The year was 1998 when the Board of Trustees authorized preliminary site and market research for a campus in Italy. A five-member site selection committee was tasked with finding just the right city that could be home for SYA Italy. When the team visited various potential host cities, they paid careful attention to how the local governments viewed this unique, American initiative. In Viterbo, they met a mayor and staff eager to welcome SYA to their city. And indeed, the help of these city officials has proven crucial to the overall success of SYA Italy as we opened its doors days before the catastrophic events of 9/11. From their assistance moving teachers’ work visa applications through the labyrinth of Italian bureaucracy, to their outspoken support of Americans everywhere, the city authorities have proven their affection for SYA Italy.
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April 29-30, 2022
Celebrating SYA Italy's 20th Anniversary
Can you join us in person?
The Board of Trustees cordially invites you to join them as we honor our relationship with the City of Viterbo. Learn more about plans here. Registration is limited due to COVID guidelines and maximum capacities.
Toast with us!
Join us, wherever you are, on Friday, April 29, as we toast to the City of Viterbo and our 20 year partnership with this warm and welcoming community.
SYA Italy Alumni and Faculty:
Whether you can attend or not, a meaningful way to participate is to add your note of congratulations in the "Then and Now" box below.
Calling all SYA Italy Alumni and Faculty
The road leads in myriad ways after SYA. We want to see where it's taken you. Consider sharing highlights of your life's journey along with a photo from your year in Viterbo and a more recent snapshot. Add your notes of "auguri" to all those who made SYA Italy possible. We'll compile a virtual scrapbook to share with the greater SYA community.
Then and Now
At the Beginning
The SYA Board of Trustees has selected Viterbo as the site for SYA Italy, set to debut in the fall of 2001. In making their decision, the trustees adopted the recommendation of a five-member site-selection committee which traveled to Italy in July.
At the official inauguration of SYA Italy’s elegantly renovated quarters in Viterbo on October 13, the warm support of our host city was dramatically evident.
The first SYA classics students will be guided by a crack team of teachers under the leadership of Resident Director Jeff Bradley from St. Paul’s School (N.H.).
My experience here in Viterbo was similar to that of our students, in which our eyes, minds, and emotions opened wide and were stretched because of this “awesome” (their word) year-long opportunity and exposure to a foreign culture.
Stories from the Decades