Explore the magnificent sights, narrow streets, canals, and piazzas of Venice, the city surrounded by water. Each semester, Wake students reside at Casa Artom, an historic site once home to the American Consulate located on the Grand Canal and flanked by the Peggy Guggenheim Art Museum and the charming 15th century home Ca’Dario. A WFU faculty member serves as resident professor and lives with the students while teaching and overseeing the academic program in a city that not only captures your attention with its beauty but also provides opportunities to attend cultural activities and festivals including Venice Biennale, Venice Film Festival, Regatta Storica on the Grand Canal, Carnevale, and the Festa della Madonna della Salute.

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Students participating on the WFU/Casa Artom program are required to obtain a visa prior to the program’s start date.  To help students and families understand the Spanish visa process, the Center for Global Programs and Studies has created a useful WFU Visa website.

Students should also check their passport’s expiration date and ensure that it will be valid for at least 6 months after the program’s end date.  If students need to renew their passport, they should visit the U.S. Department of State’s passport website for information on this process.  Students can also contact their study abroad advisor with any questions about this.

Surrounded by water, Venice is an enchanting city built on 117 small islands. Its magnificent sights are best seen by walking along the narrow streets, crossing the many canals, and meandering through the piazzas. The Piazza di San Marco, Palazzo Ducale, and the Rialto bridge are three among numerous sites that make Venice an unforgettable city. In addition, Wake Forest students may conveniently explore other parts of Italy including Rome, Florence, Pompeii, and Sicily.

In 1971, the University, with the assistance of Graham Martin, Ambassador to Italy and Wake Forest alumnus, leased the building that formerly housed the American Consulate. In 1974, the building was purchased by Wake Forest and named Casa Artom in honor of Dr. Camillo Artom, a professor at the Baptist Medical Center until 1969. His wife, Bianca Ara Artom, taught Italian at Wake Forest for many years and served as the director of Casa Artom during the summers until her death in 1994.

Casa Artom is a magnificent two-story building facing the Grand Canal. It is flanked by the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, which houses the Peggy Guggenheim art collection, and the magnificent 15th century home Ca’Dario.

Click the following link for pictures of Casa Artom: Casa Artom Photographs.

Each fall and spring semester, a group of Wake Forest students and a Resident Professor live and study together at Casa Artom. Classes are held at the Casa Artom house. Elective courses are taught by local Italian professors. Classes are scheduled Monday through Thursday, leaving a three-day weekend to explore Venice or travel to other destinations. Many returning students cite the close relationships formed not only among students but also between students and the Resident Professor as a highlight of the program.  Resident Professors alternate every semester.

It is the student’s responsibility to speak to their major and minor advisor(s) regarding their abroad coursework and how (or if) it will count towards their degree plan.

Academic Requirements 
While at Casa Artom, students must take: 

1. At least 1 of the Resident Professor’s courses
2. Italian language course (ITA 113 [4h], ITA 153 [4h], or ITA 217 [3h])
3. HMN 160 Venice Today (1.5h) (p/f): Using Venice as the classroom, students will examine the history of the city, through its buildings, urban planning, arts, and artifacts.
4. Minimum 12 credit hours total

Additional Divisional Courses 
Divisional courses offered will be taught by local professors. These courses are elective to the program and are subject to change each semester. Please refer to the Resident Professor to discuss the entire course listings during their designated semester. Electives may include:

• ART 269 Venetian Renaissance Art (3h) (D): A survey of the art of the Venetian Renaissance, with slide lectures and museum visits.
• HST 119 Venice and the World (3h) (CD, D): Traces the role of Venice as an important cultural, military, and economic power from its founding in the 8th century to today. Satisfies the Division I requirement or can be taken for History major credit.
• ECN 271 The Political Economy of Italy (3h) (D)

Spring 2025 with Jacqui Carrasco, Music

Course #1: ENT 310: Arts Entrepreneurship

Course #2: MSC: 240: Music of Italy (D)
 

Fall 2025 with Dr. Rémi Lanzoni, Italian

Course #1: IAS 210: History of Italian Literature, Cinema and Culture (D)

Course #2: IAS 375: Italian Society, Religion(s) and Politics (cross-listed with Religious Studies)
 

Spring 2026 with Dr. Peter Brubaker, HES

Course #1: HES 353: Physiology of Exercise (3h).
A required HES lecture course which presents the concepts and applications of the physiological responses of the human body to exercise/physical activity. The responses of the neuroendocrine, musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, and pulmonary systems to acute and chronic exercise (training) are examined. HES 350 (Human Physiology) is a prerequisite. Contact Dr. Brubaker to discuss options for this prerequisite to be waived.

