Art History teaching at the University' Teaching and research Centre in Venice has been awarded the prestigious Venice Prize for Cultural Communication.

The prize was presented to University representatives on 2 December 2010 at a ceremony during the 14th Exhibition of the Arts and Cultural Activities held in Venice. Among the patrons of this exhibition are the Italian Ministry of Arts and Culture, Venice City Council and the University of Ca’ Foscari, Venice.

A distinguished jury awarded one of five prizes to the University. The jury was chaired by Luigino Rossi, President of the Academy of Fine Arts; other members were Philip Rylands, Director of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice; Ilena Chiapinni di Sorio, University of Ca’ Foscari, Venice, and Bruno Bernardi, University of Ca’ Foscari, Venice.

The Prize was awarded to Warwick for its important research and studies in Italian Art History, and also for opening its own base in Venice, the Palazzo Pesaro Papafava. Every year our academics and students come from Great Britain to study the art and history of Renaissance Italy through specific modules taught at the Palazzo and, above all, to experience in situ the works of the great masters of Italian art.

Warwick has taken students to Venice since 1967, and has built up an international reputation – now recognised by this prestigious Prize – for scholarship in Venetian art, history and culture and for Renaissance Studies in general. Our base at the Palazzo Pesaro Papafava is a unique resource for research and teaching and for bringing together scholars from around the world.