Video Series Imparare Roma (Learn Rome) – On the Christian History of the Eternal City
While he was preparing to return to Rome to complete his doctoral studies, the young priest Karol Wojtyla, future Pope and Saint John Paul II, received advice from one of his professors in Krakow: “learn Rome itself”.
Imparare Roma (Learn Rome) is the title of a project that our university is carrying out in collaboration with the noteworthy documentary producer Digito Identidad. With this project, we aim to find the “more” that the Christian history of Rome contributes to the integral formation of Santa Croce students.
Concretely, it consists in video clips, presented by the students themselves, which highlight the rich artistic, cultural, and Christian heritage that the Eternal City preserves. Beginning in the academic year 2023/2024 and over the following three years, 5 minutes episodes will be published periodically on the YouTube channel: (https://www.youtube.com/santacrocevideo) and through the University’s social media. Rather than simply presenting famous monuments, the videos recount the history and events surrounding the establishment of the monuments, the creation of beautiful lasting art, or the significant yet simple and often forgotten places in the City.
Following a chronological narrative, the three series that make up the project cover Ancient Rome (first series), Medieval Rome and the beginning of the Modern Era (second series), and the rest of the Modern and Contemporary Era (third series). Through the lives of the saints who deeply mark the history of the Church and the historical events commemorated still today by many monuments, viewers virtually travel back in time to discover the cultural and religious patrimony that the center of Christianity continues to offer the faithful throughout the world. To date, 15 episodes have been completed. Production involved 17 students representing different faculties, states of life, and nationalities. Over the course of 2024 the remaining episodes, involving a new group of students, will be completed. In this way, the students themselves will have the opportunity to experience and learn the history of the city in which they live and study.
Ancient, Medieval, Modern and Contemporary Epochs
Following a chronological narrative, the three series that make up the project cover Ancient Rome (first series), Medieval Rome and the beginning of the Modern Era (second series), and the rest of the Modern and Contemporary Era (third series). Through the lives of the saints who deeply mark the history of the Church and the historical events commemorated still today by many monuments, viewers virtually travel back in time to discover the cultural and religious patrimony that the center of Christianity continues to offer the faithful throughout the world. To date, 15 episodes have been completed. Production involved 17 students representing different faculties, states of life, and nationalities. Over the course of 2024 the remaining episodes, involving a new group of students, will be completed. In this way, the students themselves will have the opportunity to experience and learn the history of the city in which they live and study.
We hope this project will be an opportunity for students, professors, employees, friends, benefactors, and anyone connected with Santa Croce to come to a deeper understanding of the rich Christian heritage of Rome; a heritage and culture that came into being in the context of the development of Christianity and which continue in our own times. It is our desire to create a milieu in which we can truly encounter this heritage, through study and exploration of the Eternal City, such that a deeper formation, both academic and human, can take place.
