Why we travel
Our social justice program travel is designed to be more than sightseeing. In each program, students undertake 7–10 days of travel organised by the Italy Center and included in the program fee.
Social Justice-based Travel is an essential and integral part of the Italy Center experience and is designed to help students get the most out of their time abroad. All the trips are intentional and are tied to the Italy Center learning goals, mission and pillars: academics, social and environmental justice, and immersion.
These travel experiences allow students to immerse themselves in Italian culture in meaningful and intentional ways—meeting with local communities, supporting partner organizations, and visiting historically and culturally significant sites.
How we travel
Students will engage in pre- and post-departure activities, including trip presentations and surveys, as well as structured reflections, and participate in guided activities connected to the diverse themes of each trip, which span migration, poverty and marginalization, mental health, youth and community activism and empowerment, eco-tourism, multiculturalism, and multireligious contexts, to name a few.
Our itineraries emphasise ethics and sustainability, purposeful travel, and opportunities to go beyond a tourist's experience. Through community engagement, guided exploration, and site-based learning, students are invited to travel with curiosity, responsibility, and care. Here are a few ways we strive to meet our mission:
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Using trains and public transportation as much as possible, to travel in more environmentally sustainable and locally grounded way
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Exploring cities and neighborhoods on foot rather than only passing through major landmarks
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Visiting local organizations, cooperatives, and community partners
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Learning directly from activists, educators, volunteers, and social service professionals
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Going beyond tourist highlights to engage the everyday realities of a place
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Connecting travel to themes such as social and environmental justice, migration, sustainability, and human dignity
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Building in reflection so that travel becomes a meaningful part of the learning experience
Where we travel
Apulia | Puglia
Set in southern Italy, the program emphasizes encounter, reflection, and critical engagement. While based near Brindisi, students will gain insight into global migration through personal testimony and lived experience from the African community. The program also includes a half-day hike in the Torre Guaceto Nature Reserve, a visit to a farm-to-table agriturismo in beautiful Otranto, and time with a sustainable agricultural project that offers a deeper understanding of the connections between food, lands taken from organized crime and community. Reflecting the Italy Center’s commitment to social justice and experiential learning, this travel experience encourages students to engage southern Italy in a way that is thoughtful, immersive, and deeply meaningful.
Trieste | Trieste
In Trieste, students take part in a transformative experience rooted in encounter, reflection, and social justice. As they explore this historic border city, they engage its multicultural character, its legacy of conflict and resistance, and its continued significance as a place shaped by migration, memory, and social change. The experience includes guided city tours, engaging activities focused on mental health and social inclusion, a visit to historical museums, and time spent learning from volunteers supporting migrants in the city today. Reflecting the Italy Center’s commitment to experiential learning, this journey challenges students to engage Trieste not simply as a destination, but as a place through which larger questions of identity, justice, and human dignity can be examined with depth and care.
Turin | Torino
Torino offers students an experience centered on encounters, and the everyday work of social justice. Throughout the itinerary, students engage with organizations supporting children and families living with disabilities, and young migrants recently arrived to Italy, take part in volunteer and multicultural activities, and reflect on what it means to build peace and respect. Whether sorting clothing to be donated, or sharing music, international food, games, and conversation with unaccompanied foreign minors hosted in a residential facility, students are invited into experiences that emphasize empowerment, human dignity, and mutual exchange. Combined with time to explore Torino, this journey reveals a city shaped not only by history, but by the people and communities working to create a more just society.
Sardinia | Sardegna
In Sardinia, students experience a side of Italy, on its unique island, shaped as much by a proud rooted identity, local struggles and resilience as by breathtaking landscapes and deep traditions. Across the island, the itinerary brings students into conversation with people and organizations working in the areas of rehabilitation and mental health, human rights, culture, education, and social inclusion, while also creating space for intercultural exchange and deeper reflection. A brief look - though a natural excursion - at its main city, Cagliari and then a deeper experience in the town of Iglesias, allows students to encounter Sardinia not as a postcard, but as a living community with its own history, challenges, and strong sense of identity. The result is an experience that is both grounded in place and, while breathing an amazing coastline nature, it is attentive to the social questions, and actions, that emerge from it.
Padua | Padova
Padova serves as an introduction to the Italy Center experience at its fullest: immersive, reflective, and grounded in real encounters. Early in the summer term, students travel to this historic university city to engage art, culture, and community through a model of travel that values sustainability, intentionality, and human connection. The itinerary combines academic exploration with meaningful community engagement, including shared time with a local partner addressing poverty and social exclusion. More than a simple orientation trip, Padova sets the tone for the summer by asking students to consider what it means to travel ethically, learn through direct experience, and enter a new place with curiosity, humility, and care.
Siciliy | Sicilia
In Sicily, students move through an itinerary that is as dynamic, intense and impactful as the island itself. Spanning Palermo, Siracusa, and Catania, the trip combines community engagement, cultural exploration, and reflection on migration, organised crime, social inclusion, and civic responsibility. Students encounter social enterprises, grassroots organisations, refugee and migrant communities, and local leaders working to create more inclusive spaces, while also experiencing the distinct neighbourhoods, landscapes - including an incredible, environmentally-focused hike on a volcano, and spiritual traditions that shape Sicilian life. The result is a journey that reveals Sicily not simply as a destination of beauty, but as a place of complexity, exchange, and powerful human connection.
