Architecture in Greece and Italy
Architecture in Greece and Italy
Explore the architectural and urban legacy of the Mediterranean in Greece and Italy.
The KU Architecture in Greece and Italy Program offers the opportunity to explore the architectural and urban legacy of the Mediterranean. Over 22 days, students will travel through famous cities including Athens, Rome, Pompeii, Florence, Milan, and Turin, across regions that have greatly shaped Western civilization and the field of architecture. Through site visits, guided tours, lectures, and workshops, participants will gain a deeper understanding of the historical, cultural, and environmental settings that molded the foundations of architectural thinking as we understand it today.
This interactive investigation reveals how ideas of philosophy, mathematics, politics, and sport have shaped architecture as a discipline and made it a powerful cultural force over millennia, from the Acropolis in Athens to the skyscrapers of Milan. Across these same centuries, societies have built monumental spaces for competition, spectacle, and public life. The program traces the legacy of Greek thought through the Vitruvian theories that spread across the Roman Empire and were revived during the Renaissance in the work of architects like Brunelleschi, Alberti, Bramante, and carried into the Baroque by Borromini, concepts that continue to travel through time and can still be seen in the work of modern and contemporary architects like Nervi, Oscar Niemeyer, Renzo Piano, Zaha Hadid, Bernard Tschumi, Herzog & de Meuron, Santiago Calatrava, and OMA.
Students will experience the evolution of architecture through Greek and Roman civilization, from classical times to the contemporary era. Beginning in Greece and moving through Italy, students follow how architectural ideas born in antiquity traveled through the Renaissance and into contemporary practice, and how politics, economics, and society have used architecture to define themselves across time. In Athens, we explore the Acropolis and its monuments, the Agora as the birthplace of civic and political space, and the Panathenaic Stadium as an early expression of sport as public ritual, ending at Bernard Tschumi's Acropolis Museum and Calatrava's Olympic Complex.
In Rome, we study how architecture served as an instrument of imperial power and spectacle, from the Colosseum and the Pantheon to St. Peter's Basilica and the Foro Italico, alongside contemporary landmarks like Zaha Hadid's MAXXI Museum, with a day trip to Pompeii to walk a Roman city frozen in time. Florence reveals how economic and political power funded a new civic identity, through Brunelleschi's dome, Alberti's façades, and the Artemio Franchi Stadium, Pier Luigi Nervi's early masterpiece of reinforced concrete. Milan brings the story into the present, from the Duomo to the towers of Porta Nuova and CityLife, Herzog & de Meuron's Fondazione Prada, and the iconic San Siro Stadium. The program concludes in Turin, where students explore the city's industrial reinvention through Renzo Piano's transformation of the Fiat Lingotto factory and the Juventus Stadium, and take part in collaborative workshops with peers at the Politecnico di Torino.
Dates:
Depart Kansas City: December 27, 2026
Arrive in Athens: December 28, 2026
Greece: December 28, 2026 –January 1, 2027
Italy
• Rome: January 1-7, 2027
• Florence: January 7-10, 2027
• Milan: January 10-14, 2027
• Turin: January 14-17, 2027
Depart Milan and arrive in the U.S.: January 17, 2027
**DO NOT BUY AIRFARE UNTIL NOTIFIED BY KU STUDY ABROAD.
Itinerary:
Students will spend 4 days in Greece and 17 days in Italy. Most of the program will consist of planned group activities along with some free time.
Greece (4 days): Acropolis archeological complex (Parthenon, Erechtheion, Propylaea, the Temple of Athena Nike, the Odeon of Herodes, the Theatre of Dionysus), Bernard Tschumi's Acropolis Museum, the Agora archeological site, Panathenaic Stadium, Calatrava's Olympic Complex, and Renzo Piano's Stavros Cultural Center
Rome (5 days): Colosseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon, St. Peter's Basilica, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, Chiostro del Bramante, MAXXI Museum, Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, Olympic Stadium, Olympic Village, EUR, Palazzetto dello Sport, Foro Italico, Ara Pacis. (Day trip): Pompeii, an ancient Roman city, and a visit to Oscar Niemeyer in Ravello
Florence (3 days): Uffizi Gallery, architecture workshop with Archea, Santa Maria del Fiore Church and Dome, Brunelleschi's arcade at the Ospedale degli Innocenti, Alberti's façade at Santa Maria Novella, Palazzo Vecchio, Ponte Vecchio, Artemio Franchi Stadium
Milan (4 days): Generali Tower by Zaha Hadid, buildings by Renzo Piano and Herzog & de Meuron, Prada and Feltrinelli Foundations, Bocconi Campus and Politecnico di Milano Campus, Duomo, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Porta Romana, San Siro Stadium
Turin (4 days): Architecture Workshop with Politecnico di Torino, FIAT Lingotto Factory, San Lorenzo Church, Egyptian Museum (Museo Egizio, with OMA's Gallery of the Kings installation), Teatro Regio, Juventus Stadium
5 Year Master of Architecture Students who entered KU in or after Academic Year 2022-2023 will enroll in:
• ARCH 590 Study Abroad (6 Credits)
2 or 3 Year Master of Architecture Students will enroll in:
• ARCH 790 Study Abroad (6 Credits)
Interior Architecture Students will enroll in:
• ARCH 590 Study Abroad (6 Credits)
*enrollment differs if IA student started KU prior to Fall 2024
5 Year Master of Architecture Students who entered KU before Academic Year 2022-2023 will enroll in:
• ARCH 790 Study Abroad (6 Credits)
• ARCH 699 Documentation (2 Credits)
Architectural Engineering Students or all other majors will enroll in:
• ARCH 590 Study Abroad (6 Credits)
Students will use on-site sketching, photography, and videography to record their path, capturing the spatial arrangements and cultural values noted in the places they visit. Emphasizing critical thought and creative synthesis, the program produces a final deliverable—a 2' x 4' collage poster that graphically expresses every student's particular viewpoint. Including a QR code-linked movie, this poster will present a multimedia story of their experiences and observations.
