First stop: London, July 18th -24th: Shakespeare’s London & the Elizabethan theater (a wonderfully faithful reconstruction) where his plays were originally performed. We will attend two performances at the historic Globe and go on a guided tour of this fanciful open air theater. From London birds to bridges, Westminster to the London tower, we will read lines from Shakespeare plays which bring both London and its great poet closer. During our time in London we will also: go on a bike tour of the city, attend a choral service at St Paul’s, get wonderful views from the Sky Garden, go to museums (where students write short compositions about their favorite works of art) go for a cruise on the Thames and walk everywhere with students as our guides (based on their morning individual research).

Morning classes are doors into the art & architecture, the nature & the historical monuments & the literature we experience together. Every morning, we read literature which connects to what we will be seeing that day, in London, Shakespeare of course, but also Virginia Wolfe, for example, on St Paul’s Cathedral (very near where we are staying). Then students have an hour of individual research on history, architecture, art, literature, monuments, biography, — each student chooses from a list of study topics relevant to the sites we will be seeing that day. Once on site, each student presents his research to the rest of the group.

Students who wish to may opt for a brief half hour survival Italian class each morning and may choose to present one sentence of their research in Italian each day. HS Literary London and beyond is an exchange program: our students come mostly from Italy and the USA and for students who wish to, language can be part of that exchange.

Students keep a trip-book/diary and, while they are on trips, record their impressions of what they see and experience in sketches, prose, poems, collages, or watercolors. Both staff and students give students feedback on these diaries/ trio-books. They are a central part of our learning together at HSLL. Trip-books/ diaries are unique and individual; some students devote their time (both on site qnd when we are back in the classroom) to writing. Others prefer to sketch or make watercolors or collages. Every student’s reactions enriches the experience of the rest of the group.

Second stop: Stratford-Upon-Avon July 24th- July 27th, where we will visit both Shakespeare’s houses and gardens, see the little church where he is buried, attend an Elizabethan class at the grammar school he attended, go for a ride on the river Avon and have a walking tour of the idiosyncratic Tudor architecture which still defines Stratford today: From schoolboys to tombs, flowers to rivers, we will read lines from Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets which illuminate the sites we visit. Here, as in London, students will do individual research, memorise lines they love, and keep trip-books/diaries with their individual impressions of what we read and see together. Students will also (of course) attend a play at Stratford’s Royal Shakespeare Theater.

Third stop: Grasmere Just 27th - July 30th, little medieval village in the beautiful Lake District, where Wordsworth lived for many years and wrote many of his greatest poems. William Wordsworth (1770-1850), is the father of modern English poetry. He believed that poetry should be democratic, for everyone, natural, not artificial. Wordsworth wrote in a new, simple, non-poetic, conversational language -- which changed the language of English poetry forever. We read some of his best -loved poems and walk along the lakes and through the fields which inspired them. We'll buy gingerbread in the local gingerbread shop, visit the cafes and tea houses of this little charming town, spend time in the church Wordsworth attended, visit his two homes and the gardens still there today which he landscaped himself, a living expression of his sensibility and aesthetic
With any luck, weather permitting we will swim, too in the lake and natural springs he loved!

Fourth and last stop: Cambridge July 30th - 31st We will only spend 1 night here, but will spend our time as Cambridge students, visiting the most beautiful colleges and libraries (from medieval to 17th century) where they live and study and punting on the river Cam, a traditional sport still much beloved.

Fourth and last stop: Cambridge July 30th - 31st We will only spend 1 night here, but will spend our time as Cambridge students, visiting the most beautiful colleges and libraries (from medieval to 17th century) where they live and study and punting on the river Cam, a traditional sport still much beloved.

HS Literary London and beyond will cost 2600 euros (about 3,000 US dollars). Price includes everything (room, board, theater tickets, museum fees, guided tours, train fares within England etc) except for two dinners our and airfare from the US. If students elect to come to Italy for either the two weeks before or after the HS Literary London program, the price quoted above will include their roundtrip airfare from Italy to London. Please see below for more details.

HSLL Students can also request small, work-study scholarships and come to Assisi Italy two weeks early (July 4th -July 17th) as assistant counsellors at our HS Kids Actors, Sculptors and Cooks program for Italian children. Students who elect to do work-study will be awarded a 100 euros discount for each week of HS work-study. For example, a student who does two weeks of work-study will pay 2,400 euros for HSLL:

Students can also extend their HSLL experience by two weeks (August 1st to 14th) and attend our Shakespeare intensive, Shakespeare and the Italian Renaissance, where students direct and perform a Shakespeare. play and several of his sonnets and make study-trips around Italy to see the Classical Myths and Renaissance Art which inspired this great poet. The cost of this extra, two week add-on for HSLL students is 850 euros.

Please write us with any questions you may have!