News Archive 2007

2008

December 14, 2007 - See related photostrip

Horne and his Botticelli. An international conference at Villa Rossa of SUF in 2008
In October 2008, Syracuse University in Florence will co-host an international conference devoted to “Herbert Horne’s Botticelli and Florentine Renaissance Art.” This event celebrates the 100th birthday of Horne’s monumental monograph on Botticelli.

SUF School of Architecture takes on new challenge in Corleone, Italy
When does it make sense for a school of architecture in an American university in Florence, Italy to organize class projects to take place in Corleone, Italy?

A three-day celebration of 100 years of academic excellence at SUF
There’s more to the equation 43+36+21=100 than simple mathematics…

December 07, 2007 - See related photostrip

SUF students invited to take part in the Festival for Legality by the Region of Tuscany
The fall 2007 farewell event will be a ‘party within a party,’ taking place within the context of a much larger event sponsored by the Region of Tuscany—the Festival for Legality. This event will take place on December 19, beginning at 4pm at the prestigious Palazzo degli Affari.

World-renown photographer-director to exhibit work at SUF
Oliviero Toscani, world-renowned Italian photographer who has long been known for his ad campaigns based on social awareness for, amongst others, the Benetton fashion group, has agreed to hold an exhibition of his work on the SUF campus.

A three-day celebration of 100 years of academic excellence at SUF
There’s more to the equation 43+36+21=100 than simple mathematics…

November 30, 2007 - See related photostrip

Outstanding students for Fall 2007
From award-winning essay writers, to excellent interns, to students who know how to give extraordinarily of themselves, SUF reveals the winning names of this semester’s Outstanding Students Award.

Discovery Florence: SUF introduces a first-year students program for study abroad
SUF is pleased to launch Discovery Florence, a fall-only program designed for first-semester Arts and Sciences students.

SUF receives funding for fourth book in the Villa Rossa Series
SUF has received full funding for the publication of the fourth book in the Villa Rossa Series, entitled Plautilla Nelli (1523-1588): The Painter-Prioress of Renaissance Florence. Funding is provided thanks to a generous grant by Jane Fortune, Chair of the Florence Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

November 23, 2007

Whistler exhibit a cross-community success
The SUF Art Gallery opened its doors to the public for the vernissage of the exhibit An American in Italy: James McNeill Whistler and his Legacy—Thirty-five Prints by the Artist and his Followers. The artwork is splendid, and was recognized as such during the extraordinary participation in the opening ceremonies by the Director of the Galleria degli Uffizi, Antonio Natali, and the Consul General of the United States in Florence, Nora Dempsey.

SUF student volunteers embrace World Diabetes Day
SUF students enthusiastically participated, together with the Meyer Children’s Hospital of Florence, in the World Diabetes Day celebration.

SUF announces publication of third book in the Villa Rossa Series
Just one year after the launching of the first book in the The Villa Rossa Series: Intercultural Perspectives in Italy and Europe, Syracuse University in Florence is proud to announce the publication of the third book in the series. Italian Art, Society, and Politics: A Festschrift in Honor of Rab Hatfield, Presented by his Students on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday is a collection of essays edited by Barbara Deimling, Jonathan K. Nelson and Gary M. Radke.

November 16, 2007 - See related photostrip

SUF Architecture: building for legality
You could almost say the mayor of Corleone, Italy made SUF an offer they couldn’t refuse. Antonino Iannazzo specifically approached SUF Director Barbara Deimling last month, suggesting that the many abandoned buildings in the city could make for stimulating classroom discussion and studio design work on the part of architecture students.

Book presentation
SUF is pleased to host the presentation for the recently published book by Dennis Romano, SU, entitled The Likeness of Venice: A Life of Doge Francesco Foscari, 1373-1457.

Whistler exhibit to make SUF debut
The SUF Art Gallery is gearing up for another important exhibit, entitled An American in Italy: James McNeill Whistler and his Legacy—Thirty-five Prints by the Artist and his Followers, and has been accorded the patronage of the American Consulate in Florence, the Region of Tuscany and the City of Florence.

November 9, 2007 - See related photostrip

Shoah 2008 program unveiled
Furio Colombo, one of the foremost Italian journalists and a member of the Italian Parliament, will give the Spring 2008 inaugural lecture, SUF lecture coordinators Natalia Piombino and Jonathan K. Nelson announce.

SUF students to help children in need
Beginning next week, SUF student volunteers will begin weekly visits to Casa San Michele, a shelter that offers a place to live, as well as emotional support, to women with children in need.

November 2, 2007 - See related photostrip

study abroad
A voluntary facelift
The SUF Volunteer Program web pages have undergone some extensive changes, and not just at the cosmetic level. The changes go much deeper—the fact of the matter is SUF students are hungry to give.

Political heavyweight visits SUF
Giuseppe Lumia, Vice President of the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry Anti Mafia, came to the SUF campus last week for a meeting with Director Barbara Deimling and SUF Professor Natalia Piombino.

