Where can you experience the best examples of Renaissance architecture, examine medieval torture devices, and walk by the center of the Mafia taskforce in one afternoon? The Via Giulia in Rome! Today the rainy skies once again gave way to a few rays of sunshine when our “Art and Culture of Rome” class visited the Campo dei Fiori and the Via Giulia.
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Monument to Giordano Bruno (to mark location of his execution, he was burned alive as a heretic
in 1600) in the center of Campo dei Fiori |
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| The Mascherone, the "big mask," Farnese family fountain on the Via Giulia |
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| Bridge over Via Giulia connecting Farnese family properties - designed by Michelangelo |
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| One of the skulls on the Santa Maria dell' Orazione e Morte on the Via Giulia |
Our experiences today provide a perfect opportunity for the students to reconsider the question I posed to them at the beginning of our eight weeks together – and the theme that I have tried to weave through all of our classes and site visits: As a Walsh student experiencing a semester abroad, are you a tourist or a traveler? The historian in me is energized by the recent scholarship on this historical concept/category of analysis. Probably not so exciting for my students, but I think more than a few are “converting.” So what do our readers think? Please reply so that my students and I can compare the ideas!
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| At the Museo Criminologico - it is real! |
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| Also at the Museo Criminologico |
As much as I would love to say that we are travelers...most Walsh students will only become the tourist while in Rome. Most students do not allow themselves to be completely changed by the topics and visits that one might study while with their group. It takes that special person or people to truly change the outlook for the group or for them self. The students will notice it when they walk by lets say the Spanish steps so fast and not even notice them. Or they are stopped and asked by a local where something is in Italian. The transformation has to be noticed if not by the group but maybe by those that one my encounter throughout the day.
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ReplyDeleteWell Emma - you KNOW me - I do not let my twelve students walk by anything without noticing! As I mentioned above, I am working hard to convert some of them into history majors (and to demonstrate how serious I am, the American historian that I am will even be happy if they become Europeanists!) Jackie - you know you are one of the people I am talking about :)
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, MOST is a generalization...and before generalizing its pleasant to talk with the students. More specifically, different students have different interests. Sure, The Spanish Steps may not be of interest to some. However, fortunately, Rome has a lot to offer. GENERALLY, most of us living in Rome the past month and a half have really started to fit in with Italian culture to the best of our personal ability. Let students speak and learn for themselves. GENERALLY, most of the group has learned a lot from this experience and have become more than tourists.
ReplyDeleteI know you quite well Dr. Selby (I would call you Kelly because that is how I know you) I have taken my fair share of history courses. It is interesting to watch the Italian natives as well. They walk by these monuments with little notice. WE as students walk by with aw almost every time. I noticed myself one time walking by the spanish steps and it didn't feel the same any more.....The tourist was leaving and the traveler was taking hold. I am rewriting my travel notebook into the blog right now and I think that this is why I wanted to stay in Rome so bad....Traveling had created this great transformation in me. I was starting to move to a completely different place in my life where the things that I cherished before no longer meant the same.
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