Celebrating 25 years of experiential learning in Italy

You might not realize, but the dreamy hilltop town of Cortona, perched in the Tuscan countryside and rich with history dating back centuries, has a unique and unlikely connection to Edmonton. 

The School in Cortona, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, is a residential program offered to University of Alberta students interested in experiential learning abroad in Italy — where academic study is combined with regional travel and cultural exploration. 

Founded by Professor Helena Fracchia, The School in Cortona offers courses in social sciences and humanities. Students apply historical and interdisciplinary perspectives, taking lessons from the archeological, cultural and artistic significance of the area, to examine how it can inform our transforming world, specifically in the digital and energy transitions facing us today. 

“Our students get a really immersive experience and they develop quite an intimate connection with the community,” says Lori Thorlakson, Director of the School in Cortona. 

“What we try to do is draw connections between the past. So the ancient past, the medieval past, the Renaissance past and some of the challenges that the world faces looking forward. We’re set in Italy, so the program speaks to European history, but we are also taking a new and critical look at that history and trying to show students all of the fascinating cross-cultural influences and exchanges that have shaped European history, which is a story that's not often told.”

The program, which now welcomes more than 100 University of Alberta undergraduate students annually during its winter and spring intakes, has amassed more than 1,300 alumni in the school’s 25-year history. 

In addition to the course work, an important aspect of the program is students involving themselves in the town and its culture. Students engage in conversations with local shopkeepers, the restaurateurs who keep them fed and the workers at the Hotel Italia, a 15th-century converted mansion in the centre of Cortona, where they stay for the 10 weeks of study.

“The Cortona Program embodies the phrase ‘it takes a village,’ through its interconnectivity with the community and the alumni who continue to share their memories and learned experiences with the world,” says undergraduate student Taydem Larocque, who is currently studying anthropology and who attended both the winter 2023 and spring 2024 cohorts. “Because of my academic interests in public archaeology and experiential education, Cortona became a place where I was able to apply my own academic interests and knowledge into an experiential learning environment.”

The small class sizes allow for connections between the students and their professors. Students often engage in conversations about their studies over group dinners, hikes and day trips to locations like Rome, Pompeii and Siena. 

“We tell our students to be curious and open to making connections,” says Thorlakson. “Overwhelmingly, when I talk to them, they tell us what was so valuable about the program was the creation of community. They feel part of the community here in Cortona and make enduring relationships. They are able to develop a sense of community with classmates in a way they couldn’t back on campus. They're making lifelong friendships and then learning a lot of things about themselves in the process.”

Celebrating 25 Years

On May 14, Fracchia, along with faculty at the school, including Thorlakson and local Cortona program coordinator Marco Pacioni, were joined by members of the University of Alberta for a tour of the Etruscan and Roman artifacts in the Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca e della Citta di Cortona, where many of the artifacts are the product of University of Alberta digs led by Fracchia and her husband, Professor Maurizio Gualtieri. 

Following the tour, President Bill Flanagan and Vice-Dean Marie-Eve Morin attended a ceremony at Sant'Agostino, a former convent with a church that dates from the thirteenth century, for the unveiling of a stone plaque commemorating 25 years of cooperation between the University of Alberta and the Commune of Cortona. Local dignitaries and students from the first spring session at the school were also in attendance.

The following day, a signing ceremony to renew the University's Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Cortona was held in the council chambers of the medieval city hall. Flanagan and Cortona Mayor Luciano Meoni signed the document, with Morin, Fracchia, Thorlakson, Pacioni, Associate Vice President Research Andre McDonald and program students present to witness the important event.

“We had a really lovely 25th-anniversary celebration,” says Thorlakson.