Georgetown Villa Le Balze: study abroad in Fiesole
Villa Le Balze is Georgetown University's Italian campus, housed in a 1912 Renaissance-style residence in the hills of Fiesole. A Living-Learning Community of about 70-80 students a year, among the most intimate and close-knit study abroad programs in Italy.
About Villa Le Balze
Villa Le Balze is Georgetown University's Italian campus, located in Fiesole, in the hills above Florence, in a Renaissance-style residence designed in 1912 by architects Cecil Pinsent and Geoffrey Scott. The program, open to undergraduate students from Georgetown and other US colleges, offers semester and summer tracks centered on Italian, Art History, English, Political Science and History, aiming to create a genuine residential Living-Learning Community.
The villa can house about 20 students on-site, with a further 10-13 lodging with Italian families, for a total of about 70-80 participants a year. Each semester a faculty member from the main Washington campus resides permanently at the villa to teach a course specifically designed for the Fiesole setting, ensuring academic continuity with Georgetown's program in Washington.
Main academic areas
Undergraduate study abroad: Italian, Art History, English, Government, History · no standalone degree awarded
Villa Le Balze statistics and indicators
Employability not applicable: a study abroad center without its own placement data.
Villa Le Balze's history
Villa Le Balze was built between 1912 and 1913, commissioned by American philosopher Charles Augustus Strong, who chose Fiesole as a retreat after the death of his wife Elizabeth Rockefeller. During World War II the villa was occupied by German forces and used as a military headquarters, sustaining significant damage during the 1944 Allied bombings, including an unexploded mortar shell that remained lodged in the library.
After the war, Strong's daughter, Margaret Strong Rockefeller, kept the property for over thirty years before donating it, in December 1979, to Georgetown University, fulfilling her father's wish to preserve the villa as a center of culture and academic gathering. The provost at the time, Father J. Donald Freeze, promised in return to always keep a light burning at the grave of Margaret's son, buried in Fiesole.
Since 1981 Georgetown has directly managed study abroad programs at the villa, which over time has established itself as one of the Washington university's main reference points for international education in Italy.
What people say online about Georgetown University Villa Le Balze
Testimonials collected are extremely positive and consistent over time, though mostly coming from Georgetown institutional sources.
Experience described as "surreal" and "idyllic" by alumni across generations, from 1981 to today.
Testimonials come mainly from Georgetown's own site, promotional material rather than independent reviews.
- Value of a small community (the first cohort was just 11 students)
- Bond with the villa staff described as "a family"
- Lasting impact on intellectual curiosity and desire to travel
- Distinctive historical charm of the Renaissance villa
- No negative reviews publicly available
- Main sources are promotional in nature, not independent reviews
- Very small size and high selectivity reduce online feedback volume
- Program exclusively oriented toward humanities study
FAQ — Georgetown University Villa Le Balze
Villa Le Balze represents one of the most intimate and distinctive study abroad experiences in Italy, where the program's small scale becomes a strength for building lasting human and intellectual bonds in an exceptional historical setting.
