Current Students»International Programs

Rome, Italy

Passport/Italian Study Visa Disclaimer: To study abroad in Italy you will apply for a student visa during the fall semester. If you do not currently have a valid passport (valid until November 2026), apply for your expedited passport NOW. The AIP office will assist participating students with the Italian study visa process in September and October, and you must have your passport by that time.

Applications for Spring 2026 are now open. Apply here. Applications close on August 4 at 11:59 p.m.

Traveling and being individuals in a new city and meeting new friends and figuring it all out together! I liked being in cultural hub where I could experience the daily life of Romans.” – Rome Participant, 2018

Want to hear more from our students about their experience studying abroad in Rome? Check out our AIP blog for more information.

Program 
The Annenberg Rome program offers an exciting opportunity to live and study in the heart of one of Europe’s oldest cities and experience the birthplace of modern culture, society, and art. Partnering with Accent Global Learning, USC has created a unique program with carefully tailored courses specifically designed for Annenberg majors within the Italian context. Spend a semester exploring how media, culture, history, and politics are embedded within and drive innovation in this iconic city.

Students live amongst locals in the Campo de Fiori neighborhood and take classes taught by local faculty at the Accent Study Center. Studying with an Annenberg cohort, students will be just steps away from the Colosseum, the Pantheon, and Vatican City. 

Dates
Program Dates: January 7, 2026 – May 8, 2026 (Depart U.S. January 6)
Spring Break:  March 15 – March 22, 2026

Italian National Holidays:
April 6, Easter Monday
April 25, Liberation Day
May 1, Labor Day

Curriculum
Students take the following courses taught by local faculty at the Accent Center in central Rome:

  • COMM 391/PR 391: Made in Italy: The Marketing of an Ideal
    • Examines case studies on important Italian companies, ranging from transportation to the luxury goods industries from both an economic and business point of view
  • COMM 392/JOUR 392: Media and Migration in Times of European Crisis
    • Investigates the implications of the perceptual process of mass media-generated immigration discourse in Europe
  • COMM 393: Rhetoric of Rome
    • Examination of the modern city as a communicative text with Rome as the case study
  • COMM 434: Italian Media: Popes, Politicians, and Popular Culture
    • Provides an overview of 2,000 years of Italian-style communications, from Julius Caesar to Machiavelli, Mussolini, and the Mafia
  • JOUR 340: Rewriting History: Reporting Rome 
    • Designed for students interested in hands-on crime and feature reporting. The course covers six historical unsolved Italian crimes and uses basic journalistic tools to tell a story.
  • ​Italian Language Lab (non-credit)
    • Survival language course with an emphasis on developing necessary everyday communication skills. Designed for students who have little or no prior knowledge of Italian. 

*Courses may be subject to change

Academic Units & Credit
All students are required to enroll in a full course load of 16 units.

  • COMM students will be able to earn 16 units of upper-division major elective credit.
  • JOUR & PR students will be able to earn 8-12 units of upper-division major elective credit; the remaining 4-8 units taken will be general elective credits. 

Students must take courses for a letter grade, pass/no pass is not an option. Letter grades will appear on their USC transcript and impact their GPA. USC add/drop policies apply, students can only add/drop courses with approval from their academic advisor and professor of the course.

Program Highlights​

  • Classes are taught by local Italian faculty, some of the top communication practitioners in Europe

  • No language requirement. Students learn survival Italian while enrolled in communication courses

  • Organized excursions including guided museum visits, speakers, and other cultural institutions

  • Weekly communication and media-focused events (guest speakers from major news outlets and sports organizations, tour of Rome's fashion district, etc.)

  • Opportunities to volunteer with local organizations

  • Local Italian university students organize social activities

  • Weekend excursion to Bologna, Italy, and weeklong study excursion to Sicily

Housing 
Students live in self-contained multi-bedroom apartments in Campo de Fiori, a centrally located neighborhood in Rome. Apartments consist of a fully equipped kitchen and shared bedrooms and bathrooms. All bed linens, bath linens, and kitchenware will be supplied to the students in their Rome apartments. Students live with other USC Annenberg participants.

All rooms in the apartment will be shared bedrooms of double or triple rooms, there are no single-room apartments available. Students who want a single room should consider the homestay option or the London or Sydney programs.

Students also have the option of living in a homestay with a local Italian family. In this option, students have their own room and are provided a daily breakfast and 4 dinners per week. This is a great option for students seeking to immerse themselves more fully in the culture and develop their Italian language skills. To learn more about what it is like to live in a homestay, please read a USC student account, here.

Eligibility
This program is only open to Annenberg majors. Students must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0. Italian language coursework is not required. Interviews for this program are required and by invitation only after initial application screening.

Additional Academic Requirements

  • COMM majors must have sophomore standing and have completed two Theoretical and Foundational courses at the time of application (or have one completed and one in progress).
  • JOUR majors must have junior standing and have completed JOUR 307 and JOUR 320 before the start of the program.
  • PR majors must have junior standing and have completed PR 351A before the start of the program.

Estimated Costs 
Please see the detailed estimated program costs below for Spring 2026. Each semester Annenberg International Programs provides an up-to-date cost sheet to admitted students; if there are any changes from the time students are admitted to a program to the time they leave for a study abroad semester, updated cost sheets will be sent to the students.

Please note that these costs are subject to change without notice: 

Tuition: $36,630 (USC semester tuition cost)
Program Fees: $500
Housing: 

  • Double or triple occupancy room in student housing in Campo di Fiore neighborhood in Rome city center: $8,097
  • Single occupancy room in a Homestay: $8,613

USC Overseas Health Insurance*: $2,298
Estimated Round Trip Airfare: $1,300
Estimated Personal Expenses (food, entertainment, weekend travel, etc.): $5,000
TOTAL: $53,825 - $54,341

Financial aid and tuition remission apply. Contact AIP for more information on financial aid and scholarships.

*All USC students are required to have sufficient health insurance during their study abroad program. In order to ensure proper coverage, all students going abroad must have either USC Overseas Policy or the USC Student Health Insurance Plan for the semester they are abroad. As students may not waive out of USC health insurance when they study abroad, students will be automatically enrolled in the USC Student Health Insurance Plan and billed accordingly by the USC Health Insurance Office. Students who have a waiver on file (because they have successfully waived out of the USC Student Health Insurance Plan through the online process on OASIS) will be enrolled in the USC Overseas Policy and billed accordingly.