A new exhibit to celebrate a ten-year old partnership
SUF announces, in collaboration with Gettysburg College, the exhibition SWAP: Selected Works by Art Professors. The idea for the exhibit came through the desire on both sides to celebrate in a tangible manner the successful ten-year relationship with the partner school.

October 26, 2007 - See related photostrip

On-site visit—to the graveyard
SUF students are on their way to Sicily again. In what will be the third such group volunteer effort, thirty-six SUF students will travel to Corleone, Sicily, to offer their time—and their muscle—in the fight for legality.

SUF welcomes ‘smallest undergraduates’ ever
Seventy-five lively children between the ages of eight and ten years of age were welcomed to the SUF campus last week, so that they might learn how to ‘sneeze in English.’

SUF Patrons: up close and personal with some great masterpieces
The SUF Patrons enjoyed the privilege of a private guided tour of the restoration laboratory of the Uffizi with SUF Professor Diane Kunzelman. Close enough to reach out and touch were Raphael's Madonna del Cardellino, Mantegna's San Zeno Altarpiece and Giotto's Crucifix for the Ognissanti.

October 19, 2007 - See related photostrip

Bringing the land to life
Thirty-four SUF students traveled to Corleone, Sicily, last weekend as part of the Tuscan-Sicilian project “Liberiamoci dalle Spine” (“Delivering the Land from Thorns”) to do volunteer fieldwork in vineyards recently confiscated from the Mafia.

SUF campus looking forward to an invasion of ‘small visitors’
“We have our work cut out for us.” says Professor Vittoria Tettamanti cheerfully, referring to the fact that the services of the SUF storytelling volunteer program this semester have been reserved by a total of forty-two Italian elementary schools, for 159 classes. .

SUF Professor to present Pulitzer Prize poet Charles Wright at international award ceremony
SUF Professor Antonella Francini has been invited to give the introductory talk at the ceremony awarding the Leoncino D’Oro Prize to Pulitzer-Prize-winning poet Charles Wright.

October 12, 2007 - See related photostrip

SUF continues support of Sicily’s fight for legality
SUF students are on their way to Sicily again. In what will be the third such group volunteer effort, thirty-six SUF students will travel to Corleone, Sicily, to offer their time—and their muscle—in the fight for legality.

An adoption of an unusual kind
SUF announces the adoption of a most unusual kind: that of four tombstones located in the English cemetery in Florence.

The Mafia: an unusual perspective
Franco Di Maria knows the Mafia. He studies it from an unusual perspective however—as a form of collective psychopathology he calls the ‘Mafia feeling’.

October 4, 2007 - See related photostrip

Syracuse University in Florence (SUF) Announces Translation Project with Foundation for Contemporary Jewish Documentation in Milan
Syracuse University in Florence (SUF) has just confirmed an agreement with the Foundation for Contemporary Jewish Documentation in Milan to translate the texts for an exhibit entitled 1938-1945: The Persecution of Jews in Italy, which will be shown in the SUF Art Gallery in January 2008. The exhibit will then travel to other cities throughout Italy.

Under the Devil’s Spell
In what could be thought of as perfect timing for the season, SUF announces the publication of the new book by Prof. Matteo Duni, Under the Devil’s Spell: Witches, Sorcerers, and the Inquisition in Renaissance Italy.

Back by popular demand
Leaves are beginning to turn and the mornings are crisp and chilly. And back by popular demand are SUF sweatshirts in an assortment of colors, as the SUF Corner store does a brisk business in sales.

September 27, 2007

A dream restored
A small and dignified inauguration and press conference marked the opening of the exhibit An Englishman Across the Arno: A Tribute to Thomas Patch (1725-1782), held on September 21 at the Sala Bianca of Palazzo Pitti. The opening was attended by a number of scholars and ex-pats from the English community in Florence, as well as many reporters, who covered the event broadly in local newspapers. Also present was Lauren Bertolini, SU, in the guise of reporter for her SUF internship for the Florence Newspaper.

How-to workshops pave the way for volunteer students
In a room packed with energy—as well as over forty SUF students interested in participating in the story-telling volunteer program—Prof. Vittoria Tettamanti gave the second of two how-to workshops for the fall 2007 semester. While Kate Law (Syracuse University) e Jennifer Truss (Gettysburg College) acted out the parts of SUF volunteers with verve and humor, the rest of the group good-naturedly played the part of enthusiastic fifth-graders.

Exchange rate rises in value
Nearly thirty SUF and Italian university students met at the Villa Rossa last week and learned about SUF’s one-on-one exchange program called “A Day in the Life,” a new SUF initiative in which Italian and SUF students will host each other for a day at their universities to see what their respective classes and university lives are like.

September 19, 2007 - See related photostrip

Restoration of a Dream
SUF financed the restoration of Eruption of Vesuvius of 1767, part of the small exhibit An Englishman Across the Arno: A Tribute to Thomas Patch (1725-1782), dedicated to this 18th-century English painter who resided in Florence. The exhibit opens Friday, September 21 at the Sala Bianca of Palazzo Pitti, and shows the works of a former medical student who, after embarking on the Grand Tour, abandoned his studies to stay in Italy, becoming one of the most renowned panorama painters of eighteenth-century Florence.

