Academics

Selling green wine: Not just for Dr. Seuss

MONTEVIBIANO, Italy -- Penn State students Michael Fasano, Melissa Jones, and George Riccardo, along with fellow students, visited the winery in the hills above the Tiber Valley on Friday on a field trip for their course, The Business of Food in Italy.

The course focuses on the business of producing and exporting wine and is part of the Umbra Institute's interdisciplinary Food Studies Program.

This semester students will build on a service learning project started by last semester's class. Students will help Montevibiano Winery write a pitch for an American wine importer, including how to market the "green" wine in the U.S.

About the Food Studies Program:
The Food Studies Program is an interdisciplinary curricular concentration at the Umbra Institute, an American study abroad program located in the central Italian city of Perugia. Often called a "big university town in a small Italian city," Perugia is the ideal setting for studying food, business, and sustainability. For more information about the Umbra Institute or its Food Studies Program, contact the assistant director of the Program, Zachary Nowak (znowak@umbra.org).

For a short overview of the program, go to YouTube.

Penn State students Michael Fasano, Melissa Jones, and George Riccardo stand in the Montevibiano wine cellar after a tour around the eco-winery in Montevibiano, Italy, on a field trip for the Umbra Institute Food Studies Program. Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

Last Updated September 9, 2015

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