The Department of Italian welcomes NYU Ph.D. and Master students to Florence to participate in an annual program of talks, classes, and guided tours of area libraries and other cultural institutions. Master students in Italian Studies will take classes both at Villa La Pietra and at the Università di Firenze in order to complete their degree requirements. They will participate in a fall seminar taught by a faculty member and in the spring Work-in-Progress Seminar. The seminar series takes place at Villa La Pietra, the property's largest and oldest villa, which features the art collection and archive of the family of Sir Harold Acton.

Ph.D. students may spend up to two of their fellowship years at La Pietra, where they have the opportunity to pursue individual research programs under the guidance of visiting faculty members from the Department of Italian, as well as to take part in a biweekly seminar series that features scholars residing in Florence. Additionally, they will visit research facilities in the area such as Villa I Tatti and the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale as part of an orientation program designed to familiarize them with Florence's rich resources. Ph.D. students will come largely from the Department of Italian, but students in related disciplines – art history, history, music, romance languages – are welcome to participate.

In addition to these study opportunities at La Pietra, PhD students have the opportunity to take advantage of the Department’s exchange agreement with the Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane (SUM) which allows them to spend a semester attending the seminars provided within at any of the Istituto’s participating doctoral programs (currently Florence, Siena, Bologna, Naples, Rome, and Turin).