State College will have its own Little Italy for a few weeks.

The Zoller Gallery is featuring the work of faculty members of the Studio Arts Center International (SACI) in Florence. Tonight at 5, an exhibit reception and information session on studying abroad in Florence will be held. The actual exhibit will run until March 7.

The exhibition was designed to tour universities in the U.S. to encourage students to study in Florence. Penn State is fifth of the seven stops on the tour.

Zoller Gallery Director Kevin Hsieh said the show consists of 23 SACI faculty members that make up about 50 pieces. Oil painting, photography, small sculptures, computer design and a panel for architectural design will all be featured at the gallery in hopes of sparking student interest.

"Students [can be] like 'Wow that's a great style I want to learn from,' so maybe they will apply for the study abroad program in Florence," Hsieh said.

Randy Ploog, coordinator of international programs for the School of Art and Architecture, said SACI asked the School of Visual Arts to have the exhibition stop at Penn State to draw attention to the program.

"This is the only art major-oriented Florence program," he said.

He said most students wish to study abroad as upperclassmen, a time when art majors need advanced courses and studio space is not commonly offered in abroad programs -- that's why SACI is so important.

Plogg added that SACI offers courses art students can't find at Penn State, such as art conservatism and authentic fresco painting. Already, two students attended SACI last spring, two went last fall and two more are currently in the program.

Aubrey Levinthal (junior-visual arts) is enrolled in SACI Florence and taking a six-credit on-site art history of early Renaissance class that travels to see the works it studies.

In an e-mail interview, she wrote that she has already been to Ravenna, Pisa, Luca, Siena, San Gimignano, Rome and all around Florence's museums and cathedrals.

"All this comes with the tuition, it's an amazing class. I learn so much and feel like art history is finally a dynamic class and it's so much more interesting and relevant when you experience the work in context," she wrote.

Levinthal said she is also painting with Gary Lissa, one of the artists in the faculty exhibition, with whom she is learning to paint landscapes. She is taking a jewelry class with Naomi Muirhead as well, who also made a contribution to the exhibit showcased at the Zoller exhibit.

"I experience the works and the culture which has created them first-hand," she wrote.

"Florence is a city that is livable, small enough to become a

part of, but big enough to hold such important artwork and never boring."