Accommodations and Workspace

The main school building, a former convent, has nine single rooms with a view of the Tiber River valley; the building also includes the dining room, the extensive library, video collection, computer room, sculpture and faculty studios, terrace, laundry, and kitchen. There is 24-hour access to a telephone, Wi-Fi, and computers with Internet.

Students and residents also share modest apartments, all a short walk from the school buildings. Rooms are single and double-occupancy. In August and September, Residents and CE students stay in single-occupancy rooms when available.

The School provides housecleaning services and clean sheets and towels weekly. Facilities in Montecastello are simple and involve stairs and hills, and are not suitable for people with special needs.

Each student is assigned a private or semi-private studio with 24-hour access, to study and develop their own personal work. Art materials are available locally, and in the cities we visit on our weekly trips. Classrooms and studios are in several great stone palazzi in the village. Throughout the ancient town and out in the landscape are wonderful motifs and views to draw and paint.

Meals

The program fee includes three delicious Umbrian meals each day, excluding trip days. Students, residents and faculty enjoy meals together, enabling students to have close contact with their art mentors.

Meals are prepared in our professional kitchen. The food is simple and wholesome, with fresh produce from nearby farms, and prepared with care by local cooks. A typical lunch includes pasta, a meat dish, two vegetables and a legume, salad, fresh bread, mineral water, fruit, and coffee or tea. We serve a substantial continental style breakfast to prepare us for our work in the studio. As is traditional in Italian cuisine, dinner is lighter and satisfying, with a hot main course and plenty of vegetables and fruit, with soups or pasta.

During the summer we have our evening meals on the school’s rooftop terrace, overlooking the magnificent panorama of the Tiber River valley.

School dining terrace, Piazza view

Trips

The ongoing studio work is interspersed with weekly day-trips to study Italy’s millennia-old heritage of art, from ancient The ongoing studio work is interspersed with weekly day-trips to study Italy’s millennia-old heritage of art, from ancient to contemporary, engaging artists in a dialogue with the masterworks of the past and present. We travel by chartered bus to Rome, Florence, Siena, Assisi, Perugia, Sansepolcro, and Arezzo.

A faculty member or visiting art historian gives preparatory lectures to enrich and enliven our trips. Students and faculty are then free to go independently or in groups to visit museums and churches, or anything they wish to see. Faculty and students may organize informal visits to nearby towns like Todi, Deruta, Orvieto and Spoleto, or return to places the group has visited. Car rental services and public transportation enable people to travel independently. The Student Handbook, sent to each student, contains a guide for our trips, as well as information on travel, what to pack, local resources, and details about living and working at the school.

Students may wish to arrive in Rome a few days early to take advantage of the museums there and see the city before beginning the program.

Admissions

Please submit the completed application form, a non-refundable application fee of US$ 40 (or 30 Euro), names of two people that we may contact who know your character and your work (preferably current or former teachers for School applicants), and 12 images of your recent work. CE applicants may include an essay in place of slides, although slides are preferable. There are no application deadlines, but since the program is small and space is limited, we recommend that you apply early. The basic fees include tuition, studio space, room, three meals a day, group trips, and ground transportation from and to Rome airport on the first and last day of each session.

Credit

Our students have received credit from their home institutions for work done at the International School, based on our transcript. Please check with your department Chair to find out if it is possible to get credit, and what you will need to do.

2013 Schedule and Fees (dates are subject to change)

All fees should be paid no later than one month before the session begins. Fees are calculated in Euros and include 22% IVA (value-added tax). Please see the Currency converter for the latest rates.

Discounts

5% Discount for Former Students

5% Bring a Friend Discount - bring a friend to the program and you both earn a 5% discount

2-week session: You and your friend pay 1995 Euro each instead of 2100 (105 Euro discount each)
3-week session: You and your friend pay 2565 Euro each instead of 2700 (135 Euro discount each)
6-week session: You and your friend pay 4750 Euro each instead of 5000 (250 Euro discount each)

Please send applications together, or if not possible, indicate the name of your friend in the space on the application form for how you heard about the school. Discounts do not apply to partial sessions, and cannot be combined. Other discounts may be available to groups of 4 or more. Please email the school for more information or coupon code for online payments.

Payments

We accept Amazon Payments, PayPal, and Google Wallet, easy and safe ways to pay online. These are services that enable you to pay, send money, and accept payments without revealing your financial information.

Please see our Payment page at http://giotto.dynamic-storefront.com/ for online payments. When you're ready to checkout, simply choose the Checkout with Amazon, PayPal, or Google button, and log into your account. Click to confirm your payment and then you're done.

Payments may also be made by Check (personal checks up to $500), Cashier's or Certified Checks in Euro, or Wire transfer.

Withdrawal schedule, deposits, refund policy

Fees are calculated in Euros and include 22% IVA (value-added tax). Unfortunately, tax is not refundable. To hold your place in the program, we ask for a 500 Euro deposit (or equivalent in US dollars) upon acceptance.

If you have to leave the Program early (6-week session), you are entitled to a refund as follows:
Before session begins - Full refund less an administrative fee of 500 Euro
Days 1 - 7: 75% of tuition paid
Days 8 - 14: 50% of tuition paid
After day 14: no refund

If you have to leave any 2-, 3- or 4-week program early, you are entitled to a refund as follows:
Before session begins - Full refund less an administrative fee of 500 Euro
Days 1 - 7: 50% of fee paid
After day 7: no refund

If we cancel a session you are entitled to a full refund of fee paid.

D esign, which by another name is called drawing, and consists of it, is the fount and body of painting and sculpture and architecture and of every other kind of art, and the root of all sciences. Let whoever may have attained to so much as to have the power of drawing know that he holds a great treasure; he will be able to make figures higher than any tower, either in colours or carved from the block. And he will be able to paint in fresco in the manner of old Italy, with all the mixtures and varieties of color usually employed in it. He will be able to paint in oils very suavely with more knowledge, daring, and patience than painters. Because great, very great is the power of design and drawing. — Michelangelo

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