Florence University of the Arts is offering a unique program that combines writing, photography and publishing over a nine or five week period during which time students will create a travel book and guide to the Maremma region of Tuscany. This intense project is open to students of all disciplines and requires many hours of dedication outside of regular classroom time.

During the first summer session in June, students will complete basic skills in writing and photography that will lay the groundwork for the final book project. Students will spend the interim week between summer sessions on-site in Maremma working with their instructors. During this intensive week, students will apply what they have learned, photographing, writing and brainstorming with other participants as they develop the guide/book. During the second summer session in July, Students take two more writing and photography courses and finalize their project. All students will receive a copy of the guide/book upon publication.

Nine Week/Fifteen Credit Option:
Summer Session I (June) (all courses are 45 contact hours and 3 credits):
Introduction to Digital Photography (for beginning photography students) OR Landscape and Architectural Photography (for non-beginning photography students)
Creative Writing

Intersession:
Students will work on-site with their instructors in the Maremma, Accommodation will be provided in local Bed & Breakfast or Agriturismo.
Intersession week – 45 contact hours – 3 credits

Summer Session II (July) (all courses are 45 contact hours and 3 credits):
Travel Writing and Publishing
Travel Photography

Five Week/Nine Credit Option:
Students who have already completed a digital photography and a writing course may enroll for the intersession and Summer II portion of the program. This program is 5 weeks and students receive 9 credits.

Nine Week/Nine Credit Option:
It would also be possible for students to concentrate in one of the areas offered, either Writing or Photography, for the 9 week program and receive 9 credits

Students interested in a writing concentration, may take Creative Writing in Summer 1 session, participating in the Maremma trip during the Intersession and taking Travel Writing & Publishing in Summer 2. The same can be done for students that are interested in the photographic aspects of the project: they can choose Intro to Digital Photography or Landscape & Architecture Photography in Summer 1 session,  participating in the Maremma trip during the Intersession with a focus on photographic topics,  and take Travel Photography in the Summer 2 session.

About Maremma:
The Maremma is one of the most fascinating areas of Tuscany, with its own strong, wild character that is very different from the normal Tuscan landscape. It is a variegated landscape, gentle and harsh at the same time: dense beech and oak forests alternate with olive groves and plains of wheat and sunflowers. The Maremma is one of the least populous parts of Italy, a place of large spaces where herds wander in a state of nature. Even the coast is very varied: long sand beaches, forests that descend to the sea, steep rocks and pristine islands. In these suggestive glimpses of landscape, the visitor suddenly finds himself before a spectacle of medieval villages, fortresses, mighty bastions and ancient cathedrals and monasteries.