Tuscany: Health, Longevity & Rural Sustainability
Overview
| Location | Tuscany, Italy |
| Arrival Date | May 10, 2026 |
| Teaching Dates | May 11-29, 2026 |
| 6 Credits | GEOG 491 (3) & HES 495 (3) |
| Eligibility | At least third year standing (students currently in 2nd year who will be considered “third year” as of May, are eligible) |
| Approximate Program Fee | $4,700-$5,200 |
Watch a one-minute video with Dr. Gina Whitaker, one of the instructors of this program
Program Information
About the program
This experiential seminar explores the historic and contemporary connections between local food, wine and tourism, and healthy living in the rural countryside of Tuscany. With a dual focus on sustainability and longevity, students participate in local food and wine production and agritourism, whilst learning the principles of healthy living and longevity through authentic immersion within the 3 pillars of physical activity, nutrition and community. Lessons are taken from Tuscany, where traditional and typical food and wine systems have combined with tourism to sustain the rural countryside. What’s more, the traditional way of life in Tuscany favours healthy living through ‘slow’ food practices, daily movement, and rich community. Lessons learned in Tuscany can be used to inform both local rural sustainability efforts and healthy living in British Columbia.
Students are housed at historic Castello Sonnino, a 13th century estate of 150 hectares including olive orchards, market garden, vineyard and winery just outside of Firenze, and adjacent to the village of Montespertoli. Our hosts, the de Renzis Sonnino family are dedicated to the preservation of cultural and environmental heritage. Their estate is the only operating farm, winery and historic site in Tuscany to offer university students on site experiential learning opportunities. Students will live and work within the castle at the winery, orchards, gardens and vineyards experiencing first-hand the tenants of the slow food movement and sustainable practices of vineyard management, food production, olive oil and winemaking. Each student apartment on the estate will have their own traditional Tuscan kitchens. Students are offered cooking classes and workshops and immersion in traditional markets as well as food and wine cultural consumption. Field excursions, tours and tastings at wineries, vineyards and farms that practice sustainable methods of production and encourage sustainable consumption throughout Tuscany are also included. Guest lectures in sustainable practices of tourism, wine and food production from the Universities of Firenze, Siena, and Pisa are also provided.
ELIGIBILITY AND PRE-REQUISITeS
This is an upper–level field course, the sole pre–requisite is at least third year standing and an interest in health and sustainability. This is a field course where participation is very important, as is the ability to work within small groups.
COURSEWORK
- GEOG 491 Special Topics in Geography: Rural Sustainability in Tuscany
- GEOG 491 Course Syllabi will be posted soon
- HES 495 Special Topics in Health and Exercise Sciences: Health and Longevity practices in Italy
- HES 495 Course syllabi will be posted soon
This program is open to Vancouver students. Please connect with your advisor to determine how these 6 credits will work towards your degree
Timeline
Teaching Dates: May 11-29, 2026
Arrival: May 10, 2026
Week 1 (May 11-15)
Introduction to Castello Sonnino and Montespertoli. Introductory workshops on Italian language, wine and food culture, wine appreciation and production in Central Italy and introductory cooking class. Vineyard and orchard management and biodynamic/organic agricultural workshops in Valgiano, historic tour of Lucca, other local field excursions engaging in market life and community in Montespertoli, and introduction to the wine and food trails of Chianti.
Week 2 (may 18-22)
Guided walking tour of Florence with a focus on community based and cultural tourism. Guest lectures on place branding for wine, food and tourism and guided field excursions to the medieval towns of Siena, Pienza, Buonconvento and the Val d’Orcia to experience Rennaisance ideals of rural landscape, design and the human-landscape connections. Workshops on food and wine production as well as reciprocal tourism and community relationships.
Week 3 (may 25-29)
Workshops on local food foraging and biodynamic food production with a local expert. Pilgrimage walk to the medieval hilltop town San Gimignano along the historic Via Francigena from the village of Gambassi. A visit to the Montespertoli Regional Museums of Wine and regional culture. Guest lectures on the Slow Food, Medicine and Health Movement and a guided tour of the Orto Bioattivo (Bio-active Garden) in Florence. Final lectures on sustaining rural places through tourism, wine and food, workshops on agricultural biodiversity, and ancient grain and seed preservation.
Program Fees
Program fees: $4,700-$5,200. The final program fee depends on the number of students in the program.
| Included in program fee | Not included in program fee |
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AWARd
Every student accepted into this program will receive a $1,000 Global Seminar Award. This will be distributed to students in May 2026.
Program Director Bio
Dr. Donna Senese
After earning a PhD in Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Waterloo Donna Senese, moved to the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia where she is now Associate Professor of Geography at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus, and Associate Dean of Students in the IK Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dr. Senese has research and curricular interests in the geographies of agricultural and wine tourism at the intersect of rural sustainability, vulnerability and resilience thinking. Dr. Senese is a member of UBC’s Sustainability Theme in Graduate Studies, the Centre for Environmental Impact Assessment, Institute for Community Engaged Research, the UBC Wine Research Centre, Kwantlan Polytechnic University’s Institute for Sustainable Food Systems, and is Founding Director of the Sonnino Working Group, an international trans disciplinary research and writing collective based in Tuscany Italy, with curricular and research interests in food and wine tourism and rural sustainability. Dr. Senese’s most recent publications include an edited volume on research approaches to the Valley, and peer reviewed journal articles on transformative tourism, reciprocity and social capital and resilience in agricultural, wine and tourism settings.
Dr. Gina Whitaker
Gina Whitaker completed her Bachelor of Applied Science in Kinesiology at Simon Fraser University and then progressed through a PhD in Cellular and Physiological Sciences in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC Vancouver. In 2017, she began teaching in the School of Health and Exercise Sciences (HES) at UBC Okanagan. Currently, in her Education Leadership role, she teaches introductory and applied Human Physiology courses and is also the Undergraduate Program Coordinator. Through the years of teaching Aging Physiology to upper year students in HES, she has developed an interest in longevity research and exploring the cultures and lifestyle practices where both healthspan and lifespan are maximized. Gina’s family history has Italian roots as her mother was born in Calabria, Italy and immigrated to Canada in childhood. Gina’s grandparents played a central role in her upbringing, keeping her connected to Italian culture and traditions through her childhood that she now passes on to her family. Although she wasn’t born and raised in Italy, when Gina visits, she feels a measure of home. With longevity practices at the heart of the traditional Italian way of life, this Global Seminar experience unites Gina’s personal and professional worlds. She can’t wait to meet the group and learn by experiencing the best of Italy together!
