A Broad in Venice: Walking in grandpa's footsteps

A painting in my grandparents’ house shows a set of white steps leading down to a courtyard with a big, bushy tree casting a cool shadow upon them.

“This is a place where we used to have lunch,” my grandma Peggy Sweany said, looking at a photograph in an album titled “Venice.” She was referring to herself and my grandfather, the late Paul J. Sweany, dining together in the shade of that tree on one of their many trips to Italy. I recognized the spot in the photo from the painting in the hall, a watercolor done by my grandpa.

As we continued to flip through the album, I recognized more scenes from my grandparents’ sketches and paintings. I have been surrounded by these images my entire life. These captured moments filled the walls of my mother’s and my grandparents’ homes.

At family dinners my grandfather would drink his favorite Italian white wine and tell stories about his extensive travels. Before he passed away, my grandpa took over 40 groups of students and adults around Europe and throughout Italy to study art history.
“You can’t appreciate art or understand art until you stand in front of the originals,” my grandpa said in a family documentary made in 2007.

After traveling extensively about Europe, he settled on Italy as his home away from home. He had made friends there, had families to stay with and learned to cook in real Italian kitchens. When I was a child I believed my grandpa was Italian, and at times, I know he thought so as well.

“If you have an Italian friend, you have an Italian friend for the rest of your time on earth,” he said.

My life has never been short of adventures. I have been climbing the Rocky Mountains since I was 6 months old. I’ve backpacked segments of the Appalachian Trail. I spent a summer working on a Colorado dude ranch.

Preparing for my final summer before entering the “real world,” I knew that it was time for my next great expedition. As soon as I began pondering the issue, I knew what I had to do.

I had to go to Italy.

I had to walk in my grandfather’s footsteps.

He had said that taking my grandmother and all four of his daughters to Europe was the most amazing treasure he could hope for. If it had been possible for him to defy time and age, taking his grandchildren to Europe would have been the next best thing.

So I applied for a summer program in Venice, Italy through the School of Fine Arts and the Office of Overseas Study. I plan to live in Italy for five weeks and take two art courses. I will have the Paul J. Sweany Italian art experience, even if just his spirit was there to guide me.

As an English major who doesn’t speak Italian, my odds for getting into the program seemed unlikely. But low and behold, I was one of 550 IUB students accepted into summer abroad programs, and one of 14 Venice program. In two weeks I will be boarding a plane, flying across the big pond and landing in the city of my grandfather’s passion.

My goal in writing this column will be to share my experiences with my readers and hopefully to send some of the lessons I will inevitably learn home. I will be writing on the subject of international travel, art history and the experience of studying abroad.
Over the next two months, I will be abroad in Venice.