A Unique Opportunity

We are the only department of art history in the UK to offer a whole term of research and study in Venice. In Venice, you will benefit from Warwick’s 40-year long association with the city and from the expertise and experience of our staff, giving you an unrivalled opportunity to get to know the artistic riches of the city. These include modern and contemporary art in such places as the Peggy Guggenheim Museum and the Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna, Ca' Pesaro, and the extraordinary array of paintings, sculptures, buildings and decorative arts from the Middle Ages, Renaissance and early modern periods which are to be found everywhere in Venice. However, for the year 2024-25 we will offer only modules in the Medieval and Renaissance strand, with a minimum of 4 participants for each module to be activated.

Please note that participation in the Venice term will depend upon your getting a visa. You will also need to satisfy Covid regulations in Italy, including certification of vaccination with a vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency.

Teaching in Venice

Teaching in Venice makes full use of the city and its surroundings. While you will have seminars in the classrooms in our Venetian premises, much of the teaching is in situ, examining works of art at first hand, exploring contemporary and historical buildings, sculptures, paintings and material culture across the city. In addition to seminars in Venice itself, there will also be trips to other islands and to the terra ferma to visit major sites and museums.

Your teachers will be members of the department’s academic staff. In the seminars, they will use their own research projects as the basis of their teaching, so that you are both engaging with cutting-edge historical research and learning how to identify and develop a research topic. In addition to seminars, one-to-one meetings with your tutors will allow you to develop your own topics for assessment and your own approach to art-historical research.

Students are also introduced to the wonderful libraries in Venice, which are invaluable for all the research you will undertake.

Accommodation, Costs and Living in Venice

You will need to arrange your accommodation in Venice. You may wish to do this yourself, or our administrator in Venice can assist you in finding accommodation on the basis of your budget. Cost of living and accommodation in Venice is roughly the same as in Warwick.

You will be able to apply for accommodation at the University of Warwick for the autumn and summer terms.  

We equip you with detailed information about living in Venice, including such practical matters as local transport and health insurance, and members of staff are on hand to advise if needed.

You are responsible for your flight expenses to and from Venice. However, the cost of transport and admission to museums and galleries for class trips is paid for by the department. We also cover the costs of your Italian language classes at the University of Venice.

If you would like to get a sense of the Venice experience for our students, please take a look at the departmental Twitter feedLink opens in a new window, which includes a number of tweets from staff and students who were in Venice in autumn 2019.