Italy: Art, History & the Renaissance
Rome • Florence • Padua • Ravenna • Venice | 8–9 Day Featured Program
Bring art and history to life through an immersive journey across Italy’s most important artistic cities.
From ancient Rome and Renaissance Florence to Giotto’s revolutionary frescoes, Ravenna’s Byzantine mosaics, and the artistic and political power of Venice, students encounter extraordinary works in the places and cultural contexts that shaped them. With professional art-historical guidance, hands-on experiences, and time to explore Italy’s cities and culture, students discover how art connects to history, politics, religion, identity, and place.
Especially well-suited for AP Art History, art history, visual arts, and humanities programs.
Experience the Art of Italy Where It Was Created
What Students Explore
ART IN CONTEXT | Encounter major works where they were created and connect them to the people, ideas, and events that shaped them.
ANCIENT TO RENAISSANCE ITALY | Trace artistic development from ancient Roman architecture through Renaissance and Baroque painting, sculpture, and design.
ART, POWER & PATRONAGE | Explore how religious institutions, political leaders, and patrons used art and architecture to communicate ideas and influence society.
TECHNIQUE & INNOVATION | Examine fresco, mosaic, painting, sculpture, and architecture while discovering how artists transformed visual expression.
CITIES AS CLASSROOMS | Experience Rome, Florence, Padua, Ravenna, and Venice as living environments where art, history, culture, and everyday life intersect.
8-9 Day Itinerary
A Program, Built to Be Customized
This itinerary connects extraordinary works of art with the cities, people, and historical forces that produced them.
Use it as designed or customize the journey around the artists, periods, themes, and learning objectives most relevant to your students.
Activities listed below are examples and subject to availability and confirmation.
Day 1 | Welcome to Rome: Art, History & The Eternal City
Arrive in Rome and begin exploring a city where layers of ancient, Renaissance, and Baroque history exist side by side.
An EdOdyssey-led orientation introduces students to Rome’s history and major landmarks before gathering for a welcome dinner.
Sample Experiences:
Rome orientation • Historic center • Architecture & public spaces • Welcome dinner
Day 2 | The Vatican & Renaissance Rome: Art, Faith & Patronage
Explore the extraordinary artistic legacy of Vatican City with professional art-historical guidance.
Inside the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica, students encounter iconic works while examining the connections between artistic innovation, religious authority, political power, and patronage.
Sample Experiences:
Vatican Museums • Sistine Chapel • Michelangelo • St. Peter’s Basilica • Renaissance & Baroque architecture
Day 3 | Ancient Rome & Baroque Masters: Architecture, Power & Storytelling
Step inside the Colosseum to examine Roman architecture, engineering, and the role of public spectacle in ancient Rome.
Continue to the Borghese Gallery to encounter works by Bernini, Caravaggio, Raphael, and other masters before boarding a high-speed train to Florence.
Sample Experiences:
Colosseum • Roman architecture • Borghese Gallery • Bernini • Caravaggio • High-speed train to Florence
Day 4 | Renaissance Florence: Where Art Changed the World
Explore Florence as an open-air classroom and one of the great centers of Renaissance innovation.
Visit the Uffizi Gallery with a professional guide or art historian, then explore the historic center to connect major works with the artists, patrons, politics, architecture, and ideas that shaped Renaissance Florence.
Sample Experiences:
Uffizi Gallery • Renaissance masters • Giotto’s Campanile • Florence Cathedral • Renaissance walking tour
Day 5 | Giotto & the Evolution of European Art: From Florence to Padua
Travel north to Padua to experience Giotto’s Scrovegni Chapel, one of the most influential achievements in European painting.
Standing within Giotto’s fresco cycle, students examine his groundbreaking use of storytelling, space, emotion, and the human figure before putting their own observational skills to work through a creative art challenge in Padua.
Sample Experiences:
Scrovegni Chapel • Giotto frescoes • Padua • Visual analysis • Creative art challenge
Day 6 | Ravenna & the Art of Mosaics: Empire, Religion & Cultural Exchange
Travel to Ravenna, one of Italy’s most important centers of early Christian and Byzantine art.
Explore its extraordinary mosaic heritage with specialist guidance, then move from observation to creation during a hands-on mosaic workshop.
Sample Experiences:
Ravenna • Byzantine mosaics • Early Christian art • Specialist-guided visits • Mosaic workshop
Day 7 | Venice: Art, Architecture & Maritime Power
Enter Venice by train and explore a city shaped by art, architecture, commerce, religion, and political power.
Visit Piazza San Marco, St. Mark’s Basilica, and Doge’s Palace, then navigate Venice’s canals and streets while considering how geography and maritime trade shaped the city’s distinctive artistic identity.
Sample Experiences:
Piazza San Marco • St. Mark’s Basilica • Doge’s Palace • Venetian art & architecture • Vaporetto exploration
Day 8 | Reflection & Departure: Taking the Experience Home
Reflect on the works, cities, and artistic traditions encountered throughout the journey, and consider how experiencing art in its original settings shaped students’ understanding of it.
Depart Italy with a deeper appreciation for the connections between art, history, culture, and place.
Sample Experiences:
Program reflection • Final connections • Transfer to Venice Airport • Departure
Make this program your own
Start Here. Then Shape Around Your Course.
This itinerary is a starting point. Customize the program length, cities, museum visits, professional guides, workshops, and faculty-led exploration to align with your course, academic calendar, group size, and budget.
Ancient Art & Architecture
Roman architecture • Colosseum • Public space • Empire • Visual culture
Renaissance & Baroque
Michelangelo • Raphael • Giotto • Caravaggio • Bernini • Uffizi
Art, Religion & Power
Vatican • Patronage • St. Mark’s • Doge’s Palace • Political & religious imagery
Technique & Creative Practice
Fresco • Mosaic • Painting • Sculpture • Architecture • Hands-on workshops
Art in Place
Rome • Florence • Padua • Ravenna • Venice • Museums • Churches • Public spaces
Could this work for your students?
Give students the opportunity to encounter extraordinary art beyond the textbook, slide, or screen and in the places where it was created. Use this itinerary as your starting point or tell us what you’d change. We’ll work with you to align the experience with your course, students, preferred dates, group size, and budget.
Have a different arts or humanities focus in mind?