Classics Department graduate student, Gaia Gianni (PhD, Classics) and undergraduate student Victoria Lansing (class of 2020), are in Rome teaching a Brown Pre-College program this summer.

According to Gaia, the goal of the class, entitled Making an Eternal City, has been to take students to archaeological sites, to explore both the rich history and topography of Rome. For many of the students, this was their first time studying Roman history, visiting Rome or leaving the country. The class, therefore, served as an introduction to Classics, without any previous knowledge required.

The students visited the Colosseum, the Ara Pacis, the Forum Romanum, but also renaissance and baroque sites, such as Saint Peter, villa Borghese and the Sistine chapel. Overall, the students were very responsive and asked tons of questions. Their favorite site was the necropolis at Isola Sacra, which is a Roman cemetery. Both Victoria and Gaia were very surprised that the students liked it so much, because it’s not a “touristy” site, but one only specialists visit.

They also took a moment to take a photo by the statue of Marcus Aurelius, which Brown has a replica of on the Simmons Quad.  Gaia notes, “we had to take a picture, for our Brown pride sake.”

You can see more photos on our Instagram page!