American Institute for Roman Culture

The American Institute For Roman Culture is a non-profit organization with classrooms located in the Piazza dell Orologio to provide students with a full immersion into modern Italian culture while learning about the past.

The American Institute for Roman Culture was founded in 2002 by American archaeologist Dr. Darius Arya and architect Tom Rankin. The organization is a non-profit (501c3) founded in Massachusetts. In 2003, AIRC inaugurated its first project, the Post Aedem Castoris excavation in the Roman Forum with colleagues Jennifer Trimble, PhD (Stanford University) and Andrew Wilson PhD (Oxford University). By its third and final season in 2005, AIRC students counted for 1/3 of the summer field school's participants. The success of the Stanford/Oxford/AIRC collaboration led to two AIRC-organized and semester-long architecture programs with California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo) and Northeastern University. From 2007 until 2011, AIRC hosted a semester Classics program and Maymester Program with the College of the Holy Cross, Arya has served as AIRC's CEO/Executive Director since spring 2008, acting as principal fundraiser and liaison with the Italian Ministry of Culture. In addition to Arya, AIRC staff includes Alberto Prieto, PhD (archaeology, video), Shelley Ruelle (academic programs), Simone Di Santi (video), and Erica Firpo (social media).

The AIRC offers study abroad programs for university students and scholars.

Semester Signature Program: The AIRC offers a semester program that runs for 14 weeks with a one-week break, both in the fall and spring academic semesters. The program, entitled “History, Media, and Cultural Heritage,” is open to university students and scholars from all majors, and consists of 3 core courses and a choice of 2 or 3 elective courses.

The core courses are Rome: Layers of History, Discovering Italy, and Elementary Italian.

Summer Programs: The AIRC conducts a variety of short-term programs in a broad range of topic areas during the summer months.

A six-week intensive program held in June–July with one week of specialized academic instruction by archaeologists and AIRC professors and five weeks of on-site field work. The program includes visits to major Roman museums and open-air sites to augment field studies and provide participants with a broader context of what life was like in ancient Rome.

This program runs for four to five weeks, in which participants learn the basics of shooting, editing, and producing as they document a cultural heritage site in or around Rome, in need of increased awareness and conservation.

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