Through traversing this unique path, students will not only deepen their knowledge of the cultural and historical roots of architecture but also develop a worldwide viewpoint of design and urbanism. Beyond Anglo-European paradigms, this curriculum prepares participants to actively interact with the rich traditions and modern problems of Mediterranean architecture, therefore promoting a lifetime respect of architectural variety
Participants will stay in hotels or hostels in program cities.
All students have unique things to consider when studying abroad. A Traveler Profile is a set of personal factors, characteristics or life experiences that could impact daily life abroad. Your individual Traveler Profile may include things such as your age, foreign language proficiency, gender, medical history, medication use, mental health, mobility, piercings and tattoos, travel experience, and more.
SAGE is dedicated to creating international engagement opportunities that meet the needs of all our students and providing resources to support you through the process of studying abroad. Before selecting a program, consider how your Traveler Profile may impact your experience abroad in unique ways and talk with your Program Coordinator about any program-specific concerns. Students with documented disabilities should discuss any accommodation needs with their Program Coordinator early in the planning process.
Check our Traveler Profile pages linked below for information specific to you and other students who may be on your program.
- Adult Learners and Non-Traditional Students
- First Generation Students
- Physical and Mental Health Histories
- Religious, Spiritual, and Non-Religious Students
- Sexual and Gender Diversity
- Students of Color Abroad
- Students with Children
- Students with Financial Need
- Veterans, Active Duty, and ROTC
- Visible and Invisible Disabilities
This program is open to all KU and non-KU students who have completed their first year of study. Priority is given to KU Architecture students who have completed ARCH 208 or ARCH 502 and Interior Architecture students who have completed IA 208.
Professor Francesco Carota, Italian-Born architect and researcher is qualified to lead a study abroad program in Italy and Greeks. His research, teaching and professional work focuses on the design and understanding of the intertwined relations that weave architecture and urban development process together, particularly in less developed countries. On the topic of transcultural practices in architecture, he published a variety of academic articles and he coedited the volume China Goes Urban. The City to Come for Skira Editore. His last book, New Silk Road. The Architecture of the Belt and Road Initiative, (2025 Birkhauser), brings global architectural objects to critique and problematize the simplification of world architecture through taxonomic scientific frameworks, resisting the idea that urban architecture is a stable knowledge object, a thing that can be studied with the same (universal) framework wherever we are.
In addition to academic publishing, he dedicated a great deal of effort to disseminating research and architectural culture to the broader public. He was scientific director of an exhibition on Chinese architecture and urbanization held at the MAO, Museum of Oriental Art in Turin, Italy, co-curator of the Italian Pavilion at the Shenzhen Design Week – 2018 Edition, and co-curator of the exhibition Design Assemblies at the Singapore Design Week - 2023. Other than carrying on academic activities, he works as a licensed architect, and he is the cofounder and principal of the architecture and design firm Calibro Zero Srl. His work and voice as a curator and designer appeared in different media sources, and among the many the Italian magazine Domus, the Singapore based title d+a Design and Architecture, the fashion magazine Vogue and the architecture platform Archdaily.
Professor Gustavo Amaral, Brazilian-born researcher and faculty member focused in architecture, urbanism, and urban data science, Professor Gustavo Amaral offers a multidisciplinary perspective to the curriculum. Having taught Ancient Architecture in Georgia Tech's History and Criticism Department, Gustavo links historical architectural ideas with modern design issues. Examining the link between these buildings and their surrounding metropolitan surroundings, his work on stadiums includes the stadiums built by Pier Luigy Nervi, the Stadio Comunale in Turin, the Olympic Stadium in Rome, the new Juventus Stadium, and the Giuseppe Meazza/San Siro Stadium in Milan. By means of these initiatives, Gustavo investigates how the social, political, and cultural aspects of their towns form and define major buildings.
Gustavo also incorporates urban data science and big data analytics into his studies, therefore offering fresh understanding of how metropolitan systems develop and operate. His creative application of data-driven approaches helps students to examine closely how urban planning and architecture interact with more general socioeconomic patterns. Gustavo's knowledge spans the use of architectural ideas by political governments, especially Fascism in Italy and its architectural impact on South American cities like São Paulo, brought about by early 20th-century Italian immigration waves. Gustavo makes sure students really interact with the complexity of architecture's influence in world history, urbanism, and modern difficulties by linking historical, political, and technological aspects.
For more information, contact:
Francesco Carota, Assistant Professor
University of Kansas
Architecture Department
francesco.carota@ku.edu
Gustavo Garcia do Amaral, Assistant Professor
University of Kansas
Architecture Department
gustavo.amaral@ku.edu