Program Reviews

A year ago I would never have been brave enough to do something like this, but I am beyond grateful that I did. I worried my anxiety would hinder my ability to enjoy the program because of its fast paced nature and many sociable elements, but I was so wrong. Even beyond their incredible teaching, the tutors were incredible supports throughout the entire course. Instead of being overwhelmed, I became more excited, engaged, and extroverted. This program is an incredible experience not just for art history education and cultural immersion, but self discovery.

I can honestly say that my 6 weeks with AHA on the autumn gap year was one of the best experiences of my life. It would be almost impossible for me to pinpoint one highlight of the trip because every single day was packed with so many exciting activities, exploring new cities, their histories and culture.

To give an idea of some of the incredible things we saw I will outline some of my personal highlights from my favourite city: Florence. I loved visiting the Medici chapel, the San Marco convent, the contemporary exhibition at the Strozzi Palace and watching the sunset from the hill of San Minato. But this is just Florence!! To stress how much these highlights don’t even scratch the surface of what we saw, I am almost certain that everyone on the course would come up with different highlights of each city and would undoubtably struggle (as I clearly have) to pinpoint just one best thing about the trip.

As well as learning loads about the History of Art in each city, we had the opportunity to learn so many other things about the cultural history of each city. We went to the opera in Naples, spent a day learning about the Romantic poets in Rome, took part in an amazing gold leaf workshop in Siena, learned how to make pasta and do paper marbling in Florence and saw Murano glass making and rowed gondola’s in Venice. Our evening spent in St Marks in Venice was also completely mind bogglingly magical.

I also have to mention how special the tutors are to AHA. Their breadth and depth of knowledge and passion for their subjects had a huge influence on me, and transformed the way I think about, approach, and talk about art. They were truly at the core of the group. The way they taught us was always full of heaps of knowledge and was delivered with bounds of energy which was truly inspiring. We were also all really encouraged by the tutors and by one another to think for ourselves, discuss our ideas, and respond to the things we saw in our own way. Loads of my friends would leave museums and galleries with drawings, paintings, poetry, written responses, photographs and even songs, which responded to works we saw, which was a really lovely thing to see. Everyone learnt a great deal, and whether people had known anything about Art History before or not, it was really lovely to see everyone’s confidence grow and ideas flourish as the trip went by.

AHA is definitely a family and everyone got on so well. Almost every evening all the students and tutors ate dinner together which was a really lovely way to end of the day. And aside from the invaluable volume of things we learned, we all made some incredible friends - anyone who witnessed any of our goodbyes to one another on the last night would see how special the bonds we made were!! I have no doubt in my mind that despite how quickly the trip flew by, the memories and friendships I made will last a life time.

I can’t thank AHA enough for helping to catalyse a passion for History of Art as a subject as well as providing me with the academic confidence and excitement to launch myself into the many other areas of Art History I have yet to explore. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend 6 weeks on my gap year!!

I was a student on AHA’s 6 week Early Summer Course from the end of May to early July 2022 and it was without a doubt the BEST aspect of my gap year. Our select group of 11 travelled the length and breadth of Italy discovering the greatest artists, architects, leaders and thinkers from the early Christian church, through the Renaissance, and right up to the 21st century. All the while we bonded as a group to form strong bonds of friendship while sharing knowledge, opinions and laughs (lots of them)! Accompanied by the most inspiring, approachable and easy-going tutors who shared their endless information in the most creative and thought-provoking ways…from Italian language classes in Siena to a private tour unlocking the Vatican…you’ll leave Italy with a rounded knowledge of its culture and an ability to embrace any culture where-ever you go in the future. If you love Italian history, fine art, striking architecture, good food and travelling with friends then this course is the ONE for you! Don’t think twice just sign up - you’ll never look back (except to reminisce on the great times you had in Italy)!

