The outdoor classroom for University of Idaho landscape architecture students is not nestled in the hills of Idaho's Silver Valley; rather, the sprawling residence is perched in a beautiful valley in Cremolino, a town in the Piemonte region of northern Italy.

Halfway around the globe, Casa Wallace has a special Idaho connection. Emily Wallace and Jeff Herman, married owners of the villa, both have ties to the University of Idaho. Herman, a native of Marsing, Idaho, received a degree in landscape architecture from the university in 2000. Wallace was a dance professor in the College of Education for six years, serving as director of dance for her last year at the university.

The couple moved to Italy in August 2001, and began welcoming Idaho students for special summer studies in 2003. "Professors Steven Drown and Gary Austin approached us in 2002 about hosting their Landscape Architecture Summer Abroad Program. After having such a successful first summer with them in 2003, our goal has been to develop more educational and art programs every since," said Wallace.

Steve Drown, professor and chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at Idaho, said there are many reasons students travel the 5,500 miles to learn about landscape architecture. "Italy is a great source for exploring the western foundations and traditions of landscape architecture. There are great examples of city form, land planning and landscape design that can be used as inspiration for contemporary design and planning," he said.

"The small nearby hill town of Cremolino has been around since about A.D. 900," said Drown. "Students can see and experience the morphology of the town over a 1,100 year period and gather value information on the significance of landscape to urban form. Hopefully, they return home with a new appreciation for the valuable traditions and forms of their own community and region.”

The summer program’s design studio will explore the relationships between ancient and contemporary urban form, with a focus on how the larger bioregional landscape influences site design. The historical villages and landscapes of northern Italy provide an excellent context for exploring the relationship between site planning, landscape ecology, and social and economic sustainability, and are used as resources for new solutions for contemporary life.

Drown said students also participate in lectures by historians from the Piedmont region to understand how the region's history shapes the land. "They will have a chance to use what they learn from history to shape the future of the area," he said.

Students will continue a project started by Idaho students in 2007 to create landscape architecture plans for a new park in AquiTerme, a nearby ancient spa city from the Roman period. The site of the riverfront park incorporates the ruins of a 1,000-year-old Roman aqueduct. "Working on a project such as this provides students the opportunity to reflect and learn from what is historical, but also participate in an international service-learning experience that makes a contribution to contemporary Italian life," said Drown.

Aaron Parson from Rexburg, who graduated from Idaho this month with bachelor's and master's degrees in landscape architecture and participated in the Italian program last summer, said that learning landscape architecture in Italy gave him an appreciation of the macro-scale. "It is highly beneficial to learn from the built landscape that is hundreds of years old,” he said. “The way architecture and landscape architecture can work together is evident in the way buildings mold into hillsides and agriculture finds its way in the center of cities."

For his project in AquiTerme, Parson symbolically reconnected the aqueducts with a channel of water, which collected in a geometric pool and dispersed into the grid of the city. "One of my principle goals of the design was to educate the public about the ancient aqueducts," he said. Something I would recommend for students in the 2008 studio would be to develop a better connection with the city's pedestrian circulation. Pedestrian paths need to connect to the site on the north side of the river as well as down by the spa area."

During the six-week program, an Italian Hill Towns and Urban Centers course will examine the foundations and morphology of urban form and the relationship between landscape and community. Students will attend lectures and take three extended field trips to Piedmont, Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio, visiting significant cities such as Lucca, Florence, Siena, Genoa, Milan, Cinque Terre and Rome in addition to a number of smaller hill towns noted for their place in the history of the Italian landscape.

Students also will have an immersion into Italian culture, with special emphasis on the relationship between the regional landscape, language and sense of place. Students will study the Italian language under the tutelage of an Italian language instructor.

"Not only do students learn the language, but they are required to visit local open-air markets and use the language to order produce and supplies," said Drown.

They also will receive weekly instruction from experts in the traditions of regional Italian cuisine through a series of cultural dinners with instruction from regional chefs. Drown said student teams also will prepare the evening meals throughout the experience. "It really builds the community of the students," he said. "They work together, learn together and relax together."

"Our fondest memories are of the cultural events," said Wallace. "These evenings always generate lots of laughter as we gather in the upper garden with good food and wine. Last year, one student was a gifted singer/guitarist, so we were able to enjoy some sing-alongs."

Guest faculty, alumni and professional landscape architects participate in the program, and provide studio critique and additional evening lectures. Faculty from the University of Genoa and planners from the cities of Ovada and AquiTerme assist in teaching as well.

"We love hosting student programs," said Wallace. "A wonderful energy exists each summer as they set up 'home' here for six weeks. It's inspiring to watch them hard at work in the studio, and we love to see them enjoy the pool or jog in the vineyards. They begin to experience a sense of place here together, which gives us great satisfaction in providing this opportunity."

Wallace and Herman are working with the university to offer programs in other disciplines. Students from the College of Business and Economics traveled to Casa Wallace this month for a course focusing on international business and culture. And plans are underway to hold a University of Idaho Dancers, Drummers and Dreamers workshop at the villa next year. 

Drown said the Department of Landscape Architecture has approved a study abroad requirement starting in fall 2010. "Our students really benefit from the whole experience at Casa Wallace," he said. "The hands-on immersion in the language and culture, in addition to the exposure to a historic but thriving international landscape with contemporary global problems, makes this an excellent learning opportunity."