School
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Summer School is suspended in 2020.
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The Summer School did not take place in 2019.
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Art, Food, and Finance in Venice: An Immersive Experience
May 28 – June 29, 2018
Program Director: Prof. Marianna Torgovnick, Duke English Department
Venice really is that beautiful: a magical, soul-inspiring place, for which you will feel nostalgic even before you leave. Art, Food, and Finance in Venice aims to immerse you in the Venetian experience, which you will be living during Summer Session I.
We will spend one day a week (two, maximum) in a seminar-style class (2.5 hours, as at Duke), with three units: In the Beginning; Trade, Empire, and Power; and Modern Venice—all with coordinating, on-your-feet, weekly two-hour tours of the city that highlights an artistic or public policy issue, as well as a coordinating excursion.
We will also range further afield to understand Venice in its imperial contexts (with a trip to Ravenna and/or Roma), in its artistic ones (Firenze [Florence] and/or Verona), and in terms of finance today (Padova or Milano).
Throughout, we will take our study of Venetian food seriously, with class excursions to Malamocco (an ancient fishing village), accompanied by a seafood feast, to the famous Venetian food market, and to Bologna, a nearby gustatory capital. We will also visit Venice’s stunning collections of art, not just in museums, but also in sites such as palazzos and churches (including, we hope, a concert in the Frari).
Finally, we will consider, in an ongoing way the financial underpinnings of the Venetian experience: commerce and trade; money-lending and banking; and tourism, which we will both share and analyze. In 2018, we will also ponder ongoing, and increasing, threats to Venice’s fragile environment, visible at many of the sites we will visit.
Suitable for all majors: one weekly reading or viewing, one oral report; one final paper or experiential project.