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Academics • International Programs • Florence

Florence Summer Program

Open to all university students, the Florence Summer Program provides an interdisciplinary learning environment to study Architecture, Italian, and Art History. You will spend two months broadly examining visual culture as a social, political, and aesthetic construct through an art history course and either an architecture or art studio.

Collaborative in nature, the studios use drawing and design as a medium for exploration and visual experimentation, as you study the nuanced layers of history within the dynamic context of contemporary life. Work in studios extends into the streets of Florence and surrounding cities, allowing you to engage the full cultural landscape of contemporary Europe. The small size of the program allows you to work closely with professors in developing a body of work that is highly personalized, culminating in well-developed final projects.

Summer 2027 Program

May 21 - July 30, 2027
10 college credits
Open to all university students.


Apply Now
Admissions are rolling. Applications close on February 1, 2027.

Questions?

For more information, please contact: Courtney Cushard
Special Programs Manager courtney.cushard@wustl.edu.

Courses

Students gather around a table with white architectural models. one student is presenting their project.

Architecture Studio

Summer Architectural Design Studio in Florence, Italy (6 Credits)
Faculty: Constance Vale

Open to all WashU undergraduate students, this immersive architectural design studio brings students to Florence, Italy, and invites them to use the city itself as their primary site of investigation for a creative, research-driven design project. Florence is a place where living culture and deep history overlap—where daily life unfolds within an environment shaped by centuries of architecture, art, and design. Through exploring the city, recording observations, and working across drawing, photography, printmaking, and physical modeling, students engage Florence as a dynamic laboratory for experimentation and discovery. The studio welcomes students from architecture and other fields, offering all participants the opportunity to interpret the city in architectural terms through their own disciplinary lens.

While the studio’s thematic prompt changes annually, all iterations share core aims: to analyze the city through on-site study; to investigate how place, history, and culture shape the built environment; and to consider how past and future coexist within architectural imagination. Students complete design studies and a final project that synthesizes their research, fieldwork, and creative exploration. Excursions in Florence and across Italy introduce significant examples of contemporary and historical architecture, art, and design. By the end of the course, students produce a cohesive body of work that reflects how the city of Florence in transformation—shaped by its history, inhabited in the present, and imagined for the future.

Art History

Rethinking Renaissance Visual Culture (3 Credits)
Faculty: Katharina Giraldi-Haller

This course explores the complexities, innovations, and magnificence of two centuries of history through its visual production: architecture, painting, sculpture, etc. It challenges the established understanding of Renaissance Florence as a cohesive phenomenon, instead constructing a more diverse notion of Florence’s aesthetic language. Emphasis is placed on those motifs that permit interdisciplinary connections to drawing, design, and architecture that you explore in your studio courses in Florence. Beyond the assigned textbooks, your visual guide is the city of Florence itself.

Italian Language in Elba

(1 credit)

Offered through a partnership with the Italian language school Europass, this week-long workshop builds a strong understanding of the Italian language and provides an instant immersion in the culture, giving you the necessary foundation for an authentic experience during your time in Florence. Morning classes develop your conversational skills. During the afternoon, you explore the island of Elba through cultural programs, art history classes, and free time. Activities include sailing and swimming in the Tyrrhenian Sea, hiking in the mountains, visiting historic sites such as Napoleon’s fortress in Portoferraio, and enjoying the beach.

ELIGIBILITY, APPLICATION, CREDITS

Any WashU student can study abroad in the Florence Summer Program. Students must:

  • Apply on time
  • Have and maintain a 3.0 GPA
  • Be in good academic and behavioral standing with the University
  • Attend the two mandatory prep meetings before departing for the program

There is no language prerequisite for the summer program.

Students apply at sa.washu.edu beginning in September 2026. You will write a short essay about your interest in going abroad and what it will bring to your academics and personal experience. More details are given in the application.

Upon successful completion, you receive a total of 10 credits:

  • 6 credits of architecture studio
  • 3 credits of art and architecture history
  • 1 credit of Italian Language

For Sam Fox School students, the studio and history courses count toward your major, including as Sam Fox School Elective courses. These credits may also count toward a minor in architecture, or fulfill the Humanities credit for engineering students.

PROGRAM INFORMATION

Program Dates May 21- July 30, 2027

Living in Florence Florence is a beautiful and vibrant city with outstanding cultural amenities. The school is in the heart of the city near markets, shops, cultural sites, and the train station. Students can share furnished apartments near school. These apartments include air conditioning, Wi-Fi, shared kitchens, laundry facilities, and utilities. Estimated cost per person for shared apartments are $2,400 for a double or triple room and $2,800 for a single room for the length of the program.

Students may also find their own accommodations if they choose to. Costs will vary depending on location, quality, and amenities provided.

Passports & Student Visas Students obtain their own passports, which must be valid for 6 months after the program concludes. The School can assist with your visa application process.

Tuition & Financial Aid A limited number of scholarships are available, based on need and merit. Please indicate on your application if you are seeking financial assistance. Tuition is $16,518. Students are responsible for airfare, food, art supplies, and books. Students will be billed an additional $3,300 approximately for course materials, field trips, museum passes, etc.

BUT I’M NOT AN ARCHITECTURE STUDENT….

From faculty Constance Vale: I’m glad to hear you’re interested in the Florence summer program - It is the most fun and I highly encourage you to consider it! I’ve had several studio art students participate over the past two years (three last summer and three the year before), and all have been very successful in the course.

We’ve approached their participation in two different ways. Two years ago, all three students chose to develop independent art projects related to the architecture studio brief. I’m very comfortable facilitating this approach, which operates somewhat like an independent study. We would work together to define the project and its deliverables, maintaining a workload comparable to the architecture students while allowing you to work in your preferred medium and focus on your own artistic interests. I can’t teach you the medium, so it has to be something you already have some experience with.

Last summer, all three art students chose to take on the architecture project alongside the rest of the studio, and they did a fantastic job! They learned a great deal. The way I structure and teach the studio makes it very accessible to students with different backgrounds and levels of experience. You certainly don’t need an architecture background to participate, even if you’re completing the architecture project. The studio is designed to accommodate students at a wide range of levels from any field of study. Last summer, for example, we had four freshmen, two seniors, and a mix of sophomores and juniors from architecture, 3 artists, and 1 engineer. So you likely wouldn’t be alone in having limited architectural experience, and a strong background in art is a tremendous advantage when approaching architectural design at WashU.

I would absolutely encourage you to consider joining us!

Student Work from Florence Summer