Current Programs

We are excited to announce the following series of illuminating educational programs for 2024-2025 to be based at The Civita Institute facilities in Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy.

Stay tuned for further details and for additional 2024-2025 educational programs as they are added:

Historic Preservation and Sustainable Design in the Etruscan Hill Towns of Central Italy

This program includes 36 AIA-approved HSW Learning Units

Nancy Josephson and Stephen Day are leading new sessions of their 10-day program based in Civita, Perugia, Assisi and Siena September 21-October 1, 2024 and October 8-18, 2024. Please note: these sessions are currently full, but we are beginning registration for 2025 programs so please contact us via email as described below.

These programs focus on architectural preservation, sustainability, and modern design interventions in several phenomenal Etruscan hill towns, including extraordinary connections with Italian designers, engineers, cultural leaders and other compatriots. This program is not only for architects but also others interested in a deep dive into architectural preservation, art history, sustainability, food, wine, and local culture in several ancient but vital Etruscan hill towns. Using Civita as the base camp, with overnight trips to key locations, participants will explore important preservation work and the protection of cultural treasures in hill towns such as Assisi, Perugia, Tarquinia, Tuscania, Orvieto, Pienza, Caprarola, Cortona and Siena, in addition to Civita di Bagnoregio.

For further information and details on a sample of the 2024 sessions please see Program Booklet here. For further information and if interested in a 2025 session, please contact us at programs@civitainstitute.org.

Civita: Experiential Dimension of Design

A Watercolor and Charcoal Drawing Workshop, will be led by artist, architect and teacher Otto Chanyakorn and will be based in Civita di Bagnoregio May 30-June 4, 2025. A new program booklet will be available soon, for general content please see the completed June 2024 program booklet here. Pricing may change for 2025 programs.

Otto is a recipient of the prestigious Gabriel Prize, awarded in 2020 for excellence in architectural depiction in watercolor and other media, and was awarded the Civita Institute Drexler Family Diversity Fellowship in 2022.

He is a faculty member at Kansas State University school of architecture and teaches design studio, drawing, and watercolor technique, focusing on observational and analytical thinking and experiencing architecture and spatial constructs.

In this workshop, participants will be immersed in the sensory environment of Civita and the surrounding landscape. Using charcoal drawing to enhance the ability to work with tonal values in drawing, and using watercolor to explore color as an emotional expression, workshop participants will also develop skills at perspective sketching. This wonderful program is open to participants at any skill level, from beginners to more experienced artists. This small group program has very limited capacity. For further information please contact us at programs@civitainstitute.org.

For a wonderful reflection by Otto on his June 2024 program, please see Otto's document here.