More than 20 Vanderbilt engineering students recently visited Italy during their spring break to not only see some iconic structures, but also learn the engineering behind the Pantheon and Venice’s sophisticated floodgates so they could apply that knowledge to future engineering projects of their own.

The trip was part of an inaugural class taught this semester in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and sought to give the 22 students a deeper understanding of the engineering behind some of Italy’s structures, such as the ancient Pantheon and MOSE project designed to protect the city of Venice from flooding.