IFR: Italy Field Schools - Palermo, Turin, Viterbo & more

Honestly one of the greatest experiences of my life. I enjoyed how small the group was and how close and comfortable we became with each other. As a group we had lots of fun together and made lots of great memories together. One of my favorites was getting together along with Hans for Brunch on our first Saturday in Torino. We enjoyed many fun times together and even now we still keep in touch every once in a while.
The program itself was great as well, we had small issues as it was the first year that this program had taken place so they were learning along with us, but it was still a great learning experiences and the opportunities that we were given were some that we could probably not have enjoyed otherwise. One great opportunity was being able to meet and work with the director, curators, and other staff at Museo Egizio. Being able to experience first hand the workings of a museum was for me one of the greatest benefits of this program. Being able to visit other museums and other locations were they work on restoring artifacts was also a great part of this program. There was so much to do and see, just within the program itself that I recommend future participants to take all the opportunities given and enjoy every minute of it. I also recommend that you enjoy the weekends there are many places that one can visit and it isnt too expensive. For example, I, along with some friends, was able to go to Nice, Venice, and a small abbey known as Sacra di San Michele located near the city of Torino. They were all great trips and highly suggest that people use the weekends to get away, or if not the city itself has so many places to see and enjoy, one thing is for sure you will never be bored.
Finally for the food, it is all really delicious. My two favorite were the Vittello Tonnato and Crema Catalana, I highly recommend them.
To all future participants of this program I wish you the greatest of times and hope you make as many wonderful memories as I did.

Prepping for summer 2017 was extremely exciting but once I got to Turin, Italy the experience was better than I could have ever imagined. Amazing staff support is offered to students and you get to work closely with conservators of the Museo Egizio. Turin is a wonderful city located in northern Italy with many sites to see. All the participants of the program became fast friends during our communal lunches and dinners.

Dr. Emily Holt and Davide Shirru were very on top of their timings and having everything ready to go. They were both welcoming, easy to ask questions to, and extremely knowledgable. The work was challenging but rewarding, and very much what I expected. The both also knew the local area well and were well connected to the local town. They made sure we were included in parts of the local customs such as festivals. Those who worked with us on meals were friendly and tried their best to make our time enjoyable. The food was very fresh and plentiful. The location was very hot, but hydration was not an issue and Dr. Holt worked to keep us out of the sun. Bathrooms were easy to use and I appreciated that we could do laundry on site. There was very little working wifi, which made it difficult to keep up with friends and family back home regularly. I enjoyed seeing other parts of the Sardinian landscape and the different beaches in the area. I greatly enjoyed this IFR Field Pran'e Siddi Landscape Project.

Learning about museum practices and Egyptian material culture in the Museo Egizio was an incredible experience. Being able to talk with museum staff and ask them questions about their work, experiences, and curatorial or conservation choices was unlike any other experience I had had before. The field school staff (Dr. Barnard, and 2 TA's, Vera and Rachel) were supportive, very knowledgable, approachable and extremely helpful. I learned so much over the course of the field school. The program includes lectures given by field school staff and museum staff (including the director of the Museo Egizio!) and field trips to museums and cultural and archaeological sites in Italy. We even got to take a field trip to one of the museum's outside conservationist's workshop! Being in the field school gives you unprecedented access to the material, collections and staff of the Museo Egizio. And Turin is an incredible city to live in for 5 weeks. On the weekends, there is time to travel across Italy because it is well connected on the high speed train (my peers I went to places like Florence, Venice, and the lakes district on the weekends). We worked with 3,000 year old pottery sherds and textiles fragments and got to learn how to do ceramic and textile analysis from experts at the museum! We got to tour the museum collections with museum conservators and learn about all aspects of the museum. The exposure to museum practices was incomparable and the overall experience was unequal to any other experience I had in museums prior.