International Affairs Department
The first Russian-Italian school took place in Iveron Monastery on the shores of picturesque Lake Valdai in 2015.
Because, in our opinion, interaction between Italian and Russian students is of great value, in 2011, we started to organize two parallel programs: one in Russian language and Russian culture for foreign students, and one in Italian language and Italian culture for Russian students at our university.
In 2015, the Russian cultural program was on Medieval Rusʹ: the Italian students attended lectures on ancient Russian history (V. I. Petrushko), Old Russian literature (I. L. Bagration-Mukhraneli), iconography (M.P. Zaigraykina), and the fundamentals of Orthodox culture (Dcn. P. Serzhantov).
The program in Italian culture included the history of Italian music (S. Mercantini, University of Kharkov) and the history of cinema (A. del Asta, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan).
In the evening, cooking master classes, concerts, and film screenings were organized for all participants in the school.
During the summer school, students and teachers visited Veliky Novgorod, Staraya Russa – where they visited Dostoevsky’s manor house –, and Saint Petersburg.