Block-Party event a real ice-breaker
Well over 100 students participated in the Block-Party dinners held in the SUF gardens last weekend, surpassing all expectations as students, many who had arrived alone, had to be ‘pushed off campus’ as they chatted animatedly together, at the end of what Jim Kauffman, Housing Coordinator, called “a very successful evening.”

SUF Gallery opens its doors to Contemporary Visions
Wednesday, September 19 at 6pm will see the inauguration at the SUF Art Gallery of Focus: Current Approaches to Photography, with works from Santa Clara University Professors Renee Billingslea, Susan Felter and David Pace. The Focus exhibit comes under the new initiative Contemporary Visions: Encounters with Art, developed in collaboration with the SUF Studio Arts Department. Contemporary Visions events are characterized by the exhibit opening combined with a lecture from the visiting artist(s), thus giving students and the interested public an opportunity to engage directly with the contemporary art world.

September 4, 2007

SUF Welcomes New Students
The orientation schedule is set, the new semester ready to take off, and the staff and faculty of Syracuse University in Florence are ready and happy to welcome the 321 new students arriving this week to begin the fall semester at the Florence campus.

Focusing on Contemporary Visions in Art
Syracuse University in Florence is proud to launch the inaugural exhibit of Contemporary Visions: Encounters with Art, an initiative developed in collaboration with the SUF Studio Arts Department. This exhibit and lecture series engages students and the interested public with the contemporary art world, presenting works by practicing artists and creating a dialogue about artistic issues of the twenty-first century.

Italian Renaissance Art: TV and Slaves
This semester’s lecture series looks at Renaissance art from two unique perspectives: the role of television as a tool in studying Renaissance Art, and that of Renaissance Art as a means of discovering more about slavery in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Taking It to the Streets
September 15th will see SUF on the street—literally. Democrats Abroad Florence has organized the first ‘USA Street Fair 2007,’ to be hosted by the United States Consulate and held on the Lungarno, The purpose of the Fair is to highlight—to newcomers, students and old-timers alike—the support services that are available to the English-speaking overseas community in and around Florence, and SUF is the only individual American university invited to participate, in recognition of a long-standing, on-going commitment .to community outreach and engagement.

July 13, 2007

Taking Theory to the Fields
"By removing us from the classroom and giving us the opportunity to become involved in the struggle against the Mafia, we gained a deeper and more personal understanding of the subject matter." SU Student Meghan Brewer

Twenty-four students enrolled in SUF’s Italian Mafia class packed their bags and took theory to the fields, in Corleone, Sicily. SUF students worked alongside their Italian peers in fields confiscated from the Mafia by the Italian government, in collaboration with the volunteer organization Liberarci delle Spine (Freedom from the Thorns), helping in the cultivation of vineyards.

City of Florence Awards Official Recognition of SUF Volunteer Program
"The Volunteer Program has contributed much to the reputation of SUF within the community, and the recognition of the Mayor of Florence has given official and public visibility to this important work done by SUF students." SUF Director Barbara Deimling

The Mayor of Florence, Leonardo Domenici, has officially recognized SUF’s Volunteer Program, awarding the program the "Patrocinio del Comune di Firenze." The SUF Volunteer Program was initiated in 2004. SUF students volunteer to work in public elementary schools in the city of Florence and its region, reading American children books to school children, playing out the story and engaging the children in a number of educational activities.

Focusing in on Contemporary Visions in Art
Syracuse University in Florence is proud to launch the inaugural exhibit of Contemporary Visions: Encounters with Art, an initiative developed in collaboration with the SUF Studio Arts Department. This exhibit and lecture series engages students and the interested public with the contemporary art world, presenting works by practicing artists and creating a dialogue about artistic issues of the twenty-first century.

June 14, 2007

Recent SUF FIA Grads Making the Right Moves
In the June 2007 Art Bulletin list of dissertations in progress, no less than seven are by recent SUF FIA grads: Diana Bullen, Alexandra Korey, Lia Markey, Heather Nolin, Elizabeth Purvis, and Joseph Silva, while SUF FIA grad Theresa Flanigan is listed among the dissertations completed.

SUF’s Villa Rossa Provides Grounds for Celebration
When SUF alums Alex Therien and Alicia Warren were deciding on the perfect place to get married, it didn’t take long for them to reach a unanimous decision. Says Warren, “We chose Florence because we had many memorable experiences while studying abroad with Syracuse University.

SUF History of Italian Mafia Class ‘Takes It Outside’
Students from Summer 2007’s new course History of the Italian Mafia will join Prof. Natalia Piombino and SUF Director Barbara Deimling in a course-related trip to Corleone, Sicily on June 27, to work in fields that have been confiscated from the Mafia by the Italian Government. Accompanying them will be the Consul General for the United States of America in Florence Nora Demspey and Vice President for the Region of Tuscany Federico Gelli.

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