Italy Study Abroad '22

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In Winter 2022/2023, I traveled to Italy for a Business & Culture Study Abroad program with 16 business students, organized by the Virginia Tech Global Education Office.

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We visited around ~12 companies hearing from experts in each field, and learning how the Italian culture affects their business practices. The companies we visited were established as far back as 872 years ago. In addition, we visited around 8 museums.

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Rome

Started off the trip in Rome, the capital of Italy, where everything is 2,000 years old. There, We visited the Vatican and spent New Year’s at the Colosseum. We also visited a movie production company, along with museums.

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Vatican City

In Rome, we visited the Vatican and saw the pope give a speech.

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Naples + Pompeii

We took a day trip for a guided tour of Pompeii, visiting Naples along the way.

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Florence

Traveled to Florence by train on the morning of New Year’s Day. There, we did wine tasting, visited the Gucci Museum, saw how custom luxury paper was made, and went to multiple museums.

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Bologna & Modena

Traveled to Bologna/Modena, the center of the Italian car industry, where we visited three companies representing different scales of production: Pagani (40 cars/year), Maserati (the factory we visited produced 6/day), and Ducati (peak 350/day). I wasn’t allowed to take any pictures inside the factories.

Additionally to car companies, we visited a pasta kitchen, balsamic vinegar producer, and cheese wheel producer.

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Milan

Finally, we visited the fashion capital of Italy before departing back to Washington D.C.

There we visited the Armani Silos, a jewlery producer, and a mannequin designer.

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