Fifty years ago, John D. Kehoe, professor at the University of Georgia Lamar Dodd School of Art, went on a two-month search to select a site for the School’s Study Abroad Program. After visiting almost thirty different locales throughout Italy, he chose not one of the major centers of art studies, like Florence or Rome, but instead, the remarkable Tuscan town of Cortona, Italy. He could not resist the charm of the ancient walled village made famous many years later by the book and subsequent movie Under the Tuscan Sun.

What attracted Kehoe to Cortona was that it allowed the visiting students to experience the lifestyle of a small Italian community, and to interact with the local residents in ways that would not be possible in bigger cities. Kehoe served as director of the program for 20 years. The first group to journey to Cortona consisted of 39 summer students. The program is now year-round, and has over 10,000 alumni. Some 14 colleges and universities across the nation have had affiliations with the Cortona Program. It is impossible to measure the impact that Kehoe’s choice has had on the thousands of visiting American students, their families, UGA, and the Cortonese.  His pioneering vision and extraordinary passion created and nurtured the UGA Cortona Studies Abroad Program which has transformed legions of young lives.     

There will be TWO events, a Celebration and a Reunion: Cinquantesimo (fiftieth), to commemorate the historic 50th Anniversary of UGA Cortona

The first takes place in Cortona, Italy at UGA Cortona, on Saturday, June 8, 2019. Learn more here.

The second will be in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday, August 10, 2019 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Learn more here. All Cortona alumni and faculty from 1970 - 2019 are invited to come and reconnect with old friends, reminisce, share memories and enjoy Italian fare. The event will honor founding Director Jack Kehoe who we sadly lost in 2016. This momentous gathering will be held in the new City Springs Center, 1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs, (Atlanta) GA.

Ticket sales are available online at the CIAO (Cortona Italy Alumni Organization) website: www.ciaouga.org. For more information on Cinquantesimo or to be added to the email list contact CIAO at c.i.a.o.uga@gmail.com.