Roman Holiday

Well, the title is a little misleading, although "Roman Conference" didn't have the same ring.  Glenn and I are just back from two fantastic conferences at LUISS Guido Carli, a university in Rome, and three days of great food and searingly hot temperatures.  

Our trip to Italy was unfortunately abbreviated due to Glenn's recovery from Covid--we had originally planned to visit a friend outside of Florence first--but it was still great to be back there for even a short trip.  I think that Rome is an incomparably beautiful city and Italian cuisine is tops on my list, so any excuse to visit is welcome.  

Let me start with a few words about the university we visited, LUISS, which stands for Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali.  It was was founded by a group of entrepreneurs/business people about 50 years ago.  They built their campus on an estate on the northern edge of Rome, which had, over the years, served as a an opulent residence and a convent, among other things.  An ornate church was repurposed as an event space.  The original villa became a classroom building.  Other buildings have been built since then, and the beautiful gardens have been maintained and serve as one of the loveliest academic campuses I have ever seen.  I include a few photos of the campus, complete with an orchard, a vineyard, and a vegetable garden.  (I am assuming they use the harvest of figs, pears, olives, tomatoes, zucchini, salad greens, herbs, grapes, etc., on campus, but I do not not know.)

Here is one of the university buildings and, below that, a kiosk on campus where you can charge your cell phone and get chilled sparkling water on demand.

Our host Emilio told us that it was a financially self-sustaining university, which surprised me because the level of tuition that could be charged in Italy, even for a private university, would be much lower than in the US.  I suppose its costs are likely much lower, though, since they focus on the social sciences and do not need to support expensive science labs.  Also, it did not seem as if students lived on campus, which would also decrease costs of running a campus very substantially.  

This notion of a university being established and governed by a consortium of businesses is an interesting one.  It would not be difficult to imagine serious pitfalls and misaligned incentives, of course, but given the shocking lack of governmental support for so-called "public universities" in the US, alternative funding models might become increasingly important.  And, of course, US universities, public and private, are increasingly relying on large donations from wealthy individual businessmen and -women to fund their operations, in exchange for ceding a certain control and decision-making about university operations to the donors.

We spent most of our time at the conferences so had little opportunity to sightsee in Rome.  (Emilio did invite us and a number of other conference-goers back to his apartment one evening to see the Italy-Spain game in the Euros, but unfortunately, Italy lost in a tight game.)  Glenn and I have both been to Rome several times, so we did not miss seeing the main attractions, but I always enjoy walking the city and seeing the mix of architectural styles, from Ancient Roman to Renaissance, from Baroque to Contemporary.  We did some of that on Friday afternoon but did not cover much territory due to the near-100-degree temperatures.  

And the food.  I love the food.  As always, I failed to get any good photos of the dishes we had, but a cone of pistachio gelato, an eggplant parmigiana, and a lovely bottle of nebbiolo stand out in my memory.  Here are a few photos from, in order, my favorite gelato place, a bistro, and a wine bar.  

I like the vibe of all three--perhaps it reminds me of the US, where the high-contrast industrial aesthetic has been popular in restaurants for a while (but I still have not tired of it).

I will stay put in Paris for a bit now, and perhaps it will be enough time to do a little catching up on the blog....