Various kinds of tourism, such as eco-tourism, heritage tourism and culinary tourism, have emerged in recent years. Each has a focus, such as ecological areas, history, arts or food.
From experience, I can now coin a new category – campus tourism.
Friends from Italy, Marina and Vieri Quilici, visited us in April. Vieri is an architect who teaches at Rome 3 University. We met the Quilicis in the mid-1990s when my wife and I were living at the American Academy in Rome.
Vieri created a plan that linked towns in southeastern Tuscany as the Parco Val'Dorcia, which highlights natural, cultural, artistic and economic features. It has similarities to RiverSpark, a park I helped initiate, made up of seven cities, towns and villages at the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers.
The Quilicis had graciously given us a tour of the Tuscan Parco and a number of dinners at their home. They also invited us to their second home on the west coast of Italy.
We wanted to return their hospitality. Of course, we took them to the RiverSpark visitor center in Troy; treasures like the Capitol, the Stockade in Schenectady, Lake George; and – given our shared interest in parks – Saratoga State Park, the Adirondack Park and, closer to home, Albany's Washington Park.
But the centerpiece of touring turned out to be college campuses.
Our campus tourism began with the architecture school at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, after I saw that the school was presenting a public lecture as part of its 75th anniversary celebration. Two architecture grads spoke about their work. On the wall were drawings of Rome from students in the RPI's Rome program. Vieri was impressed with the old and new architecture of RPI.
Visits to campuses then flowed naturally to Skidmore in Saratoga Springs, the University at Albany, Union in Schenetady and Bard in Annandale-on-Hudson, Dutchess County. Marina commented on their self-contained nature and was amazed at the facilities for the arts on the campuses. She said museums, art galleries and theaters aren't found at Italian universities. Perhaps it is because Italian universities are woven into cities that have museums and theaters.
Without a seamless physical connection between city and campus, we lose sight of what is offered to the public on campuses and students miss out on what is in the city. I was once told, for example, very few UAlbany fine art students visit the outstanding collection of New York School paintings in the concourse of the Empire State Plaza in Albany.
Overall we have an awesome collection of treasures on the region's campuses. On the scenic Skidmore campus, our guests saw two exhibitions at the contemporary Tang Museum – with its three wings and walkways – designed by New Mexico architect Antoine Predock.
The uptown UAlbany campus, designed by architect Edward Durrell Stone, is itself an object of art. The Stone design is now augmented by interesting new buildings like the Science Library with a view of the Heldebergs, the glass administration building by Gwathmey, Siegel and Associates, and the picturesque high tech complex on Fuller Road.
Union College's campus, designed by French architect Joseph Jacques Ramee, is America's first planned campus. The centerpiece Nott Memorial had a retrospective exhibit of set designs by Charlie Steckler when we visited.
Last on our magical campus tour was Vieri's must see, the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, designed by international architect Frank O. Gehry.
My advice for you is to explore the campuses in our backyard. Get campus maps from college Web sites, look for public lectures, exhibits and performances, and make up your own campus tour.