Syracuse Academy offers international educational programs aimed at promoting human and environmental peace, prosperity, equity, and justice. We are a mission-driven, values-driven organization dedicated to cultural exchange, community building, holistic sustainable development, and the belief that no person or place should be left behind in the pursuit of societal advancement.

As a Sicilian organization, we are committed to promoting the island's health and vitality, as well as the health and vitality of its inhabitants, institutions, and natural ecosystems, including land and marine biodiversity and climate change resilience, while also addressing regional and global issues.

We believe that international educational institutions should provide innovative, collaborative, and intercultural learning experiences while also attempting to provide major advantages to the local and global communities through proactive participation. Intercultural student learning and development takes place best within the framework of purposeful, subject-focused, and experiential education that also supports community sustainability, well-being, equity, prosperity, and opportunity.


Cultural Heritage and Identity in Sicily
Retrace the links between the various cultures that shaped Sicily into what it is today. Each civilization has left its imprint, whether it be linguistic, culinary, artistic, religious, or architectural.

This study track focuses on Critical Global Issues, as identified within the framework of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. 
Each study track has a selection of one to five taught or research-based courses depending on the study length a student chooses: Summer Terms (4 or 8 weeks), Semesters (12 weeks), or full Academic Years (26 weeks). 

Not all classrooms have four walls. All our programs are designed with the fundamental principle that we view Syracuse, our city and home, as a living laboratory within which students can engage with Critical Global Issues in real-life contexts. 

With 2 state-of-the-art Study Centers and longstanding partnerships with local research and higher education institutions, Syracuse Academy serves as a gateway for international students and scholars to unlock the wide array of academic resources and opportunities available in Sicily and in the Central Mediterranean region.

Explore culture and identity in the cradle of Western civilization. Home to the Phonecians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Normans, the Arabs, the Spanish, and then finally the Italians, Sicilian culture is a mosaic. Each civilization in antiquity and in current times, has added tiles of language, food, beliefs and traditions to the larger composition of the island’s culture. Despite the seeming permanence of the grand works of architecture and art, each close investigation of Sicily’s cultural heritage exposes how it is truly in constant evolution. 

This program understands the mutability of Sicily’s history and heritage, and so takes it as the basic premise from which students can explore how identity is created and re-created over time. 

Courses in this Study Track include: 

• Crossroads of the Mediterranean: Cultural Identity in Sicily through the Ages
• Italian Language and Culture 
• Mediterranean Food Systems: Identity, Migration & Labor in Sicily 
• Migration Across the Mediterranean: Human Rights and the Media
• Field Research Project: Systems Thinking & Sustainability