Faculty-led program in Todi, Italy, celebrates 40th anniversary

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Since 1986, Penn State students have traveled to Todi, Italy, for an immersive faculty-led experience combining classroom studies with excursions to historic sites, cultural landmarks and nearby cities and towns.

The program, which is one of 14 faculty-led education abroad programs in the College of the Liberal Arts this summer, aims to build students’ Italian language skills while helping them develop the cultural understanding and global perspective that come from living and learning abroad.

Led by Giuseppe Bruno-Chomin, assistant teaching professor of Italian; Jason Laine, associate teaching professor of Italian and director of the Italian Language Program; and Noah Dasinger, doctoral student in art history, students in the Italian Language, History, and Culture summer program received lectures on Italian language and culture, art history and other related sectors, which aided them in their day-to-day interactions and travels.

Since 2022, Bruno-Chomin has run the program, which celebrated its 40th anniversary this year and has become an integral part of the Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese and more than 700 Penn State students’ undergraduate journeys. The program’s impact was clear throughout the anniversary celebration, which drew program alumni, former faculty, collaborators, host families and the mayor of Todi to mark the program’s success and Todi’s longstanding relationship with Penn State.

“Leading the Todi program is, without a doubt, one of the highlights of my teaching career,” Bruno-Chomin said. “Many of the participants have already taken courses with me at Penn State University Park. It is amazing to see how quickly their language skills develop once in Italy. It is a privilege to be a purveyor of this intercultural experience.”

Mark Hackenburg, who earned his bachelor of science degree in landscape architecture in 1988, was among the program alumni who returned to join the anniversary celebrations. Nearly four decades later, he said he continues to see its value and impact.

“The Todi program afforded me with an opportunity to study abroad during a time when international studies were not prevalent within many of the design programs,” Hackenburg said. “Eating local foods, learning how other cultures live and understanding community values are all the types of experiences students will gain from studying through this program. Living with host families was one of the most valuable experiences of this program.”

Throughout their stay, students were housed with local families, giving them an inside glimpse into daily life in an Italian household. Before attending classes, students would eat breakfast with their host families then head to the Language Center, carrying the homemade lunches their hosts prepared for them.

During lunch breaks, students met up to eat, completed homework or walked the streets of Todi before returning for afternoon lessons. After classes ended, the pupils participated in local activities such as going to the gelato shop, visiting local eateries or hanging out in the piazza. Afterwards, they’d walk home to have dinner with their families.

Alicia Berardi, a third-year student majoring in marketing in the Smeal College of Business with a minor in Italian, said she had no regrets with her decision to study abroad. The Scranton native had a blast exploring papal buildings, the Piazza della Signoria, her and her classmates’ numerous trips to Garibaldi Caffé, and practicing her Italian language skills with locals and over the dinner table with her host family.

“There is always a feeling of the unknown, but Professor Giuseppe was such a big help in making the students feel comfortable with being in a new place,” Berardi said. “Now, I feel like I left my soul there. Italy feels like a second home. I’m never going to be able to recreate this.”

Julia Graham, a fourth-year student majoring in biomedical engineering in the College of Engineering, said she had always wanted to study abroad in Italy. Given that her mother was born in Italy and her father’s family lineage traces back there as well, it was not hard for her to absorb herself into the language and culture in which she was raised. As it happens, her father is a program alum as well, having traveled with the Todi program in 1993.

Homestay living was one of the highlights of Graham’s experience, she said. The New Jersey native found that life in Italy was different in many ways compared to life in the United States. Due to the cost of electricity, her host family usually spent the day with opened windows to embrace the fresh air and natural light. And laundry was a mindful activity due to clothes needing to be hung dry rather than using a dryer.

“As an engineering student, it can be difficult to make time to study other areas of interest outside of engineering,” Graham said. “I decided I wanted to take this opportunity to take some classes that challenged me in other areas. After hearing about the classes I would take in addition to the host family aspect of the program, I knew that was exactly the experience I was looking for.”

All told, the group visited several cities, including Siena, Assisi, Orvieto, Deruta, Nettuno and Venice, with overnight stays in Florence, Padua and Rome. They went on a private tour of a rare manuscript archive, visited local artists’ and artisans’ workshops, and attended a food tasting at long-time program collaborator Adelina Fiorucci’s home.

Studying abroad is a serious decision for any student given the logistics and costs to attend, and both Berardi and Graham found financial aid beneficial in their journey abroad. Berardi received a Smeal scholarship, while Graham was the recipient of a College of Engineering travel grant. The College of the Liberal Arts offers enrichment funding to help its students support their out-of-classroom experiences.

Now that the group has returned from the program, Bruno-Chomin said he hopes students have taken with them a newfound appreciation for Italian history and culture.

“The goal of the Todi program is total linguistic, culinary and cultural immersion,” he said. “An experience in Todi enables students to cultivate not only their language skills but acquire cross-cultural competence. In an ever more globalized world, the skills of cultural sensitivity and understanding are increasingly more important.”