Vicenza and the Veneto: Program Overview
Summer 2026
Dates TBD
Application Deadline: February 15, 2026
(Application Opens Soon)
Learn More and Apply
Virtual Information Session
— Monday December 1, 5:30 - 7PM
On Zoom
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PROGRAM OVERVIEW
The Summer Program in Vicenza offers an immersive academic experience that brings together architectural study, cultural exploration, and intensive drawing practice in one of Italy’s most remarkable regions. Based in the historic city of Vicenza—home to Andrea Palladio and at the heart of the Veneto—the program invites students to engage directly with the architectural and urban landscapes of Northern Italy through sustained observation, analysis, and representation.
Over the course of the program, students investigate the intricate relationships between place, culture, and design by documenting and reflecting on the built environment. Field excursions across the Northeast of Italy serve as open-air studios where students explore themes of form, materiality, history, and civic identity. Guided visits to cities, buildings, and landscapes provide a framework for understanding the enduring dialogue between natural context, human occupation, and architectural expression. Through drawing, students learn to “ask better questions,” developing both critical insight and the capacity to translate experience into architectural understanding.
Combining a rigorous academic structure with the spontaneity of fieldwork, the program emphasizes drawing as both a method of discovery and a mode of communication. Sketchbooks, analytical studies, and final reflections become tools to record, interpret, and reimagine the Italian landscape. By working directly on site, students cultivate a disciplined yet exploratory practice—one that balances precision with curiosity and craftsmanship with speculation.
The experience culminates in an exhibition of student work, showcasing the diverse perspectives and visual narratives developed throughout the summer. Together, these drawings form a collective record of an intellectual and cultural journey—an exploration of how seeing, thinking, and making converge in the study of architecture abroad.
LOCATION
This summer program is based in Vicenza, in the Veneto region of Italy. With a population just over 100,000, Vicenza is home to the Villa Rotonda and numerous other buildings by Palladio. It is located approximately 30 minutes by train from the city of Venice.
LEARN MORE —
Program dates, Program details, Planning Information, Program Costs, Financial Aid Information and Application Details can be found at UVA's Education Abroad Website.
Graduating 4th years and rising 4th years are prioritized in the admission process, but graduate students, and rising 2nd and 3rd years are also eligible to apply. Applicants must meet the Eligibility Criteria to participate in an education abroad program.
Please note: School of Architecture students are encouraged to apply for dedicated financial aid for this program. This is a Walker Global Experience Scholarship Program - supported by a generous $2 million gift. Students may apply for an award of up $5,000 to cover expenses such as program tuition fees, room and board, transportation and incidental costs.
ARCH 5800: Vicenza Program I, 3 credits
ARCH 5801: Vicenza Program II, 3 credits
Syllabus Vicenza 2024
Objectives
Students take both 3-credit courses (for a total of 6 credits), in which the student will be given the opportunity to:
- Develop freehand drawing skills through instruction in diagramming, measuring, and recording what they see in sketches and analytical drawings.
- Develop the essential skill of observing relationships both particular to the place and those that are universal to human occupation.
- Analyze and record the development of prototypical constructions at the scale of the town, building, and building element. This includes particular architectural types such as Roman and medieval towns, the villa and palazzo types, and also includes elements and conditions such as the window and corner.
- Address universal conditions such as threshold, boundary, and frame and how these conditions are approached at a range of scales.
- Consider the making of civic identity through the study of the development of the Venetian town from a Roman outpost to modern economic power as the community incorporates physical, political, economic, religious, pugilistic, agricultural, intellectual, and artistic influences.
Completion Requirements & Grading
Completion will be defined by and grading based on level of productivity, attentiveness, range and quality of critical inquiry and documentation, and degree of improvement in communicating observations through sketching and analytical drawing. Final grading takes place in the fall semester following the summer term.
Luis Pancorbo | lgp6t@virginia.edu
Associate Professor in Architecture, Professor Pancorbo's research interests focus on the technical dimension of architecture and its influence on the methodology of architectural design, American industrial architecture, and industrial ruins and derelict productive landscapes.
Ines Martin Robles | imm3x@virginia.edu
Associate Professor in Architecture, with research interests in Modern Spanish and Ibero-American architecture, the survival of the past through tradition, and the role of memory for architectural design methodology.