Living Latin in Rome

Course Description

Living Latin in Rome is an intensive Latin experience set in the city of Rome. In two seminar-style meetings every day, participants read and discuss Latin literature and Roman history and culture. To the extent possible, the language of instruction in these seminars is Latin. 

In addition to the daily seminar sessions, the program includes a variety of optional programming designed to build students’ facility in speaking and understanding Latin, as well as lectures on topics relating to Roman history and culture, and visits to historical sites in Rome. The program also features a trip to an important site outside of Rome that is relevant to the program’s theme. 

In 2025, Living Latin in Rome will focus on Pliny and the Tradition of Latin Letters, reading selections from the letters of Pliny the Younger and others in the rich tradition of Latin epistolography. On the weekend in the middle of the program, participants will visit Mount Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples area.

Prerequisites

Participants should know the basics of Latin grammar. This usually means the equivalent of one year of college or two years of high-school Latin. Completing Paideia’s self-paced online Living Latin course also satisfies the prerequisite to apply to this program. No experience speaking Latin is required, but experienced Latin speakers are also encouraged to apply. Paideia alumni and Nexus members are particularly encouraged to apply.

Participants must be 18 years or older. Students under the age of 18 and students who have not yet graduated from high school should consider Living Latin in Rome High School.

Classrooms

Classes for Living Latin in Rome take place in modern, air-conditioned classrooms at Cornell University’s Rome campus. 

Teachers

Marina Garanin

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Teacher, Living Latin in Rome

Marina Garanin

Salvete omnes, my name is Marina Garanin. Graduated from Heidelberg (Germany) and Oxford, I am currently working on my PhD on Latin translations from Greek at the University of Heidelberg. I have been teaching living Latin with Telepaideia and on different other occasions, such as, most recently, “Virgil and the Epic tradition” at “Living Latin in Rome” this year; also, I taught Latin metre and Latin verse composition. I have been practising spoken Latin since the beginning of my studies, and I have been taking part in different Latin (and Greek) speaking events. As I love acting, I also participated at “Thalia” in 2022 (Vicenza, Italy) and this year (Vilnius, Lituania), a Latin theater competition organized by the Schola Humanistica with two original tragedies, “Medeae Daemones” and “Agave”, written by Stefano Vittori, in which I played the parts of Medea and Agave. I write metrical poetry in Latin myself (some of the poems are published in the periodical “Vox Latina” from 2019 on). As for poetry recitations, I am currently recording various Latin poems which will soon be available on the app “Legentibus” by Daniel Pettersson from Latinitium. In my free time, besides of writing poetry and acting, I like drawing, singing and writing music; also, being a huge dog lover (not having one on my own though), I like studying dog behaviour and education. Also, I have a Latin YouTube channel (Musa Pedestris) where you can find poetry recitations, latin vlogs, livestreams, and other videos on Latin.

Tyler Patterson

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Teacher, Living Latin in Rome

Tyler Patterson

Tyler is a PhD student in Classics at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and a Senior Rome Fellow of the Paideia Institute for 2021–22. He is an alumnus of numerous Polis, SALVI, and Paideia Institute programs worldwide and is a passionate advocate for active approaches to ancient languages. Broadly interested in the Latin literary tradition as well as the history and legacy of the Roman world, Tyler’s doctoral work focuses on the representation of the city of Rome in Latin literature, especially from c. 1100 to 1455.

Matthew McGowan

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Head Teacher, Living Latin in Rome

Matthew McGowan

Matthew McGowan is Associate Professor & Chair of Classics at Fordham University and alumnus of Reginald Foster's Fifth Experience (Rome 1998-99). From 2009-2015 he served as President of the NY Classical Club and is currently the Vice-President for Communication and Outreach for the Society of Classical Studies. His scholarly interests range broadly over Greek and Latin literature and the classical tradition. His first book, Ovid in Exile: Power and Poetic Redress in the Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto, appeared in 2009 with Brill, and he has just completed an edited volume, Classical New York: Greece & Rome in NY's Art and Architecture, for Fordham University Press. He is currently at work on a Guide to the Greek and Latin Inscriptions of New York City alongside a survey of ancient lexicography, Dictionaries in Ancient Rome: The Art of Defining Latin Words, 200 BC--800 AD. He teaches a wide array of courses, from classical myth to Latin prose composition, and is delighted to be working with Paideia and its wonderful students and staff!

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Tuition and Fees

The tuition for Living Latin in Rome is: $2500. This includes instruction, transportation, housing during the program’s weekend trip to the Bay of Naples, and three group meals. It does not include housing in Rome. Airfare and transportation to and from the airport are not included, and participants must bring their own edition of the course’s main text.

Housing and Other Costs

Participants must arrange their own housing in Rome (housing during the weekend trip will be provided by the Institute). The Paideia Institute has negotiated discounted group rates with trusted housing providers in centrally located hotels. Approximate rates for each type of lodging for the duration of the program are listed below. Contact information for housing providers and group discount codes (if available) will be provided upon acceptance. Participants will also be able to contact each other to arrange shared housing if desired.

Estimated costs of housing at suggested hotels are below (subject to availability):

• Dorm accommodation: $800
• Hotel room shared with another program participant: $850
• Single Hotel Room: $1400
• Apartment: $1700

Airfare, transportation to and from the airport, daily expenses for meals, and spending money are not included in the cost of tuition. The cost of life in Rome can vary greatly depending on one’s tastes, but at the very least we recommend that participants budget €25/day for food. Please consider the exchange rate when planning your budget.

Scholarships

The Paideia Institute is able to offer a number of full and partial scholarships to participants with demonstrated financial need. Please visit our scholarships page to learn more. Scholarship applications must be received by March 1, 2025.

Request an Application

Please submit your completed application by March 1, 2025. Applications received after March 1 will be considered on a rolling basis while space is available.

Request an application

What People Are Saying

“This has been the best summer school I have ever attended. Latin came to life in a way that it never has before, and I was able to experience it as a living language that can be used for textual exegesis and for everyday communication. This program has reminded me why I became interested in Latin in the first place, and I look forward to continuing my study of the Latin language and its amazing epic tradition.” -Sam Lewis ‘24

“Reading Virgil at sight, discussing him solely in Latin, and doing so before sights that his own eyes may well have beheld -- all sweet delights afforded me by the Institute this summer, over which presided three professors matched in energy only by their erudition. Paideia succeeds in offering an experience delicately poised between labour and leisure: in the classroom rigorous devotion to language and poet feed the mind, while thematic expeditions -- Palatine vistas and Avernal depths -- nourish the soul. All this, too, is enjoyed alongside the hearty camaraderie of newfound friends. Not the most academic of courses -- one does more than sit in a classroom from dawn till dusk -- but sincerely recommended to any who wish to know a work as much through ('lived') context as through text itself.” -Marko Trandafilovski ‘24

“My teaching in general, and of Vergil for AP Latin in particular, has been reinvigorated and energized.  We got through a lot of the Vergil curriculum and visited associated places like Cumae, and discussed all of that in Latin extensively, and intensively!  I will be a better teacher because of the program.” -James Hunt ‘24