3 minute read
Welcome Letter
- Virgil
These are the times when we must strongly stand our ground. As Virgil’s quote from 1st Century BC Rome suggests, “come what may, all bad fortune is conquered by endurance.” The foundations of the Florida State University Florence Program are deep and constructed in stone across five decades. We will not only endure, but with vires, artes, mores, (strength, skill, and character), embodied by our university’s torches and motto, we will conquer bad fortune, we will persevere with intelligence and patience to outlast Covid-19.
As the cover of this edition of ItaliaNoles makes clear, we will stand with vigor and determination like Michelangelo’s David until the virus is extinguished. The pages of this issue, written by students, faculty, and community partners, are a testimony to our and Florence’s resiliency. On Tuesday, February 25, two days before our 2020 Spring Break, we called an emergency Covid-19 briefing in the Medici Classroom at the FSU Florence Study Center in Borgo degli Albizi. Little did any of us know that this would be the last time our staff and 91 students would be all together; little did we know that two days later would be the last time our study center in the Alessandri Palace, which has housed the program since 1981, would see a Seminole pass through its corridors, learn in its classrooms, and study in its library. On February 29th, while most of our students were traveling across Europe and the Mediterranean for their wellearned break, the Spring 2020 semester was suspended and all students were mandated to return home immediately.
Even coming back to Florence to pack their things was out of the question. Later, we would be informed that our Summer 2020 and Fall 2020 semesters would have to be canceled as well. When we welcome students back to Florence it will be within the walls of our new study center, the grand and historic Bagnesi Palace in Via dei Neri. The renaissance Bagnesi Palace, owned and meticulously restored and renovated by the Florence Program, is the culmination of a two-year intensive labor of love. It is also the result of 64 years of Florida State’s and its students’ commitment to the city of Florence.
Since 1966 our program as leased various premises; the new study center will be illustrative of the program’s rebirth, and the rebirths of Florence and Florida State, reinforcing the University’s commitment to providing our students a first-class experiential education abroad.
The FSU Florence Program was born out of diversity during the Great Flood of 1966.
We have persevered through the tensions of the Cold War; Italy’s Years of Lead, the internal political terrorism of the 1970s and 80s; the mafia turmoil and the bombing of the Uffizi in the 1990s; September 11th and the aftermath of international terrorism throughout the 2000s; and now we are prepared to face down with intelligence and fortitude--armed with our masks and sanitary gel--this devastating virus.
I know this to be true. I know this to be true because we directed and witnessed firsthand the dedication of our international family of Seminoles. We experienced the late nights and early mornings of managing the suspension of the program, advising and guiding our students back home when and where we could.
No one panicked; no one broke down; everyone made it home safely. Our staff immediately went to work in the residences, collecting inventories, packing, and preparing the shipping of the students’ belongings, but on March 9th we went into our national lockdown and did not come out of it until two months later.
Our students were most understanding and eventually they received their belongings at the beginning of June.
We also had to make the transition to remotely-taught courses, our staff and faculty getting crash courses in canvas, zoom, and the digitizing of material and resources. Encouraging messages and calls of support from students, former students (many from 1966), parents, and International Programs in Tallahassee kept us strong and resilient. We hope the pages of this edition of Italianoles can return the favor in a small way. We have all made sacrifices since February, and we must make them still. Florence is quiet and empty now, the economy has sputtered, but as it always has done in the past, it endures. And out of this endurance a new era and good fortune await Florence and our community of Seminoles.
