American Academy in Rome

Basic Information

The American Academy in Rome, founded in 1894 and chartered by the United States Congress in 1905 and 1912, is an independent center for the development of United States artists and scholars. Its present institutional form dates to 1914, when the American Academy, newly consolidated with the American School of Classical Studies in Rome (founded 1895 under the auspices of the Archaeological Institute of America), took up a joint campus on the Janiculum Hill, encompassing 11 acres.

The Academy still operates under its 1912 charter as “an institution for the study and practice of the fine arts and for the study and investigation of the archaeology, literature, and history of the Classical and later periods.” The Academy appoints its “Rome Prize” Fellows through a juried competition (with now typically four out of an annual total of c. 30 fellowships reserved for ancient studies). In addition to a small staff (which includes a Professor-in-Charge for the humanities), a...