Kent State University offers KSU students and those from other universities the opportunity to study in historic Florence at its newly-renovated Palazzo dei Cerchi in Italy's center of cuisine, culture, art, fashion and civilization.  Programs are designed for students in many majors.  You will learn about a foreign country through field trips, special activities, and individual travel. Semester program students live in apartments and those in the Intensive Italian-Language Program live with a family.

Students of all majors are able to participate as Florence offers a wide rang of courses to cover Kent Core requirements.  There are also focused programs in:

• Architecture and Interior Design
• College of Communication and Information
  
• Education - Hospitality Management, Sports Management and Teacher Education
  
• Fashion Design and Merchandising
• International Business in partnership with George Washington University
  
• Italian Language Immersion

To learn more about these programs and faculty to contact for program qualification, please click the links above and visit the Program Information page.

Today, Florence has a population of about 380,000 and annually has more than 3 million visitors.  The city is compact making it easily walkable.  The train station is centrally located and your academic home - the Cerchi -  is truly in the heart of Florence.  The weather is mild year round.

• Imagine yourself strolling the banks of the Arno River and on the Ponte Vecchio, a bridge built during the Roman empire.
• Picture the view from the top of Florence's Duomo, one of the world's largest churches, begun in 1296.
• Stroll through the myriad of winding, narrow medieval streets, visit museums brimming with the artwork of Michelangelo, Galileo, Raphael and Botticelli.  
• Talk with new friends over coffee at one of dozens of outdoor cafés or trattoria. The markets of Piazza Spirito and those surrounding San Lorenzo are not to be missed.
• Venice, Rome and the many other venues of historic and cultural significance are a short train ride from the city. Florence offers a spectacular European experience like few other cities. This unique city was the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has more than 100 museums and churches filled with art and sculpture of the masters.  The city's narrow, graceful-cobbled streets are reminiscent of an urban scene of earlier times.