Italy Transformare! Transform!

The Rome Alliance offers a substantive alternative to the more normative cultural tourism all too common with most design-based study abroad programs.

By moving beyond the classroom, you are exposed not only to buildings, landscapes, gardens and urban contexts, but also no less importantly, the historical and cultural forces out of which they emerged over three millennia.

  • Location: The Rome Center, managed by the University of Arkansas, Rome, Italy
  • Term: Fall (January-May) or Spring (August-December)
  • Language: Taught in English
  • Who: Architecture students
  • When: Usually after your third year
  • Credits: 12-15 credit hours (includes a studio and meets B.Arch off-campus requirement)
  • Updated course, cost, accommodation and details
  • Details: Contact our Center for Student Development at 865-974-5265 or UT Programs Abroad Office at 865-974-3177.

Commencing with the Grand Tour in the 18th century, travel studies long have been an integral component of an architect’s education.

Through exercises that include on-site measured drawings, sketching, photography and writing, you’ll learn to observe, analyze and synthesize, developing your ability to think critically about design in relation to its physical, cultural context and geo-political contexts. Italian urban centers offer the unique opportunity to explore 20th-century modernism as it confronted the weight of history. Designing for contemporary programs in complexly layered historically significant environments is at the core of the Rome Alliance experience

A water feature and plaza leading up to a historical ruin.

The Rome Alliance

Situated in the heart of the city, the Rome Center is just minutes from the Vatican, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon and other legendary sites in Rome. The SEC Rome Alliance Program is located and managed by the University of Arkansas’s Rome Center. The alliance, a developing consortium of Southeastern Conference universities with architecture and design colleges, includes the University of Arkansas, University of Tennessee, Auburn University and LSU. Other associated universities include Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Philadelphia University and the University of Rome (La Sapienza).