Tutto Toscana is an academic program that lasts for 3 weeks in Florence, Italy, and transfers to NYC for a week of real life events at prestigious locations. NYC event venues include our yearly James Beard Foundation location. Students specialize in their choice of 3 available areas – event planning, art direction, and food & wine management. In NYC, the team of students and faculty fully produce and provide digital media coverage of events intended to showcase contemporary Tuscan cuisine for the US public.

Participating students will walk away from the experience having created, planned, organized and successfully realized a high-profile event from an intercultural point of view.

The capstone events of the Florence-NYC edition in the fall season culminate at the James Beard Foundation, America’s most renowned reference in the world of gastronomy and the professional restaurant industry. JBF is a non-profit foundation founded in honor of a great culinary patron, James Beard, and carries on Mr. Beard’s desire to spread culinary awareness through education. In addition to the foundation’s educational efforts and its program of hosting chefs and restaurants from around the world, its yearly food industry awards recognize America’s established and emerging gastronomic talents. The foundation is located in Mr. Beard’s former home in the heart of the charming West Village in NYC, and is where the Tutto Toscana team has the honor of producing and serving its event concepts to the foundation members and the general public.

This program is offered as a Select Services program, as it is designed for more independent students. However housing can be an optional add-on for the Florence portion of the program.

SAI Select Services includes the important on-site services!

• Program tuition, with US academic credit
• Student health insurance providing full coverage and medical emergency evacuation
• SAI staff on-site providing assistance as needed and 24-hour emergency support

Pre-departure services

• Admissions counselor assigned to you, providing friendly assistance throughout your study abroad experience
• Helpful pre-departure tools and resources
• SAI alumni network

Students select between two program options:

Fall 4 week program: 3 weeks in Florence + 1 week in NYC (6 – 9 credits)
Students choose from 3 different areas of event organization and production and complete courses in that area for a total of 6 – 9 credits. Students begin with 3 weeks of academic and event preparation in Florence and conclude with the event cycle week in NYC. The event concept and details are managed and organized by students and faculty after a deep cultural and academic immersion in Florence, and executed as a team during the week of event staging on location. Students may combine two 6 credit areas (areas 1, 2, or 3) for a total of 12 credits.

Fall 1 week program: 1 week in NYC only (3 credits)
Students choose from 3 different areas of event organization and production, earning 3 credits in that area. Students spend 1 week in NYC working on the event cycle in their area.

Program Areas
Area 1 – Event Planning & Communications
Planning event logistics, managing communications between FUA and the various entities involved in the events including locations and the media. Coordinating and managing internal project production and communications between team members. Specialize in international and cross-cultural communication for events. Develop strategies for presenting Italian gastronomy in international settings. Identify how to pair food with wine and successfully communicate not only the technical characteristics of the wine but also its cultural value to special event attendees.

Area 2 – Art Direction: Digital Media & Visual Arts
Creating and producing all materials related to the event concept and image. Manage production projects involving specific skills in videography, photography, and video making. Preparing, revising and editing graphic layouts for print and online publication. Deepen knowledge and visual approaches to specifically targeted events and event concepts. On-site media coverage of events and media production and post-production development. Area 2 students must be equipped with the following for the documentary coursework of the program: Laptop (preferably Apple) that can accommodate Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premier, external hard drive, SLR camera with 1080p video capacity.

Area 3 – Food & Wine Management
Successfully coordinate Italian menu production and wine list development. Manage food & wine logistics for international events. Collaborate in a professional Italian kitchen brigade for large-scale events. Apply food production skills as practiced in the culinary lab in a food production facility and demonstrate improvement in basic food production skills such as knife cuts, station organization, sanitation, and order execution. Gain familiarization with commercial food production processes for special events. Chef jackets are included; knife sets are not included and must be brought individually by Area 3 students.

*prices are subject to change

Housing in Florence
Housing is not included in SAI Select Services programs. Students can, however, decide to add SAI housing for their time in Florence, for a fee. SAI housing is provided in student apartments with shared occupancy bedrooms (upgrade to private bedroom available). Typical residences house 2 – 8 students and contain a combination of private and shared bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom and living areas. Furnishings, a washing machine, basic kitchen supplies, bed linens and towels are provided. All apartments are equipped with wireless Internet.

Housing in New York
Housing is not available for the New York City portion of the program; participants must secure their own housing. The following are suggested housing solutions; participants secure housing at their own risk and liability. SAI, Apicius and FUA are not held responsible for housing and any related issues.

The James Beard Foundation is located in a historic brownstone in the West Village in NYC at: 167 West 12th Street, New York, NY 10011. Students should consider housing in the West Village, Meatpacking District, East Village, Chelsea, and Soho.

Hotels

• The Jane Hotel
• Sheraton Tribeca
• The Gem Hotel Chelsea

Hostel

• De Hirsch Residence of the 92nd Street Y

Apartments

• New York Habitat Apartments
• Air BnB

Passports
Passports should be valid for 3 months after planned departure from Italy.

Student Visas
In accordance with Italian law US citizens studying in Italy for less than 90 days are not required to obtain a student visa. Non-US nationals should consult their local Consulate for details on student visa requirements.