“Cerca Trova: Travel as Pilgrimage”
For most students who have the privilege of studying abroad during college, it is a pinnacle moment.
But what happens when students return to campus? Can that sense of discovery be sustained or is it all downhill from there?
1504 was commissioned to develop a humanities-based curriculum for American students on ways to integrate the power of travel into everyday life. “Cerca Trova” (Italian for Seek and Find) was a multi-day workshop hosted in Florence, Italy where we explored the practice of pilgrimage for the lifelong inward journey.
Through participatory learning on topics ranging from ritual to experience design, our hope was to couple the humanist values of the Renaissance with practical techniques for today’s students.
Select Works
Narrative Placemaking
Workshop exploring the sense of place and connections between people and the built environment inside the historic Palazzo Vecchio.
Forest Bathing
Guided mindfulness retreat in the Boboli Gardens for slowing down the mind, developed in partnership with writer and facilitator Anne Markham Bailey.
“Immersive Encounters: An Experiential Guidebook of Italy”
On the final day of the program, students were sent to regional cities to design experiences for their peers based on human-centered design principles.
GALLERY
Gathering in the Hall of the 500, site of DaVinci’s lost masterpiece and the Studiolo.
Forest Bathing began in Japan in the 1970s and is now practiced globally, often referred to as “Nature Therapy” due to its documented benefits for physical and mental wellbeing.
The theory sessions were hosted inside a 15th-century villa where the students stayed, in collaboration with Robbie Shackelford.
Sorrento Puzzle Box, once used to collect souvenirs on the Grand Tours through Italy.
In conversation
In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing could feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.
— Pico Ayer, Writer