On Palatine Hill, with the Coliseum in the back

Author: Maria Cervantes | Major: Apparel Merchandising & Product Development | Semester: Summer 2023

This summer, I spent two weeks in Italy on the Apparel Merchandising & Product Development Italy Study Tour. The goal was to immerse in the Italy fashion scene, touring four different cities, Rome, Florence, Milan, and Venice. The AMPD degree requires students to choose a study tour in Italy, New York or Vegas. I chose Italy because I felt that it would be the best cultural experience for fashion manufacturing. This program makes my resume competitive and taught me a lot about different factions in the fashion manufacturing world.

We visited the Antica Manifattura Cappelli, one of the oldest hat workshops in Rome. The shop owner told us about how she got to own the store and how she basically won over the owner and landed the ownership job. We got to touch the felt before it was made into the hat and we actually saw the hat-maker go through the tough process of making them. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be and it is mostly made by hand, I like how they didn’t have fancy machinery to do it. Scuola del Cuoio is a leather school that was founded in 1950 by Marcello Gori and Silvano Casini in Florence. La scuola del Cuoio was my absolute favorite appointment. The way they showed the artisans in action and making sure that you could see everything that was happening. Their artisanship was greatly appreciated and a lot of people bought from their store. The tour guide was super informative and made sure to answer any questions we had. It was mostly what I expected from researching but seeing the animal leather in person and feeling it were the most out of body experiences ever. Our presenter was also super knowledgeable and nice. We got to see stingray, crocodile, alligator, and snake leather. Martina Vidal has been making Burano lace for the past four generations. Reading about Burano and actually visiting Burano were two separate things. It was wonderful to experience firsthand what it was like to have a great skill like lacemaking. Our hosts were wonderful hosts and they lived up to their idea of luxury. You can tell they were passionate and appreciative of their craft and wanted to spread the word on it, rather than gatekeep the skill. Burano was breathtaking and allowed a lot of us to relax after the stressful day we had. Living up to its glory and expertise Martina Vidal has the craft down to a T. We got to see the artisans in action. The Salvatore Ferragamo Museum was a super fun experience. Researching Ferragamo you could see how much he loved his wife. This museum was created by his wife and it showcased the love and life that he allowed her to so freely live. Wanda dedicated the museum to women and early industrialization with women. The whole museum had Ferragamo works of art as well as other vintage works of art like kitchen items and commercials that were all woman based. In my research I had found that Salvatore Ferragamo started in shoes and there were a lot of them there at the museum that were made by Wanda and her daughters. They carried on his legacy after his death and made Ferragamo the brand it is today. The Mariano Fortuny brand was founded in the summer of 1922. We visited the Fortuny showroom briefly and they showed us a lot of their silks. They had them all propped up on their ceiling and were quickly showing us. This showroom was nothing like what I thought it would be, mainly because they had no lighting fixtures and all they showed us were fabrics, some that were made by Fortuny himself. These were all our academic and professional experiences because this is how we learned. We weren’t in a classroom, we were out in the world.

The culture that I experienced in Italy was so enriching and had a long culture. We visited all the basics, Roman Forum, the Wedding Cake, Trevi Fountain, Vatican City and the Coliseum. The architecture was absolutely breathtaking, exactly how you would picture it. I loved that everything was walkable and everyone walked everywhere. The food was super interesting because I didn’t really know if I was going to like it as I am used to my own cultural food. The pizza, pasta and steak were delicious. I was also a huge fan of the gelato and Caesar salad. The public transportation was also really convenient and daily clean, nothing like the United States.

I would recommend this experience to everyone who wants to grow as a human and apparel major. It would have worked out so great if I was a junior because I could have taken those experiences with me for the next year. I really wish I had known that a lot of people aren’t going to be culturally sensitive and it is best if you come in with those expectations. As someone who is not from the United States and travels frequently, I have learned that being culturally sensitive and knowing that culture shock is inevitable. The first thing I did when I returned home was eat some spicy food and go to a Walmart. I really missed the convenience of Walmart and driving a car.