Alumni & Parents

Roman Holiday with Dr. Richard Goode
May 15-22, 2010
Rome, Assisi and Florence

Join Dr. Richard Goode, 1994 North Carolina Professor of the Year, McMahon Professor of English and Honorary Alumnus, as he and his wife, Nancy, lead alumni and friends
on an unforgettable Roman holiday.
 
In his own words, here's what Dr. Goode has in store for us.

What picture flashes into your mind when you think of Italy?  The Coliseum, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Trevi Fountain, Michelangelo’s David, or possibly a sidewalk café bathed with a soft afternoon sun in the Piazza Navona. These are just a few of the memory images you will have when you return from the Queens University of Charlotte trip to Rome, Assisi, and Florence in May 2010.

But these are images one could recall from postcards or watching “Roman Holiday” with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. On the Queens tour we will not only see all the iconic sights, but we will also explore the “nooks and crannies” of these historic cities -- little chapels tucked away in churches off the main tourist path that have paintings and sculptures by Renaissance masters, fountains with bees and turtles that don’t make the guide books, the prison where Peter and Paul were incarcerated, the spot where Julius Caesar was assassinated, and a monastic chapel decorated with artistic designs made from the bones of the monks who gave us the name for Italy’s favorite drink -- cappuccino.

Oh, and there will be plenty of time for the best gelato in Italy at a shop near the Pantheon in Rome, and another near the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence.

Rome.  The eternal city wasn’t built in a day, but we’ll see plenty of it in three.

Day 1. On our way to the hotel from the airport we will take a bus tour of the city, stopping at various locations for a closer look.  In the afternoon we will visit the Church of St. John Lateran (the cathedral church of Rome) near our hotel and the catacombs beyond the walls of the ancient city. In the evening we will have a welcome dinner at the hotel.

Day 2. This day is devoted to Ancient Rome.  We will visit the Capitoline Museums, the Roman Forum, the Mamertine Prison, the Arch of Constantine, and the Coliseum.

Day 3. In the morning we will examine the vast collections of the Vatican Museum, including the Sistine Chapel, then to St. Peter’s Basilica and an opportunity for those who wish to climb to the top of the dome designed by Michelangelo. In the afternoon we will explore the areas around the Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, and the Spanish Steps, where all the designer shops are, including a café where Byron and Shelly drank coffee 200 years ago.

Florence.  “The Athens on the Arno” is the center of Renaissance art in all of Europe, with majestic works of architecture, sculpture, and painting by such masters as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Masaccio, Botticelli, Donatello, Brunelleschi, and Ghiberti.

Day 4.  On our way from Rome to Florence, we will stop by the medieval town of Assisi to visit the Basilica of St. Francis which features a lower more austere Romanesque church and an upper brightly lit church, lavishly decorated with frescoes (telling the life of St. Francis) by the late medieval artist Giotto. In Florence we will have a coach tour of the city on the way to our hotel.  In the evening, a pleasant walk along the Arno can bring one to the famous Pont Vecchio, the shop-line medieval bridge over the river, or to the Piazza della Signoria edged with cafes, or my favorite restaurant, Firenze Vecchio, famous for its “steak Florentine.”

Day 5.  We begin the day with a visit to the basilica of Santa Croce with its tombs of Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo, and a monument to Dante, Florence’s most famous citizen. A short walk takes us to the Bargello museum with its outstanding collection of works by Michelangelo, della Robbia, Donatello, Brunelleschi and Ghiberti. From there we arrive at the Piazza della Signoria with its marvelous display of public statuary and its many sidewalk cafes. After lunch, we will have an appointment for our visit to the Uffizi Gallery, with one of the finest art collections in the world. The rest of the day can be spent wandering the very walkable medieval streets adjacent to the Piazza, perhaps including a stop at the house Dante lived in, or a visit to the Galileo Museum of Science behind the Uffizi.

Day 6. In the morning we will visit the Academia Museum to see the signature work of the Italian Renaissance – Michelangelo’s David.  From there it is on to the Baptistery and the Duomo (Cathedral of Santa Maria Del Fiore) with its magnificent dome engineered by Brunelleschi, and then to the Duomo Museum with works by Donatello, Ghiberti, and Michelangelo.  The afternoon will be free for shopping around town and in the street markets around the Church of San Lorenzo and the Medici Palace.
 


Dr. Richard Goode, Humanities Division Chair and McMahon Professor of English

Dr. Richard Goode, McMahon Professor of English, received his B.A. in English from Washington & Lee University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Texas. Dr. Goode joined the Queens faculty in 1978 as a Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature. 

Dr. Goode also teaches film and television. He has received the Queens Teaching Award, the Grier Professor of the Year Award, the Sears Teacher of the Year Award, and in 1994 was selected as North Carolina Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Institute for the Advancement of Learning. The Queens Alumni Association named Dr. Goode an Honorary Alumnus in 2007. 

Dr. Goode teaches the Survey of British Literature to 1660, the Seventeenth Century, Shakespeare, Chaucer, History of Film, History of Television, Film Studies, and Introduction to Mass Communications.
   

Click here to download and print your registration form.  Mail your completed registration form to: World Cultural Tours, 2002 Eastwood Road, Suite 306, Wilmington, NC 28403.  Attn: Mellissa Garrett. 

$2,999 per person, based on double occupancy, includes roundtrip airfare, six nights accommodation, luxury motor coach, breakfast daily, welcome and farewell dinners and gratuities for drivers and guides.

Please contact the Office of Alumni Programs at 704 337-2536 or levantib@queens.edu with questions. 

-------------------------------------
Printed from www.Queens.edu.

Queens University of Charlotte
1900 Selwyn Ave.
Charlotte, NC 28274
Phone: 704 337-2200
Fax: 704 337-2403
Thrive.