Rome, Italy
EXCLUSIVE AFTER-HOURS VISIT TO THE SISTINE CHAPEL with Dr. Rocky Ruggiero
November 30, 2024
2 hours
$550
EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR & LIVE STREAM TOUR BUNDLE
“December All-Inclusive Bundle”
Presented by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero and special guests Dr. Marcello Simonetta, Dr. Kristin Stasiowski, Dr. Daniel Maze, and Dr. Erin McCarthy King
Dates & Times:
Exclusive Webinars:
Thursday, December 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30
11:30am – 12:30pm ET | 8:30 – 9:30am PT |
4:30 – 5:30pm London
Live Stream Tours:
Saturday, December 4 and Friday, December 10:
9:30 – 10:30am ET | 6:30 – 7:30am PT |
2:30 – 3:30pm London
Friday, December 17 and Saturday, December 18:
2:00 – 3:00pm ET | 11:00am – 12:00pm PT |
7:00 – 8:00pm London
EXCLUSIVE WEBINARS | “Thursdays in December”
Each webinar will include a 45-minute lecture followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.
LIVE STREAM TOURS | “Live Events from Italy in December”
Each event will include a 45-minute live stream tour followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.
Please note:
EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “Federico da Montefeltro: A Murderous Maecenas”
Presented by Dr. Marcello Simonetta
The Duke of Urbino, whose profile was famously portrayed by Piero Della Francesca, has come down in history as a patron of the arts and a friend of the Medici. As it turns out, he had a dark side and a hidden agenda…
Marcello Simonetta earned his Ph.D. at Yale University. He has taught for several years in the US and in France. He currently lives in Florence where he is a senior fellow of The Medici Archive Project. He is the author of ten books. His Montefeltro Conspiracy (Doubleday 2008) has been translated into ten languages.
The webinar will include a 45-minute lecture followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.
EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “Fire and Fury in Renaissance Florence: Girolamo Savonarola and the Bonfire of the Vanities”
Presented by Dr. Kristin Stasiowski
Join Dr. Kristin Stasiowski to discuss one of the Florentine Renaissance’s most fiery figures: Girolamo Savonarola! A charismatic, devout, and unapologetically radical Dominican monk during a time of enormous political upheaval, Savonarola celebrated the death of Medici influence in Florence and urged Florentines to give up the excesses and pleasures of “la dolce vita” in favor of a return to more austere living. Not only, but he praised the destruction of secular art and literature that resulted in the infamous “Bonfire of the Vanities” in which even Boccaccio’s Decameron went up in smoke! Later accused of heresy and subsequently burned at the stake on the same spot of his infamous bonfire, Savonarola’s unwavering and polarizing convictions make him a riveting character in Renaissance history.
Kristin Stasiowski, Ph.D is the Assistant Dean of International Programs and Education Abroad for the College of Arts and Sciences and is also an Assistant Professor of Italian Language and Literature in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at Kent State University. She received her Ph.D from Yale University in Italian Language and Literature and has taught Italian language, literature, cinema, history and culture in both Florence, Italy and at Kent State. She recently published a chapter entitled A Divine Comedy for All Time: Dante’s Enduring Relevance for the Contemporary Reader in Italian Pop Culture: Media, Product, Imageries. Rome, Italy: Viella Editrice s.r.. Her current research is focused on Dante, Boccaccio, and the modern poet Clemente Rebora.
The webinar will include a 45-minute lecture followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.
EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “The Mystery of Giovanni Bellini”
Presented by Dr. Daniel Maze
Join Dr. Maze for a presentation about his groundbreaking research that reveals what has long remained a mystery: the early life and career of one of the greatest painters of the Renaissance, Giovanni Bellini, an artist revered for his mastery of color, atmosphere, and light. Demonstrating that Bellini was born more than a decade earlier than previously thought, Maze explores a hitherto unknown period in the artist’s life that begins with the tragic events surrounding Bellini’s birth, his unusual upbringing in Venice, and his first-known works of art.
Daniel Wallace Maze grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and majored in Philosophy at Williams College in Massachusetts. He completed his Masters and Ph.D. in the History of Renaissance Art at UCLA in 2013. That year his article “Giovanni Bellini: Birth, Parentage, and Independence” in Renaissance Quarterly was runner-up for the Harvard University/Villa I Tatti Prize for Best Published Essay by a Junior Scholar. He held the Samuel H. Kress Pre-Doctoral Fellowship in the History of Art at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence from 2011-2013, a Fulbright Scholarship in the History of Art at the University of York from 2016-17, and the Barbara Thom Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Huntington from 2017-2018. He is Assistant Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies, and the Fountiene Lee Duda Faculty Fellow of Renaissance Art at the University of Iowa.
