Reading Latin & Creative Writing in Florence
July 16-26, 2026
A unique summer learning experience in Florence, Italy designed for high school students to advance their expertise in reading Latin. Here, in the birthplace of the Renaissance, we make the Classics come alive through an interplay of literature, art history, and travel.
‘Ancient Shapes, Modern Takes’
Calder Classics invites dedicated students of Latin and Creative Writing to join us in Florence to immerse themselves in our interdisciplinary program. Over this ten-day program, the myths and legends of the classical world come alive through the interplay of ancient texts, Renaissance art, and creative writing. Our course gives new meaning to the phrase “Renaissance (wo)man” and is perfect for students interested in the liberal arts.
We spend our time together in a beautiful apartment in the center of Florence. Language, art, and scholarship merge fluently in an atmosphere of intellectual freedom and interdisciplinary exchange. Our days will be split between Latin and Creative Writing in our residence and Art History excursions. The three classes are enriched by their interconnections. A literary technique isolated in Latin class may be put into practice in a short story later in the day. A Renaissance painting may become the basis for an ekphrastic poem. The evenings feature Italy’s many leisure and culinary offerings. Students in 9th through 12th grade are invited to apply.
Master Latin and Respond Creatively
In Latin class, students read, translate, and discuss Latin literature in an interactive “salon” style environment. Students gain valuable sight-reading experience with such influential ancient authors as Ovid, Lucretius, Seneca, Vergil, and Horace. Given that participants join us from a variety of schools, we begin with a review of Latin grammar. We then analyze important texts from both a grammatical and literary perspective, engaging in such topics as the significance of rhetorical devices, meter, and intertextuality. At least one school year of reading original (or slightly adapted) Latin texts is required.
In Creative Writing, students write their own adaptations of classical stories and poems in English. Using translations and adaptations of texts from Latin class, students will consider techniques such as word choice, rhythm, story structure, and the hero’s journey. Drawing on their Latin readings, students are prompted to embark on their own ‘creative’ translations. Students write personally or fictionally and come away with a deeper understanding of how to express themselves fluently on the page. Each student receives peer and instructor feedback. The course culminates in a reading in an ancient amphitheater, where each student has the opportunity to share a piece they have worked on during the program.
Dive into Italy’s Art, Culture and History
Throughout our time in Florence, we engage with art that is related thematically to, or directly inspired by, the literature we read together. Guided by our resident art historian, we explore how art – written and visual- can be used to commemorate and immortalize both people and events and how artists played a role in creating that memory. In our exploration of Italian Renaissance art, which was deeply impacted by the distant memory of ancient Rome, we focus on the city of Florence and discuss important patrons of the arts such as the Medici family along with famous works by artists including Donatello, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael. Our discussions will delve into the historical context and broader themes of the artworks we visit as well as their connection to the Latin curriculum.
Sample Daily Schedule
While the schedule will be flexible, the general plan is as follows:
9-10:00 AM Group Breakfast
10-1:00 PM Latin/Writing/Site Visits
1-3:000 PM Lunch and Break
3-6:00 PM Latin/Writing//Site Visits
6-10:00 PM Dinner and Evening Activities
Accommodations
Our residence is in a historic Florentine palazzo featuring frescoed ceilings and large, bright windows. Located in the Santa Croce neighborhood, we are near the banks of the Arno River. All the main points of interest in the city are within easy walking distance. With access to a kitchen and living area, we cook, study, and relax together in a supportive and comfortable environment.
All rooms are doubles or triples with single beds and feature air conditioning and internet service.
Accommodations
Dates and Fees: July 16-26, 2026
The $6,800 tuition includes accommodations, transportation within Italy, museum entries, instruction, and course materials. Breakfast and dinner are also included. Students are on their own for a midday lunch break and are responsible for the cost of their own activities outside of the group. Airfare is not included.
Application Deadline
Students are accepted on a rolling admissions basis, as long as space is available. Please submit your application by the deadline of February 15 to receive priority consideration for this program. New applications will be reviewed as they are received, and acceptances will be granted upon evaluation by our staff.
Your application will be processed, and you will receive a reply regarding your acceptance status within one to two weeks of your submission date provided that we have received your teacher reference.
Transportation
Students may choose to travel on the same flight as our staff on either or both legs of the journey between New York City and Florence. Calder Classics will arrange transportation between the airport and the residence ONLY for those students who choose to travel on a flight with our staff, or who coordinate with our flight at arrival or departure. The details of the flight will be specified in advance. Students traveling by themselves must make their own connections to the residence.
Our Scholars
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Lizzie Fox
Lizzie Fox
Lizzie Fox is a graduate of Williams College, where she majored in Comparative Literature with a focus on Latin. She is currently in grad school at the University of Arkansas where she is studying creative writing, translation, and medieval Latin. Lizzie also works as an actor, writer, Latin translator, and teacher. She has lived in India, where she taught Shakespeare to high schoolers, France, where she studied at the Institut International D’Études Françaises in Strasbourg, and the Philippines, where she worked as a journalist and women’s health activist. Lizzie is currently at work on translations of the Latin plays The Octavia and Dulcitius.
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Lizzy Kildahl
Lizzy Kildahl
Lizzy Kildahl graduated from Williams College in 2014 with a major in History and a focus on the Middle East. While at Williams she took every opportunity to study Spanish and Portuguese on campus and abroad, becoming proficient in both, and developing a love of learning languages and traveling the world. After graduation, she taught English for a year in Northern Thailand. Lizzy is currently in her tenth year at the School for Ethics and Global Leadership, a semester school in Washington D.C., where she teaches U.S. History, Comparative Government and Politics. She is Dean of Faculty Emeritus. Among other things, Lizzy’s U.S. History class focuses on understanding American political leadership through primary source analysis, including seminal political speeches. Lizzy was a chaperone for Calder Classics in 2015, 2023, and 2024, and she is returning in 2025 as a co-teacher of the “Power of Rhetoric” class in Tusculum and as a chaperone in Florence.
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Alyssa Northrop
Alyssa Northrop
Alyssa Northrop received her B.A. in English and Creative Writing at Williams College and her M.F.A. in fiction writing at Brooklyn College. She has taught English on a Princeton in Asia Fellowship and undergraduate composition and literature courses at Brooklyn College. Alyssa is a life-long student of the Classics, having studied Latin and Greek in high school at Saint Ann’s and modern adaptations of classical literature at Williams. She has fiction and non-fiction pieces published in the Colorado Review, the South Carolina Review, and Epiphany Magazine, and she is working on her first novel. When Alyssa is not writing, she works as a writing and humanities tutor for kids of all ages. Here is her website.
Alyssa spent a summer chaperoning for Calder Classics in 2014 and returned in 2017 and 2019 to teach a Creative Writing Workshop in Florence and online in 2020 and 2021. She led our Creative Writing Workshop in Florence in 2023 and she will co-teach Reading Latin + Creative Writing in Florence in 2024. Alyssa is the first recipient of the Calder Classics Scholar-in-Residence award.