AHA is undoubtedly the best program abroad for any art lover or any student interested in Italy and making lasting friendships from around the world. The AHA tutors and teachings are unrivaled, and you will learn more than you could ever expect. AHA was genuinely the time of my life. Don't worry if you don't have a huge interest in art; the tutors illuminate and make art incredibly engaging and fun. My memories from AHA will stay with me for life, and the friendships have stayed strong almost a year after we left.

Having the opportunity to immerse yourself into Italian culture, food, art and history is something that is beyond incredible. And to have a group of tutors/leaders who are so passionate about providing you with a top quality experience only furthers how incredible it is. AHA is dedicated to opening the doors that allow you to spark your own interests and creativity surrounding what you do and see and the love they put into not only their lessons but the students makes it by far the best option.

Art History Abroad's gap year course in Italy was unforgettable, magical and inspirational.

It was so special because I had never travelled to Italy or studied Art History, so turning every street brought some extraordinary new mind blowing revelation. Thirty two years later I remember moments of that trip better than many of the years in between.

Sharing such a joyful experience with others was part of the magic. Any young person who has a store of joyful moments to inspire, will find them comfort through hard times.

I spend three weeks with Art History Abroad during August 2020 on their Regeneration Summer Course. I joined them for a week in Naples, then five days in Rome, three days in Siena, and the rest in Florence.

The course exceeded my expectations by a mile. I was joining the course alone after its first week and was worried that everyone would already be friends with each other & I would be the new one; but, within minutes of arriving I had already met everyone and gotten completely comfortable with all the students and tutors. Prior to going, I had already met Marie Naffah, one of my tutors in Naples, at two different school gap fairs. I remember finding her extremely friendly & easy to interact with, and so I was very happy to have her for my first week of the course. I think that the tutors are one of the best aspects of AHA. With each tutor I had (Steve Nelson, Marie Naffah, Joe Nickols, Holly Morrison, Nick Ross and Helen Oakden) I found that I had more of a friendly relationship with them rather than a student-teacher one. The lessons were more like conversations than lectures which was perfect for discussing all of the amazing things which we saw every day.

The course itself was exactly what I was looking for. Having been unable to take Art History as a subject at school, I found myself able to understand everything that the tutors were talking about & to present my own thoughts properly. I had the opportunity to learn about whole areas of history & art which I had never thought about much before and the variety of periods, places, and cultures we covered was amazing.

When the course finished I was very sad to have to leave the group and the environment which we had been living in for the last few weeks; however, I have soon was able to return to Italy and live in Rome for 8 weeks. Walking around the city, everything that I recognised from the course brought back happy memories and I found that I knew far more about the different sites than the others around me. I had the most amazing time with AHA and I really hope that I will be able to join them again at some point in the future.

I decided to go on a month long AHA summer course around a month before it began. I was feeling bored and uninspired from being stuck at home during lockdown without anything to do. I was not keen at first to go on a summer course as what I imagined was a sort of glorified school trip. I could not have been more wrong. The students and tutors were all interesting and entertaining and I have made friends I know I will be close with for the rest of my life - including quite a few who are now at university with me! I could not recommend this course enough, I find myself thinking back to August whenever the rain or my essays start to get me down.

Art History Abroad’s semester course is the best way anyone could possibly spend 6-12 weeks. I was so lucky to experience it, having not only educational but fun tutors who guided us seamlessly through some of the most stunning places on the planet. I met friends from places I’d never even heard of before and the lasting friendships that you can build during this enriching time are possibly the best thing about it. It is truly a blast. I found the most enriching thing to be the way in which i found myself loving learning. I felt that everyday had a true and amazing purpose, and i knew that each day my mind would be blown afresh.

My own experience with Art History Abroad is a positively unforgettable one. It’s the trip where you will catch yourself replaying sun soaked scenes in your head, when it’s still and raining outside. If you need a reminder of all that is valuable and sweet in life you really do not need to look any further. Behind all of it lies a foundation of passion for the arts which I found infectious, to create in any form is joyous and so much more valuable than we make it out to be these days. AHA is an important reminder of this and I can’t encourage you enough to welcome such an opportunity with open arms.