For Lorenzo, a recent B.Arch. graduate with Italian roots and a family lineage connected to architecture, participating in the program was an opportunity he felt he could not pass up. “This program was a leading factor in my decision to study at the University of Miami,” he says, describing the opportunity to learn from Rome’s influential architectural traditions alongside U-SoA faculty as a privilege that exceeded his expectations.
Nicole, who was born and raised in Brazil and has also lived in Canada, Israel and Portugal, came to Rome with a similarly international perspective. “Each experience abroad has challenged me outside of my comfort zone in a different way,” she says. “I was excited to see how Rome would add to that—while also allowing me to learn about architecture in a city where every building feels like a standing museum.”
Learning Through Experience
For both Lorenzo and Nicole, some of the most lasting lessons came from experiencing architecture firsthand.
Lorenzo was particularly influenced by the Baths of Caracalla, whose monumental scale and processional organization helped reinforce ideas about served and serving spaces that he first encountered in his studies with Professor Edgar Sarli. Walking through Rome also changed the way he thinks about the pedestrian experience. His daily 12-minute walk to the studio became an opportunity to observe buildings, streets, landscaped hills and unexpected architectural moments.
“Living in the city has strengthened my convictions on the importance of the pedestrian experience,” he says. “My eyes wander from building to building seeing new moments that were always there, but undiscovered.”
Nicole found inspiration beyond Rome as well, particularly at the Scarpa Garden at the Querini Stampalia Foundation in Venice. Experiencing Carlo Scarpa’s work firsthand showed her how creativity, imagination and meticulous structural detail can coexist within a single architectural work.
Travel and observation also became central to Nicole’s approach to understanding the built environment. Through sketching exercises with Professor Carmen Guerrero, students were encouraged to draw buildings, piazzas, streets and the details that captured their attention.
“Travel sketching has become a way even of meditation—to observe more carefully and engage with the environment,” Nicole says. “I think it’s something I’ll carry into other cities as a way of understanding and representing what I see from my own perspective.”
Architecture, History and Culture
Living in Rome also deepened both Lorenzo and Nicole’s understanding of the relationship between architecture and the layers of history and culture embedded within the built environment.
Nicole describes the experience as a reminder that “everything in the present is a result of what came before.” In Rome, where historic structures remain an active part of everyday life, she says it can feel like being transported into the past.
For Lorenzo, visits throughout Italy—including Genoa and Venice—revealed how interconnected cultures have been for centuries. Hellenization and the influence of Eastern aesthetics and culture can be seen throughout the Italian peninsula, he notes, while walks with Professor Jan Gadeyne encouraged him to understand Rome’s ruins within a broader cultural and historical context.
The program’s international character also reinforced that lesson. Among the 18 students in the group were approximately 12 nationalities, 10 languages and eight religions. For Nicole, that diversity was one of the program’s most meaningful aspects.
“How a single conversation can completely shift your perspective,” she says. “In both architecture and diversity, it really comes down to the same thing: curiosity.”
Lorenzo similarly describes the relationships formed through the program as one of its greatest rewards. Traveling alongside classmates from different cultural backgrounds allowed him to learn from their perspectives, making the group’s international diversity both a difference and a shared point of connection.
A New Way of Seeing
Ultimately, the Rome Program gave both Lorenzo and Nicole a deeper appreciation for the value of slowing down, looking closely and experiencing places firsthand.
For Nicole, that lesson is captured in an Italian phrase she adopted during her time abroad: “piano piano,” or “little by little.” She sees it as a reminder that everything is a process—one that can be approached with patience and intention.
Lorenzo collected a few Italian expressions of his own. “Throw a hand motion, sip an espresso, and a ‘che facciamo’ are the fundamentals to the Italian experience,” he jokes. And when asked to describe the study-abroad experience, he offers: “Troppo Buonissimo come il Pecorino.”
But perhaps the question that stayed with him most came during the group’s trip to Frascati: “Otium o Negotium?”Leisure or business?
For both Lorenzo and Nicole, the answer seems to be found somewhere in between. Their time in Rome was an opportunity to study architecture, but also to travel, observe, connect and experience the world—with curiosity guiding the way.
