At the turn of the 20th century, filled with nervous energy
and cautious expectations, my great great grandparents boarded a boat from
Italy to America. They were no doubt
fueled by the promise of a fresh start in the States; new opportunities and a
better life for their – OUR – family. I
can’t help but feel that my present set of emotions somehow emulates what they
must have been feeling more than a century ago.
For the first time in my life of nineteen years, I am leaving this
country.
One week from today, I will be on the ground in Rome,
Italy. I’m participating in a study
abroad program through the University of Arkansas at the U of A
Rome Center. Every summer, our
university sends some 60-80 students to the center – which is actually a
historic Renaissance Palazzo located in the heart of the historic district, and
just a five minute walk from Vatican City!
Classes at the center include anything from economics to classical
studies to Italian language and culture.
The particular program I will be participating in this
summer is called “The Renaissance in Rome”.
It is a program geared toward History and English majors (of which I am
both), and it is also a great way to satisfy requirements for the U of A’s
Medieval and Renaissance Studies Minor (which I am also pursuing). I will be taking 6 hours of credit total,
which include a 3 hour class focusing on the Petrarchan sonnet, and a 3 hour
class focusing on the history of Italian Renaissance literature.
While in Rome, I will be staying in an apartment in
Trastevere, a neighborhood located just south of the main historic district and
about a fifteen minute walk from the Rome Center. I will also be spending one weekend in
Florence, a city widely hailed as the “birthplace of the Renaissance”.
My goal is to update this blog a few times each week, time
permitting. I’m hoping to use this as
both a personal and academic space – a forum where I can discuss both the
everyday encounters I experience living abroad, as well as some of the
interesting historical information I learn through my classes and site visits.
Although my ancestors
left Italy for America with the future in mind, it is with the past in mind
that I leave America for Italy. This
trip is a pilgrimage for me on multiple levels. At face value, I am travelling
to a modern westernized nation with a rich and diverse history. But for me, it’s a kind of mystical world – a
place that has existed in my mind for as long as I can remember, but only as a
wisp of intangible ideas and words.
Now I’m finally getting a chance to make it all real – to
pair faces with the many names and ideas swirling around in my mind, and to
walk in the footsteps of true academic royalty.
I will traverse the Via Giulia, I will gaze upon the Sistine Chapel, I
will peruse the works of Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Bernini, and Caravaggio, and I
will. Eat. Lots. Of. Gelato.
In the true spirit of the Italian Renaissance, I would like
to make a nod to the authors of the past and end with a quote from Giovanni
Mirandola’s Oration on the Dignity of Man.
Mirandola entreats us all to realize our own inherent potential, “…so
that, dissatisfied with mediocrity, we shall eagerly desire the highest things
and shall toil with all our strength to obtain them, since we may if we wish.”
Thank you for your kind attention. Stay tuned for more!
Brock DeMark
--
Read more from Brock at http://brockdemarkrome.blogspot.com/
For more information on the U of A Renaissance in Rome program at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/renrome
