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Does a brochure-reader ever feel the breezes off the Chianti hills? Can an article on nutrition ever give you the flavors of Italian food? Will an art history book provoke the shivers of Michelangelo’s original David? ISI Florence’s summer program gives its students a passport to the hands-on “Italian laboratory”, where the classroom walls come tumbling down, and students venture out into Italy on field trips. Nutrition and history of food courses go to farms, wine-makers, and agro-tourism sites; business, fashion, and supply-chain students visit, among others, the Ducati motorcycle museum and Ferragamo’s workshop and store. While those studying real estate explore gardens, museums, and the countryside, to better understand their own systems and markets by on-site comparison. If a study abroad experience limited itself to the classroom, save for the Duomo’s cupola outside the window, you might as well be back home in the US. But a life-changing experience abroad means breathing, tasting, living… ISI Florence’s mission is to touch lives.