Teachers' Blog

Teachers' Blog

Discover Siena School for Liberal Arts staff and teachers' view on art, sustainability, the universe and everything!

Read their Tumblr blog: you will find out much about italian culture and what living in Italy really means!


Do you want to know more about them? Read their CVs and watch their presentation on our Faculty Page.

Calendar updates for Spring 2020 Semester

Due to uncertainties for international travel amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, we have slightly compressed the calendar of our Fall 2020 & Spring 2021 semesters, maintaining the same instructional h...

Exhibit with Silversmithing instructor Laura...

Yesterday our silversmithing instructor Laura de Tanti participated in an outdoor group exhibition in Siena organized by the LOLOLA' collective and two of our former students were able to attend together wit...

Da "Basta" a "Bastardo" con il nostro Prof...

 Ancora chiusi in casa possiamo continuare le nostre esplorazioni filologiche con il nostro Prof. Roberto Fineschi! Since we're still stuck at home we can continue our philological explorations with our ...

Celebrating Leonardo da Vinci

April 15 is the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci who was born here in our region of Tuscany in 1452! Here are two artworks by him which can be seen at the Gallerie degli Uffizi in Florence, the Annunciation and...

Visit VIRTUALLY Museums in Siena &Worldwide!

Italy's national "lock-down" need not stop us from exploring art and culture! There is a wealth of cultural and artistic resources we can thankfully still utilize online.  Although museums across Italy ...

Meeting Master Stone-Carver Emilio Frati

Our students from the Siena School for Liberal Arts and the Siena Art Institute were able to explore the Tempo Zulu stones with our instructor Bernardo Giorgi, contemporary interventions within the streets...

Historic Fresco Paintings at Siena's City...

Siena is filled with important areas of cultural heritage and artistic signifigance.  One place that is very worthwhile to see in the city center is Palazzo Pubblico, the historic city hall.  Construction o...

USA Study-Abroad Events

In September, our faculty member, Lisa Nonken, will be on campus at several of our American partner institutions to promote our programs at the Siena Art Institute and Siena School for Liberal Arts.  Our sch...

Master carver Maestro Frati

We had the very special experience to meet master stone-carver Maestro Frati and to see his studio space in front of Siena’s synagogue, just around the corner from Piazza del Campo. Maestro Frati is t...

Cool-weather Italian Citrus

Did you know that the cool weather season is when Italian citrus fruits are at their peak? Discovering this was a big suprise for me, since didn't grow up in a a citrus-producing area.  Throughout the ...

A Difficult Past

Remembering a Difficult Past   Liliana Segre, Italian Senator for Life   Never before have I used the Teachers’ Blog to explore politics, but the autumn months of the present year mark noteworthy ann...

Autumn Cooking

Autumn is maybe the most exciting time to cook in Tuscany!   There are all kinds of fall treats like freshly-pressed olive oil, roasted chestnuts, "novello" wine, and different kinds of squash that you ...

Hiking club CAI SIENA

I recently had the chance to go on a hike with local hiking club CAI SIENA (for more info:www.caisiena.it/) It was a beautiful autumnal Sunday, perfect for a hike!  We drove from Siena to the Province ...

Birds for Neighbors

Truth be told, I’ve probably taken birds for granted most of my life, blithely letting them blend into the background. Throughout childhood, I guess I liked the birds of my native New England well enough—robins, blu...

Don't Cry for Me Argentina...

Last year, more or less this time, I visited Buenos Aires for a conference. The best thing in scholars’ life is travelling. Conferences are of course interesting, but it is always a good chance to know m...

Snowshoeing on Monte Amiata

Siena has a very active hiking club which is part of the national organization Club Alpino Italiano (CAI). The group is a similar organization to the Appalachian Mountain Club, which is was part of in...

Just in Case of Desertification

Sustainability - in other words how we run the only planet we have - is most of the time an environmentalist issue. In Europe now, surprisingly, the alarm has not been sounded by activists or scientists,...

Along the Bosham and Chichester Channels

Last week I was down along the coast at Wittering and Bosham on the south coast of England with my parents. Where the channels come in from the sea, East of Portsmouth, these stunningly beautiful areas...

Friends will be Friends!

Life is strange. You never know whom you’ll work with, what your job environment will be like, etc. And you’ll meet new people, some will go, some new ones will replace them. The relationships that you...

Taking the Waters

Captain Renault: And what, in heaven’s name, brought you to Casablanca? Rick Blaine: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters. Captain Renault: The waters? What waters? We’re in the desert. Rick Bla...
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