Course #2: HES 265. Medical Terminology (3h)  
An online elective course that examines medical terminology and vocabulary used by a variety of professionals in the healthcare field. The focus of this course is on medical and clinical terminology broadly relating to human anatomy and physiology and the basic systems of the human body with added emphasis placed on those terms pertaining to diagnosis and pathophysiology. The bases of medical terms will be examined – such as prefixes, suffixes, roots, combined forms. Pertinent acronyms and abbreviations will also be included. Required/recommended for many allied health graduate
programs.

Resident Professors:

Spring 2025: Jacqui Carrasco, Music, carrasj@wfu.edu
Fall 2025: Dr. Remi Lanzoni, Italian, lanzonr@wfu.edu
Spring 2026: Dr. Peter Brubaker, HES, brubaker@wfu.edu

Casa Artom can accommodate twenty students. The house has bedrooms, a library, classrooms, a dining room, a living room, two kitchens, a patio, and an open courtyard. Modern kitchen facilities are available, and students often prefer to cook their meals together in the house. The house is wired for Internet access and students should bring their laptop computers. The Resident Professor has a suite upstairs consisting of two bedrooms and a bath. Washers and dryers are available in the laundry room.

Click the following link for pictures of Casa Artom: Casa Artom Photographs.

NOTE: All students participating in the WFU/Venice: Casa Artom program are required to live in program-provided housing. Housing accommodations you may have on campus do not automatically transfer to abroad and certain housing accommodations (single rooms and private bathrooms, for example) may not be available.

The Resident Professor is responsible for the selection of each group based on the following criteria:

• Academic suitability
• Social and emotional maturity
• Classification (seniors given some priority)
• Priority may be given to students that have completed Italian 111 or 113
• Seriousness of the student in pursuing the academic and cultural aims of the program
• Applicability of the program to the student’s interests and studies

Majors in all disciplines are eligible and encouraged to apply.

Students pay current Wake Forest tuition and housing fees. Students are responsible for all meals, round-trip airfare, additional travel, books, visa fees and other personal expenses.  Students on this program are eligible for additional scholarships.

Special scholarships for study at Casa Artom are available through the Camillo Artom Fund and the Hubert Humphrey Studies Abroad Scholarship. Interested students should apply through the Center for Global Programs and Studies. Students are also eligible for additional scholarships through the Center for Global Programs and Studies (Reynolda Hall 116).

Passport Information
Students need to check their passport’s expiration date and ensure that it will be valid for at least 6 months after the program’s end date.

Students going on a fall program need to make sure their passport is valid through at least mid-June of the following year. Students going on a spring program need to make sure their passport is valid through at least mid-November of the same year.

US passport holders who need to renew their passport should visit the U.S. Department of State’s passport website for information on this process.

Non-US passport holders who need to renew their passport should refer to their home country’s passport office.

Visa Information
All students participating on the WFU/Venice: Casa Artom program are required to obtain a visa prior to the program’s start date. Until you have received your visa, students are advised to refrain from making international travel plans in the months preceding their study abroad semester.

To help students and families understand the Italian visa process, the Center for Global Programs and Studies has created a useful WFU Visa Guidelines Website.

Dr. Alessandra Von Burg
Program Director of Casa Artom
Associate Professor of Communication
Phone: (336) 758 5405
E-mail: beaslea@wfu.edu 

Christina Canon
Study Abroad Advisor
Center for Global Programs and Studies
116 Reynolda Hall
E-mail: canonc@wfu.edu

House Address:
Casa Artom
Dorsoduro 699
San Gregorio
30123 Venice, Italy
Phone: 011-39-041-522-2709
Fax: 011-39-041-522-0277