Skip to main content

SIENA'S SUMMER SCHOOLS - MUSIC, ITALIAN LANGUAGE and ART

Siena's fame as an important university city is confirmed during summer. Whilst the Italian students spend the summer back home with their families or chilling on the beach the dormitories of the university and B&B's of the area fill up with students who take advantage of the city's summer studying and master programs. 


CLASSICAL MUSIC
The Accademia Musicale Chigiana has been hosting a famous Master in Classical music for a long time. Famous musicians of the classical music circuit (e.g. Daniel Barenboim) have been training here in the past. The Chigiana's  Music Master Classes take place in July and August and bring some big names of classical music to town for the Chigiana's Music Master Classes.


JAZZ
Siena's Jazz School is the first and only Italian Jazz school so far that offers a Bachelor and Masters in Jazz. The school's firsummer program has been reviewed recently by the Downbeat magazine, also known as the bible of jazz:  Downbeat's review of Siena Jazz
SIENA JAZZ

VISUAL ARTS
The Siena Art Institute has an great summer program for students of the visual arts. They also have an artists in residence summer program for. Visual artists but also writers can apply (more information on their website).
SIENA ART INSTITUTE

FINE ARTS, MUSIC AND SIGN LANGUAGE
Siena School for Liberal Arts offers summer courses on topics like Book Restoration, Renaissance and Baroque music, Intensive Italian and Cultural Studies and Medieval and Renaissance Art in Florence and Siena. Worthy of a special note are the courses focusing on Italian and Cultural Studies for deaf students. Well done for making travelling and studying abroad easier and accessible to deaf people!
Siena School for Liberal Arts - SUMMER COURSES


ITALIAN LANGUAGE
The Università per Stranieri di Siena (university for foreigners in Siena) organizes special Italian language classes during summer for students from the US and China. 
UNIVERSITA' PER STRANIERI



Popular posts from this blog

BEST BIKE RENTAL IN SIENA

Villa Catignano: one of the many beautiful places an e-bike can get you to from Siena A few years ago, I interviewed an American writer , who during her month-long stay in Siena whizzed through the city on a bicycle. This was an unusual sight - vespas are the two-wheelers of choice in Siena's hilly town center, not bikes like in mostly flat Florence.  But the invention of e-bikes is about to change this. The city of Siena has installed an  electric bike sharing program which is functioning well. However, it's mostly aimed at locals and residents, as its set-up is a little complicated for visitors who only stay a couple of days in town. Hence, for tourists, the best bike rental options in Siena are with the privately owned shops which supply bycicles of every size and type for a day or two or an entire week.  Giulia from Julskitchen.com cycling through the hills of Siena Siena Bike Shop rents out racing bycicles, hybrid and e-bikes and is a great optio...

TASTE SIENA'S CHIANTI CLASSICO AT THE PREVIEW IN... FLORENCE (of all places!)

The province of Siena is a treasure trove for prestigious DOCG wines: from Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti Classico and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano to San Gimignano's white Vernaccia. Best known to the bigger audience and closest to the town center of Siena lay the hills of Chianti Classico. A wine not to be confused with the simpler Chianti (which can be produced in a much wider area of Tuscany). The black rooster (Gallo Nero) logo of the Chianti Classico links back to a much cited medieval legend involving the towns of Siena and Florence and their conquest of the hills dividing the territory between them.  The Chianti Classico vintner's association has overworked the design of the famous logo and will present it to the world on the 19th of February during the 2013 preview of the Chianti Classico collection (from the February 18-20 the Stazione Leopoldina in Florence).  A great logo for a great wine: Chianti Classico Collection in Florence

Ambrogio Lorenzetti's frescoes and paintings

From toddlers to octogenarians, when in Siena I schlepp everybody to see Ambrogio Lorenzetti's 'Buon Governo'. The long title of the painting is 'The Allegory of Good and Bad Government in the City and the Countryside' and it is exactly that - namely an accurate depiction of daily life in medieval Siena. The detailed and elegant fresco cycle is a rarity not just in regard to Lorenzetti's style and technique, but mainly due to its subject matter. In the 14th century, paintings and frescoes focus on stories and characters from the old and new testament and  not on the day-to-day tasks of builders and farmers.  Medieval Siena depicted on one of the walls of Ambrogio Lorenzetti's fresco cycle in the Palazzo Pubblico (©Wikipedia) And this is exactly why it's so much fun to spend some time in front of the fresco cycle in the  civic museum in Siena's Palazzo Pubblico. Whether its kids  - or meat lovers - looking for the famous Cinta Senese pig  ...