Back row: Dr. Alan Hantz, Carlee Macon, Reed Knauth, Bethany Jones, Kelly McIntyre, Professor Gregori Rossi of Spello, Italy, Allie Haake, Erin McKee, Paul Petrequin and Larkin Ford Front Row: James Stickney, Rebecca Taylor, Dr. Scott Lowry, and Leela Cheyne

Eight UNC Asheville students are living and studying in an ancient hilltop city in central Italy this summer, experiencing first hand what many students only read about in textbooks. The students, who arrived in late May, are midway through UNC Asheville’s fourth Perugia Summer Program, a part of the University’s study abroad offerings.

The students are taking a mix of for-credit UNC Asheville classes, including digital imaging, beginning drawing and travel writing. This is no lightweight vacation, but rather an intensive community learning experience, says Alan Hantz, the UNC Asheville mass communications professor who is teaching the digital imaging courses. Early morning walking tours of churches, museums and ancient ruins are followed by lunchtime discussions and afternoon photo shoots or drawing and writing assignments. Students often cook their evening meals together. In between, there's lots of reading, polishing of traveler's Italian, and learning the fine points of grocery shopping and laundromats.

“The program puts our students in a completely international environment,” said Hantz.  “They need to develop a sensitivity to culture and tradition in order to carry on with even the most basic life tasks.”

Perugia, located in the heart of Umbria in central Italy, offers a great home base. Founded by Umbrian tribes, Perugia became a walled Etruscan city state in the fifth century B.C.E. and was later occupied by the Romans.

“Perugia is great because it’s like Asheville but with much, much more history,” said Kelly McIntyre, a junior political science major from Greenville, N.C. “It’s a very livable city and every day is fun because there is something new to encounter.”

The group is also spending some time on the road, visiting Assisi, Gubbio, Siena, Florence and Rome. “At each site students receive integrated assignments for their areas of study,” said Hantz.

UNC Asheville students on the trip include Leela Cheyne of Nashville, Tenn.; Larkin Ford of Taylorsville, N.C.; Allie Haake of Chapel Hill, N.C.; Reed Knauth of Charlotte, N.C.; Kelly McIntyre of Greenville, N.C.; Paul Petrequin of Black Mountain, N.C.; James Stickney of Asheville; and Rebecca Taylor of Graham. The UNC Asheville students are joined in Italy by Mars Hill College students Bethany Jones, Carlee Macon and Erin McKee and Associate Professor Art Scott Lowrey.