The webinar will include a 45-minute lecture followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.
EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “Venite Adoremus – The Three Magi in European Art”
Presented by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero
Come get into the holiday spirit with artists such as Botticelli, Van Der Goes, Leonardo da Vinci, Tintoretto, Velázquez, Rubens and Rembrandt and their moving visual interpretations of the story that gave rise to the gift-giving tradition of Christmas. This exclusive webinar will retell the story of the three kings through the creative genius of great Renaissance masters.
The webinar will include a 45-minute lecture followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.
EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “A ‘non pensato male’: Christopher Columbus and the Italian anxiety around the discovery of America”
Presented by Dr. Erin McCarthy King
The four voyages of Christopher Columbus introduced the European continent not only to a land mass that had been unknown to them, but to a conception of the world that required a dramatic paradigmatic shift. The reaction among Italian writers and philosophers was delayed but, in some cases, extreme. While some embraced the idea of the New World, adapting their conception of the ecumene to accommodate these new peoples and lands, others wrote about an existential crisis, questioning the veracity of the Bible and the wisdom of the ancients. In Italian literature, Columbus is depicted as both hero and villain, an accomplished son of Italy as well as a symbol of destruction and unwelcomed change. Join us for an examination of this complex understanding of a pivotal figure in both American and Italian culture.
Erin McCarthy King, Ph.D. has been teaching Italian Language and Literature since 2004. Erin earned a combined B.A. and M.A. in Italian Language and Literature from Yale University in 1998 and then her Ph.D. from Yale in 2009. She has been a Lector of Italian at Yale University and an Instructor at Sacred Heart University, Southern Connecticut State University, Quinnipiac University, The Hopkins School and Fairfield University. She currently teaches French and Italian at an all-boys, private prep school. Erin has published several articles, including “The Voyage of Columbus as a ‘non pensato male’: The Search for Boundaries, Grammar, and Authority in the Aftermath of the New World Discoveries” © 2012, and has presented several conference research papers including “The Logic of the Clock: Dante’s Similes of the Horologe in Paradiso X and XXIV” and most recently, “Language and the Expansion of the Ecumene in the Mondo nuovo of Tommaso Stigliani”. Erin serves as an alumna interviewer for Yale College Admissions and as a member of the Yale Alumni Schools Committee. In her spare time, Erin and her husband are very busy parents to their four children.
The webinar will include a 45-minute lecture followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.
LIVE STREAM TOUR | “Live Stream from Siena, Italy – Medieval Market in Piazza del Campo”
Presented by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero
Travel back to the Middle Ages in this live stream tour – IN REAL TIME – from the central piazza of Siena where the annual “Mercatone” will be taking place. This annual event recreates the 14th-century medieval market of the city with approximately 150 stands arranged according to the 700-year-old ordinances of the “Office of Abundance.” Vendors offer traditional Sienese food and wine specialties, while local artisans display their wares and crafts as they did centuries ago.
The event will include a 45-minute live stream tour followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.
LIVE STREAM TOUR | “Truffle Hunting in Tuscany”
Presented by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero
Join us for this live stream event from the Tuscan hills as we search for Italy’s culinary “white gold”, better known as white truffles. Learn from a local expert truffle hunter and his highly-trained-canine companion the art of finding this most-sought-after and elusive of gastronomic specialties – IN REAL TIME! December is the peak of the white truffle season, so dive into white truffle madness from the comfort of your living room!
The event will include a 45-minute live stream tour followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.
LIVE STREAM TOUR | “Christmas Market in Piazza Santa Croce in Florence”
Presented by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero
As all the locals know, it’s not really Christmas in Florence unless the “mercatino di natale” – or Christmas market – in the Santa Croce square takes place. Join us for this live stream event direct from Piazza Scroce as we walk through the more than 50 beautifully-illuminated traditional stalls – IN REAL TIME – that offer visitors seasonal specialties from throughout Europe. Feel like you are in Florence for the holidays!
The event will include a 45-minute live stream tour followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.
LIVE STREAM TOUR | “Christmas Lights in Florence”
Presented by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero
Join us for a live stream tour of the beautiful Christmas decorations of the great Renaissance city. Get into the holiday spirit as we stroll through the heart of Florence – IN REAL TIME – and see its streets and sites decked out in Christmas glory. From the Via Tornabuoni, Florence’s famed fashion district, to the Duomo with its majestic Christmas tree and then down the shimmering Via Calzaiuoli – enjoy Florence’s spectacular holiday illumination from the comfort of your living room as we bring Italy to you!
The event will include a 45-minute live stream tour followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.
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