The College of Architecture offers a summer semester program intended to provide students the opportunity to study the art and architecture of Greece and Italy. The primary academic mission of the program is to expand the opportunities for study of the humanities at Georgia Tech. Headquartered in Athens, Rome, Florence, and Venice, the program involves an eight-week concentrated and intensive study at the buildings, sites, and museums where the foundations of western civilization began. The program extends through the Renaissance with the study of works by Michelangelo, Uccello, Leonardo, Brunelleschi, and Caravaggio. In addition to painting, sculpture, and architecture, attention is given to the urban context extending from classical antiquity through the Renaissance and late Baroque periods. On-site studies at the Athenian Agora, the Acropolis, Olympia, Delphi, the Roman Forum, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Ostia, and Paestum, as well as Renaissance sites including Villa D’Este, Villa Giulia, The Vatican Museum, Borghese Museum, Basilica of St. Peter, and other sites provide students with a deeper understanding and appreciation for the role that Mediterranean and Classical civilization has played as the artistic, engineering, and political cornerstone of the western world. Twelve credit hours are offered, nine of which satisfy Institute undergraduate humanities requirements. The remaining three hours are taken as free electives and involve faculty-directed independent study of topics developed during the spring term.