University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s Department of Fine Arts recently organized an 8-day trip to Italy with 30 students from across the college. On the largest UMES Study Abroad trip to date, the students visited Rome, Milan, and Venice, and showcased their work in an international exhibition at the Cascina Cuccagna Cultural Center.
The trip included stops in significant art historical sites, including the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel, the Capitoline Museums, Galleria Borghese, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. The group also got to know Italian culture through sampling local food, train and vaporetto rides, and a lecture by Korean-Italian artist and academic T-Yong Chung in Milan.
Developed by Assistant Professor and Mosely Gallery Director Mehves Lelic, the group began the trip in the nation’s capital, where they saw in person works by Michelangelo, Donatello, and Bernini, whose works are studied closely as part of the Art History curriculum at UMES. The students also participated in optional excursions, for instance to the Trevi Fountain, and took part in the local tradition of tossing a coin into the water with the wish to return next year.
After Rome, the group took the high-speed train to Milan, where they visited Fondazione Prada, one of the world’s foremost institutions of contemporary art. Their three days in Milan culminated in the student exhibition at a cultural center and arts hub, through which they shared the artwork they made at UMES with the local community.
The trip culminated in Venice, where the students saw art and architecture from Venetian Baroque and Renaissance, saw contemporary American and Italian Art at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, and visited St. Mark’s Cathedral. A group of students also joined an optional trip to Murano and watched a traditional glassblowing demonstration. The group explored the city through its enchanting canals, bridges, and winding streets, experiencing the unique mosaic of Italian, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern cultures it boasts due to its geographic location and fascinating history.
The group returned to Princess Anne tired but happy, having visited three very different parts of the country, seen some of the most significant works in Western Art History, and energized to resume Spring Semester!
