Minor: Italian Art & History in Florence (NIKI) and Rome (KNIR)

Florence and Rome are of fundamental importance to those working in the humanities, since most of its disciplines originate in late medieval or early modern Italy, and even postmodernism has some of its most significant roots in Italy’s intellectual debates. Therefore, Florence and Rome are ideal sites to explore the historiography of art history, history, and adjacent fields from both a historical and a contemporary perspective.

The Minor program Italian Art & History, hosted and financed by the Dutch University Institute for Art
History (NIKI) in Florence and the Royal Netherlands Institute (KNIR) in Rome, offers the opportunity to do so to a group of motivated students from Dutch universities, allowing them to work with a large variety of methodologies in order to understand present-day Italy through its historical developments, as well as stimulating them to critically assess their disciplinary orientation in a cross-disciplinary context.

What distinguishes this Minor is the on-site teaching, where students are invited to always consider the first-hand observation of objects, locations, and social contexts. In all its courses, students are trained in documenting and analyzing visual sources, material culture and performative practices in the Florentine and Roman contexts. The program runs during the first semester. From late August until Christmas, students will stay two months at the NIKI in Florence and two months at the KNIR in Rome. Each course is evaluated through various forms of assessment, while the minor concludes with a final paper submitted in January.

The five courses that make up the Minor Italian Art & History in 2026-2027 are:

1. Italian Language: Reading Practicum
The goal of this course is to provide the student with the necessary tools to comprehend and analyse Italian texts, with particular focus on (art) historical literature.

2. The Invention of Time: The Renaissance, Ideas and Images of Periodization
This course retraces the modern concept of time as a discontinuous process in (art) history, with periods of splendor and decay, from its origins in Renaissance Florence until today.

3. Italian Worlds of Knowledge (1400-1700): from monasteries and the artist’s workshop to universities, courts and cabinets of curiosities
With its rich art collections, libraries, design industry, Italy still represents the world of knowledge par excellence. In this course we will explore the what, how and why of the paradigmatic Italian and especially Florentine world of knowledge in its heydays. This course concentrates on the methods developed to record, deepen and transmit scientific knowledge.

4. Bella Figura – Collecting and Displaying Art and History in Rome from the Renaissance to Today
In this course, Rome’s primary role in the art world will be embedded in the history of museums and their display and confronted with their present strategies to connect to international developments in
the museological field. Central is the question of how museums serve the construction of national and individual identities, as well as historical and art-historical discourses.

5. Artists in Residence in Rome
This course approaches Rome transhistorically as a cultural hub, critically examining how artists’ migration, patronage, and cultural exchange shaped both artistic practice and the city itself.

Credits and assessment
This minor comprises 30 ECTS and consists of 6 components: 4 seminars of 6 EC each, one Italian language course of 3 EC, and one final paper of 3 EC (to be written in January, following the stay in Florence and Rome).

Dates
21 August- 18 December 2026

Language
English

Costs
Tuition and lodging in Rome and Florence at the KNIR and the NIKI is free for selected participants from the above-mentioned Dutch universities. Personal expenses, including meals, are not included. Students receive a €100 reimbursement of their expenses for travelling to Florence and from Rome (or €125 in case you travel by train) after submission of their final essay; also the transportation from Florence to Rome is covered by the two institutes.

Facilities in Florence and Rome
All participants will be housed at the Dutch University Institute for Art History in Florence, and the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome, respectively. From both institutes it is only a short walk to the historical city centers. The NIKI and KNIR accommodation consists of shared bedrooms and bathrooms, and includes a living and dining space, a kitchen, washing machine and wireless internet. All residents have 24/7 access to the library and gardens of both institutes.

Application and admission
This Minor is open to max. 10 BA3 students. Please apply by sending an e-mail to secretary knir.it with “Application Minor Florence-Rome 2026” in the subject, including the following documents merged into a single pdf file:

• a letter of motivation (max. 1 A4)
• a cv
• a recent list of courses followed and grades provided by your university

The selection process consists of two rounds: the first round is based on the provided documentation. The second round involves interviews with the candidates. After the interviews, the final decision will be made. Please note that the decision of the selection committee is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Application deadline
1 May 2026

More info
E-mail: secretary knir.it
Phone: (+39)063269621