Donated to the university by Sir Harold Acton, NYU Florence is a 57-acre estate with multiple villas and gorgeous gardens. Villa La Pietra is a family museum and home to numerous artworks and sculptures, while Villa Ullivi is two-stories high and mainly used for academic purposes. The remaining villas, Villa Natalia and Villa Colletta, are dedicated to student housing and became my home during my summer study at NYU Florence.Upon my arrival, in accordance with NYU tradition, the staff was friendly and the faculty helpful; they were always there to help with almost anything students needed. I was especially pleased that the Florence Student Life kept me up to date about all the art exhibitions, musicals, and plays going on in town. Like life at NYU Shanghai, I felt it was important to venture into the city and take advantage of it. Surely, there is no better place on earth to learn about the Renaissance than in Florence. It is one thing to look at a screen or a picture of an artwork; it is an entirely different thing to stand just a foot away from it. Thousands of art review books provide you with high definition photos of artworks, annotated with insightful comments and analysis, yet none could substitute the experience of actually being able to sense and feel these masterpieces. One may never truly understand the magnificence of Michelangelo’s David before waiting outside Galleria dell’ Accademia for hours, battling through the crowd, and finally standing at its base in absolute awe. Nor could one accurately picture the subtlety of Donatello’s David before facing only inches away from the statue. Physical presence is not just the key to an artsy life, but is also a passage that can send one back in time to resurrect history. One may never be able to imagine the power and privilege enjoyed by the Medici family before walking around the Pitti Palace or the Boboli Gardens. Nor could one empathize with the rebels from the Pazzi conspiracy before walking inside the Duomo. Breathing the air that artists like Giotto and Boccaccio once breathed, living in a city that Brunelleschi and Verrocchio once lived, one can not help but wander from gallery to gallery, often lost in the irresistible beauty of the Renaissance. Florence is not just a place where one becomes artsy; this is a place where art becomes a way of life, the only way of life. NYU Florence, for me, was a lens by which I was able to find the beauty, the inspiration, and the passion of the Renaissance. This article was written by Mengzhu Chen. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Mengzhu Chen