Just weeks after unveiling substantial changes regarding student housing on its main campus, the University announced Wednesday that students studying abroad in Rome Global Gateway programs will have a new place to live beginning in the fall of 2017.
According to Wednesday’s press release, Notre Dame recently purchased a villa on the Caelian Hill in central Rome — a block away from Notre Dame’s home base in the city — which will house 100 students as well as hall staff and a rector.
In addition to housing University students participating in Study Abroad programs through a variety of institutions, the new residence building will house third-year architecture undergraduate students, who spend their entire junior year in Rome as part of their curriculum.
J. Nicholas Entrikin, vice president and associate provost for internationalization, said the purchase would expand current study abroad programming and research in Rome.
“The purchase of the villa expands the horizon of possibilities both for the Gateway and for the longstanding Notre Dame architecture program in Rome,” Etrikin said. “The University’s strategic and wise investment in the villa will greatly increase student and faculty opportunities for study and research in the heart of the Eternal City.”
Theodore J. Cachey Jr., academic director of the Rome Global Gateway, described the history of the building, which was purchased for an undisclosed amount.
“It was built in 1913 by the Duchess of Pontalto, and the family of the Count of Loschiavo lived there during the early 1900s,” he said. “When Italy’s racial laws led to the eviction of Jewish children from the Italian schools in 1938, the Jewish Community of Rome used it as a school. The Italian Military Police took up residence there from 1940 until recent times.”
