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Study Visits
Passage to Sicily gives scholars and students an opportunity to study world-class architecture and art, stretching over 2500 years of history, to visit some of the richest archeological parks and museums in the Mediterranean world, and/or to understand the nature and make-up of Sicilian society, as well as the long standing ideas and problems that have and still mark the people of this island.
We offer you the possibility to examine a particular aspect of the above themes or a combination thereof. Our study visits include presentations and on-site visits led by specialists in the relevant disciplines.
We design your study visit in a way that is both stimulating and relevant in terms of the learning objectives that you wish to meet.
All tailor-made study visits are priced in accordance with the date of travel, the number of students and staff, and the duration of the visit.
Passage to Sicily takes all reasonable measures to ensure that the visits are structured safely. We also review and reinforce the information communicated by the accompanying staff regarding safety and knowledge of local customs, thus promoting mutual understanding between the students and the host community.
“Dear Alessandra, thank you so much for being a wonderful tour guide round Palermo and beyond! You’ve shown us hidden gems (churches, beaches and restaurants alike!) that only a true native could, and made everything exciting and interesting. Particular highlights include our evening with Luna at Palazzo Lungarini, Gibellina and Scopello”.
R. D., student, History of Art Department, Oxford University (Sicily tour 22 – 29 June 2010)
“This was the first time that the undergraduate programme at the University of Oxford had included a period of study in Italy. For this initial trip, a small group of second year undergraduate students was brought by me to Palermo, where we were led for the week by Alessandra Buccheri on a cultural and academic programme based in the city, with excursions to sites which could be reached in a day. Careful preparation made this programme enormously successful: in a short period, we were able to see, and to consider carefully, a great range of artistic sites and monuments. Thought had been given, in the planning, to the distinctive character of Sicilian art and culture, and to the ways in which this could be used to challenge preconceptions about the history of art based on Vasarian and Tuscan models. Practical organisation was exemplary: attention had been given to the essential matters of accommodation and meals, and the participants felt comfortable and welcome throughout the week. The programme was well paced: enough time was allowed for close looking and discussion of individual churches and objects, with the result that the tour began to generate its own inner momentum, as the students could relate new visual experiences to those encountered earlier in the week. Sicily is blessed with an extraordinary range of cultural traces, and this programme engaged with the full spectrum. The result was a week which never lacked fresh excitement and which constantly challenged the students with novel material for reflection and criticism. The creative imagination of the organiser was evident in the inclusion in the programme, not only of the classical monuments of Segesta and the Byzantine mosaics in the royal churches of Palermo, Monreale and Cefalu`, but also of less well-known Baroque sculptures in Palermitan oratories and of the late-twentieth-century and contemporary monuments and collections at Gibellina. To all of these diverse visual treats the students responded with enormous enthusiasm and appreciation. The Passage to Sicily programme was an invaluable complement to the students’ BA course in Oxford”.
Dr G. R., senior lecturer, History of Art Department, Oxford University (Sicily tour 22 – 29 June 2010)