Spoleto Study Abroad
Summer Program in English
May 11 to June 8, 2022

A Summer in Charleston's Sister City

For the eleventh summer, 15 students from the College of Charleston will spend a month in a 15th-century villa overlooking the Umbrian countryside writing about travel and learning how Italy has influenced some of America's greatest writers.

Students will also have ample opportunity to explore Spoleto and its environs, travel throughout Italy, and enjoy the culinary pleasures of Italy through private tastings and cooking classes.

The program fee of $5296 includes everything from round trip airfare to our stay in the villa, from travel to Florence to cooking classes, from tours of area wineries to day hikes in the Umbrian hills, and even rail passes for weekend travel (a must while in Italy!), and much much more. Scholarships of up to $1500 are available through the Center for International Education.

Please take a few moments to explore our website for a closer look at the experience waiting for you in Spoleto, and feel free to contact Professor Bret Lott, director of the program, at lottb@cofc.edu with any questions you have.

So set aside May 11 to June 8 2022 for a month in Spoleto--we're now accepting applications.

Ciao! Buongiorno! and Ci vediamo! See you soon in Spoleto!

The Courses

THE TRAVEL MEMOIR: WRITING IN AND OF PLACE

Professor Bret Lott

There is perhaps no more exciting, baffling, apprehensive and ultimately rewarding educational experience than travel, and there is no better way to understand that experience than to write about it. This creative nonfiction workshop will seek through writing about our travel experiences in Italy – good and bad, wise and foolish, enlightening and murky – to come to a deeper understanding of what it means to be a human being far from home. Students will keep journals of their travels, and write two full-length essays as well as short exercises for class; books we’ll read include Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe by Bill Bryson, A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle, and Best American Travel Essays 2017.

THE ITALIAN IMAGE IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICAN LITERATURE

Dr. Scott Peeples

From the colonial period onward, Americans have defined themselves and their physical environment in contrast to Europe: new versus old, egalitarian versus stratified, untamed versus civilized, innocent versus corrupt. At the same time, however, many Americans – artists and writers in particular – have looked to Europe for inspiration and validation, and have imitated European ideals of beauty and sophistication. This paradox was particularly pronounced throughout the nineteenth century, amidst acute anxiety over the young republic’s seeming inability to produce literature and art that was both uniquely American and worthy of respect on the world stage.

This course will examine the complex responses of nineteenth-century American writers to Europe, and in particular Italy, the country that had a strong imaginative pull on authors ranging from Edgar Allan Poe to Margaret Fuller to Henry James.

Meet Our Faculty

BRET LOTT is Professor of English and Writer-in Residence at the College of Charleston, and has taught here since 1986. The author of fourteen books, including two New York Times bestsellers, Lott has traveled extensively, having lived in Ireland, Israel (where he served as Fulbright Senior American Scholar and Writer-in-Residence at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv), and France, where he taught creative writing at the College of Charleston’s Annot Campus. He has spoken on Flannery O'Connor at The White House, and was a member of the National Council on the Arts from 2006 to 2013. Since 2010 he has been director of the Spoleto Summer Study Abroad program.

For twenty five years, SCOTT PEEPLES has taught a wide array of courses, with topics ranging from Gothicism to nineteenth-century American poetry to Bob Dylan. He has published extensively on Edgar Allan Poe and other nineteenth-century writers, most recently as co-editor of the Oxford Handbook to Edgar Allan Poe. Dr. Peeples served as Chair of the Department of English from 2012 to 2017, and is currently President of the Southeastern American Studies Association. This will be his third summer serving as a faculty member of the Spoleto program.

Program dates: May11 to June 8, 2022

Round trip airfare from Charleston to Rome
One month lodging at the villa in Spoleto
Private shuttle from airport in Rome to Spoleto
$500 food stipend
Six days of rail travel
Four day trip to Florence, lodging and breakfast
Private walking tour of Florence
Wine tasting course in Florence
Private walking tour of Assisi
Day trips to Gubbio and Bagnoreggio
Cooking classes
Truffle hunt
Private walking tour of Spoleto
Tour of two Montefalco wineries
Day hikes around Spoleto
Wine-pairing dinner at Loccanda Rovicciano
Private shuttle from Spoleto to airport in Rome

For scholarship information, contact the Center for International Studies; awards of up to $1500 are available!

How To Apply:

Program dates: May 11 to June 8, 2022.

Applications can either be downloaded from the CIE website here, or picked up in the CIE office.

The Program Fee of $5296 includes a non-refundable application fee of $50 (CofC students), round-trip airfare, lodging, rail passes, meal allowance, medical insurance, and an excursion to Florence. TUITION FOR THE COURSES IS NOT INCLUDED.

Application deadline is March 1, 2022. Deposit of $550 will be posted to the student’s MyCharleston account once the application has been submitted to, and approved by CIE.

SCHOLARSHIPS OF UP TO $1500 ARE AVAILABLE TO COFC STUDENTS FOR STUDY ABROAD. ELIGIBILITY IS BASED ON DEMONSTRATED FINANCIAL NEED AND ACADEMIC MERIT.