Teaching History in Italy

Villa Giulia, Etruscan Museum in Rome 

Rome is definitely  one of the best place to be a history student….or teacher.

Many years ago when teaching at international schools in Rome, 

vintage  photo with students 

the history books supplied from the USA practically ignored the Etruscans and Romans thus an ad hoc curriculum was created. Rome was our campus, our library, our textbook: Rome's Villa Giulia museum and Tarquinia and Cerveteri’s museums and necropoli  became extensions of the classroom for on site learning.

Etruscan bucchero  - reproduction by Mastro Cencio 

At Villa Giulia the  kids sat on the floor and spread  themselves out with notebooks, pens and pencils  to sketch artifacts  and fill in study sheets about the Etruscan civilization. 

The stern guards  were quite taken aback  then, but nowadays  this up close and familiar  way of  learning at  a museum is considered acceptable.

Palazzo Vitelleschi, Tarquinia's Etruscan Museum

For  Tarquinia  the best plan was to start on the  top floor of the museum  and work down to the entrance, skipping the “boring” rooms where   hundreds of black and red figure vases  were set in glass cases, including an entire room of  vases decorated with very graphic  erotic scenes.   

erotic vases  at Tarquinia Museum

Teaching youngsters about Roman civilization  involved difficult choices: should we go to  Castle Sant’Angelo, Ostia Antica or the Museum of Roman Civilization in EUR? 

model of the Flavian ampitheatre  Museum of Roman Civilization, EUR

 Lucky students who  visit the Colosseum, Pompeii and  Herculaneum at 10-15 years of age understand history in a deeper way and remember  it for the rest of their lives. A  fascination for  the past developed as a youngster occasionally becomes a life choice, a former student, now history professor at  Oxford, has told me.  

cut away of Castle Sant'Angelo 

The best season for visits to Etruscan, Roman and medieval sites  in the Italian countryside  is  the winter  while the vipers are still hibernating and the sun’s rays are lenient. 

Cerveteri, one of  the top 10   Etruscan sites 

Independent travelers, students and teachers can find  more  practical tips for visiting  Etruscan sites in central Italy in the   several books  I have published. 

the painted tombs of Tarquinia

Happy exploring!

rock hewn tombs of Norchia (ph. J.F.Sims)

 Doric  facade, Norchia 

little known Etruscan necropolis of Norchia, Vetralla

Have you visited  any of the above places as a student or independent traveler?