This course offers students a unique experience, combining the discovery of inscriptions and typography in the streets of Rome with hands-on graphic design and letterpress printing. Students will explore both ancient and modern epigraphy in the city, from the Latin inscriptions on Roman architecture to contemporary signage, encouraging students to reflect on the historical and cultural significance of letters in the urban landscape.
The Wintersession Travel Course 2026 application will open on August 15, 2025 and close on October 1, 2025. The opportunity to apply for scholarship is embedded in the course application.
Estimated dates—final dates to be announced.
Course Dates: Jan 5, 2026 — Jan 31, 2026
Open to RISD and non-RISD students enrolled in another art and design program with current cumulative GPA is 2.5 or above, and recent RISD graduates.
Included tuition, accommodation, in-country transportation, field trips, entrance fees, some group meals and international travel health insurance. Airfare is not included in the cost and participants are responsible for their own airfare.
In this travel course, students will experience the typographic culture (both ancient and contemporary) of the city of Rome, Italy, as a source for inspiration, understanding, and explorations in their creative practice using contemporary letterpress printing. The course consists of guided walks through the city with its vast typographic resources and archives, combined with studio work in letterpress printing taking place at Betterpress Lab, in the active Roman neighborhood of Trastevere.
The course will begin by using the inscriptions and typography in the streets of Rome as a source material in understanding the development of the Latin alphabet and its evolution into the always changing contemporary letterforms we use today. The technological, political, and social forces pushing these developments and changes will be analyzed, as will the always present resistance to established forms and uses, and how all of these factors shape our present visual typographic culture.
Studio work will be based out of Betterpress Lab, an independent letterpress printmaking studio founded in 2014 by Francesca Colonia and Giulia Nicolai, with a focus on creative uses of historical handset type as a form of cultural, social, and political resistance. Students will have the opportunity to design and create typographic compositions using original movable type from the Betterpress Lab collection, learning hand-set letterpress printing, developing print projects to establish and improve basic letterpress printing skills, culminating with the production of a collective group print portfolio based on the individual students’ investigations. No previous letterpress printing, printmaking, or typographic design experience is required but is encouraged.
The Wintersession Travel Course 2026 application will open on August 15, 2025 and close on October 1, 2025. The opportunity to apply for scholarship is embedded in the course application.
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Increasing financial aid is a central pillar of RISD’s equity, inclusion and diversity commitment. Through partnership with other campus offices, we are working to provide greater support and access to students interested in pursuing global learning experiences at RISD.
View detailsIf you are a RISD or Brown University student with a GPA of 2.5 and up, you are eligible to apply. Permission of the instructor is required and is based upon application and selection.
RISD reserves the right to cancel a course due to under-enrollment or for reasons related to health and safety.
Requesting to withdraw from a RISD global learning program, including Wintersession Travel Courses, prior to the start of the course is highly discouraged and requires a formal process outlined in the RISD course withdrawal policy.
Have questions? The RISD Global team is available to meet for a 1:1 advising session. We can give you more information about your study options, help you figure out which program makes sense for you, and assist you with the application process.
Schedule an AppointmentNo upcoming events for this program at this time.
No announcements for this program.