Our Program 2007

Popes and Caesars is a 3-credit summer art history class offered in Rome by the Art & Design Department of the Iowa State University College of Design. Officially designated Art H 378, Popes and Caesars has been taught every year since 2001; this year it will run June 4-June 29 2007. Popes and Caesars is part of a broad range of summer courses offered at the College of Design Rome campus (Palazzo Cenci), including undergraduate and graduate studio classes in drawing, digital photography, painting, mixed media, urban design and urban morphology.

Popes and Caesars covers the history of art and architecture in Italy from the Etruscans to the Baroque Period, concentrating on the monuments and art treasures found in and around Rome. A typical day begins with a one-hour lecture or discussion of the topic of the day, followed by two to three hours of field trip to a museum, archaeological site, palace or church. Two days are set aside for longer out-of-town field trips, one to Pompeii (June 15), one to Florence (June 22). For a detailed schedule of the topics and trips, as well as information about exams and assignments, check out the course syllabus for Art H 378.

This year the College of Design is pleased to announce a new course offered at its Rome campus in July: Art H 498, The Art History of the Book: 2000 Years of Writing and Printing in Italy. Similar in format to Popes and Caesars, the Art History of the Book will involve field trips to museums, libraries, and important sites in the history of writing, printing, and book collecting (including the Abbey of Monte Cassino, the Bodoni Museum in Parma, the Vatican and other ecclesiastical libraries in Rome). Check out our tentative course syllabus for Art H 498; a final detailed syllabus with exact dates for the field trips will be prepared in late June.

For more information on the College of Design's extensive summer curriculum in fine arts, landscape, architecture, and urban design, visit our Study Abroad web page.

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