On November 21, 2019, a very important date for Venetians, the feast of Madonna della Salute (Our Lady of Health), the Venice Study Abroad Program at Florida Atlantic University was honored with the Program of the Year Award. The Venice program runs for 6 weeks in the city of Venice, between May and June, every year.

Students have the chance of studying Venetian literature and culture (“Venice and Its Reflections,” a course taught by Ilaria Serra), two levels of Italian language, and alternatively other courses, such as Venetian Travel and Tourism, Venetian Human Geography, and Venetian Architecture.

Next year the program will reach its 12^th edition, and it has been co-led by faculty and assistants who finish their Masters in Comparative Literature: Italian at FAU. The students live a thoroughly Venetian experience: they meet many local intellectuals, poets, filmmakers, photographers, singers; they visit museums and historical sites, they make masks with local artisans, they help local associations (Masegni e Nizioleti, Generazione 90) to clean walls and fountains and the lagoon from plastic. Once, they even competed in the traditional boat race Vogalonga!