Grand Tour
The “Grand Tour” is a self-reflective, historically informed, and musically illustrated learning and travel experience that engages with aesthetics and ethics:
- What? A unique class & travel experience combining music history & sustainability.
- Who? ~8 UNCG students + 2 UNCG faculty.
- When? June 17 – July 22, 2027.
- How (much)? $8500+airfare (includes lodging, ground transport, most meals, and tuition for 6 credits).*
- Where? Bologna & Rome, Italy (and also Milan, Venice, Florence, Naples, Pompeii, etc.).
Previous UNCG Grand Tour trips took place in summer 2025, as well as in summer 2016, summer 2019, and summer 2023.
During the 18th century, the original “Grand Tourists” were upper-class English gentlemen traveling to Italy. Our trip is a more modern, inclusive, and accessible educational opportunity.
Highlights include:
- Experiencing world-class operas in historical theaters (La Scala, La Fenice, San Carlo).
- Using various types of public transportation (high speed and regional trains, local buses, subways, boats).
- Walking tours in major tourist cities (Venice, Rome) in famous and “off-the-beaten-path” areas.
- Visiting cities rich in history that have a lively student culture due to great universities (Padova, Bologna).
- Eating in restaurants that serve healthy, local, seasonal, typical, organic, affordable, sustainable, real food (pasta, pizza, coffee and wine of course, but also prosciutto, mozzarella di bufala, piadine, fiori di zucca, polenta, stinco, and lots of other wonderful things).
- Seeing historical monuments (Colosseum! Pantheon!) and beautiful natural areas (parks, rivers, mountains, beaches).
- Learning about Italian history and culture (music, food, travel, nature, sustainability) while relating it to contemporary issues and experiences.
- Considering the ethical implications of travel and tourism’s impacts on people and places while balancing personal growth with empathy.
- Reflecting on and comparing our modern experiences with what it might have been like for the original “Grand Tourists.”
- Engaging with Italians working in food, sustainability, music, art, and culture.
- Developing your confidence with and skills of group and independent travel.
The class and trip are relevant for and open to any UNCG students (graduate and undergraduate) for elective credit. Degree (major or minor) credit is also available for all majors and minors in music, geography, environment and sustainability, and tourism and hospitality.
Here is information for the Grand Tour 2027:
- If you are interested in the Grand Tour, please fill out this brief survey (no commitment necessary).
- Apply here by December 1, 2026, via UNCG’s Global Engagement Office.
- Consider your financial aid options, and check out the Gilman Scholarship for financial support (Pell grant recipients).
- See pictures and itineraries of our 2023 trip and our 2025 trip.
- Check out our printable flyer and brochure.
- Learn more about Study Abroad at UNCG via news articles:
For more information, contact: Dr. Rubinoff or Dr. Allen.
* The price may decrease or increase pending exchange rate changes, fundraising, and/or itinerary changes.
UNCG reserves the right to cancel or alter the program format, or to change costs in case of conditions beyond its control.