Afternoon: Check-in at the Magnuson Hotel front desk. Proceed to meeting room for registration and receipt of program folder that contains the most current itinerary.

Dinner: Plated dinner at the hotel

Evening: Get to know the staff and other participants. Overview of program and facilities. After dinner there will be a viewing of the delightful movie "Three Coins in a Fountain" to set the mood for the week. (Optional)

Lodging: Magnuson Hotel - Marina Cove

Meals Included: Dinner

History Through Art / Field Trip - Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota / Choral Performance

Breakfast: Buffet breakfast at the hotel with at least one hot item. Assorted cereals, fruit, orange juice, coffee and tea

Morning: LECTURES: History Through Art. Our art connoisseur, Dedee Aleccia, will show you where Italy's glorious art and architecture is primarily located. Take a short refreshment break midmorning PLACEMENT OF CLASSES AND FIELD TRIPS ON THE SCHEDULE ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE. IN ADDITION, SOME LECTURE TOPICS MIGHT BE ALTERED WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE

Lunch: plated lunch at the hotel

Afternoon: FIELD TRIP: What's Italy without a trip to a museum? We'll take you to the Ringling Museum of Art. Located on a 66-acre estate on Sarasota Bay, it is the official State Art Museum of Florida, offering 21 galleries of European paintings with emphasis on Italian art.

Dinner: Plated dinner at the hotel

Evening: ENTERTAINMENT: Enjoy the musical stylings of a local choral group, the Chorus Angelorum, offering music from the Renaissance and a selection of their personal favorites.

Lodging: Magnuson Hotel - Marina Cove

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Lectures on Literature of the Renaissance/ Science and Inventors / Italy on Stage and Screen / Performance

Breakfast: Buffet breakfast at the hotel with at least one hot item. Assorted cereals, fruit, orange juice, coffee and tea

Morning: Absorb the literature of the Renaissance with our historian, Dedee Aleccia. A mid morning refreshment break will occur.

Lunch: Plated lunch at the hotel

Afternoon: Ever wonder about the side of DaVinci that produced drawings of heliocopters and other such amazing inventions? A man well ahead of his time, Hal Hultman will show us how DaVinci also influenced the imaginations of other Italian inventors throughout the centuries. Enjoy a lively and inquiring lecture about these incredible scientists. After a short break, film and theatre buff Jason Fortner will lead a discussion about Italy on stage and screen.

Dinner: Buffet dinner will be at the Eckerd College CEC Dining Room with a choice of entrees, fresh salad and desserts.

Evening: EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY: Special concert performance led by Susan Bailey Robinson

Lodging: Magnuson Hotel - Marina Cove

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Buffet breakfast at the hotel with at least one hot item. Assorted cereals, fruit, orange juice, coffee and tea

Morning: Italy's Musical Side - Nowhere is the voice more loved than in Italy - the birthplace of opera! The beauty of the melodic line in Italian music transcends vocal music and is evident in the instrumental works, as well. With Musician Susan Bailey Robinson, we will explore how this love of the singing line has influenced Italian music from Gabrieli's motets right up to the contemporary era. Start the morning with a survey of how the development of vocal music in Italy and the creation of opera influenced the melodies of Italian orchestral music. Also, how this love of the singing voice continues in the popular music of Italy today. Take a short refreshment break mid-morning. Italians are also known for their great expressiveness. Italian composers were some of the first to create visual imagery through their instrumental music. We will explore how this is apparent in the music of Italian composers from diverse musical/stylistic periods. This class will give you a look at programmaticism in Italian music from Vivaldi to Respighi.

Lunch: Today you will enjoy a break from the classroom as you head downtown to Grazzi Restaurant. There Domenic will discuss the foods of Italy. This will be followed by an authentic Italian lunch.

Afternoon: Spend some time this afternoon on your own to explore the beautiful and spacious waterfront area of St. Petersburg with shops, museums, galleries, an opulent hotel of the 1920's and more. Transportation provided to the Pier.

Dinner: Buffet dinner will be at the Eckerd College CEC Dining Room with a choice of entrees, fresh salad and desserts.

Evening: Jason Fortner will swtich gears tonight and discuss the Italian-American pop singers that were a hit in their day. Among those artists discussed will be Connie Francis, and others

Lodging: Magnuson Hotel - Marina Cove

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Lectures:Italian Music, Modern Italy/ Special Italian dinner / evening presentation

Breakfast: Buffet breakfast at the hotel with at least one hot item. Assorted cereals, fruit, orange juice, coffee and tea

Morning: Our opera aficionado – Gerry Brody – will discuss the fertile soil from which Puccini, belatedly but gloriously, sprouted. This will be enhanced by Gerry’s demonstration, at the piano and by magnificent recorded examples, of the seminal mileposts in the 400 year-old history of opera culminating in Puccini. This will be followed by a discussion of Puccini’s initial failure to ignite (as a major successor to Giuseppe Verdi) in his first two mediocre attempts at full-length opera. A brief refreshment break will be offered mid morning. Then, through discussion and demonstration, with piano and indelible recorded examples, of Puccini’s ‘glory decade’ (1893-1904), explore his delving into modern harmonies and the unfinished final opera (TURANDOT) first performed in 1926 and conducted by the legendary Arturo Toscanini

Lunch: Buffet lunch will be at the Eckerd College CEC Dining Room with a choice of entrees, fresh salad and desserts.

Afternoon: LECTURE: Study the Italy of today - the financial meltdown and the cause and effect. This will be followed by an interest group - Circolo Italiano - with members of Eckerd College's Academy of Senior Professionals (ASPEC) What would a trip to Italy be without wine and what a better way to appreciate its wine than through some sampling. Learn about the different regions of Italy, and be prepared to taste a red and a white grape wine before our dinner hour.

Dinner: Special Italian Dinner. Join the members of the Academy of Senior Professionals at Eckerd College as you enjoy a special dinner catered just for you at Lewis House on the campus. Formerly the home of the college president, this beautiful structure sits on the banks of the college's seawall overlooking beautiful Boca Ciega Bay.

Evening: A presentation of LA BOHEME (Act I), Puccini’s first internationally acclaimed masterpiece, accompanied by commentary by Gerry Brody. This ‘magical’ 1993 production by the Australian Opera Company, directed by Baz Luhrmann (“Moulin Rouge”), transplants early 19th c. Paris to the 1950’s. If this performance leaves you emotionless, “perhaps, just perhaps, Opera may not be for you”!

Lodging: Magnuson Hotel - Marina Cove

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Buffet breakfast at the hotel with at least one hot item. Assorted cereals, fruit, orange juice, coffee and tea

Morning: LECTURE: The Magic of Italy in the 21st Century: Take a broad spectrum look at Italy today, its history (through events), geography, administrative regions, demographics, climate, economic and environmental issues, government, transportation, military power, and so much more. With our instructor Julia Lewis, we will take a look at Italy's timeless and unmatched beauty from the majestic mountains of its Northern borders to the fascinating, culturally diverse, picturesque island of Sicily in the South. There will be a short refreshment break mid morning.

Lunch: Buffet lunch at the hotel. Program concludes with lunch today.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch