The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

In 1893, a group of American architects, painters and sculptors met regularly while planning the fine arts section of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. The group discussed the idea of forming an American school for artists in Europe as a place for American artists to study and further their skills. Led by Charles K. McKim, they decided that Rome - due to the city's being a veritable museum of masterpieces of painting, sculpture, and architecture throughout the ages - would be the best location for the school. The program began with institutions such as Columbia University and University of Pennsylvania, who would provide scholarships to artists to fund their travel to Rome. In October 1894 the American School of Architecture opened temporarily at the Palazzo Torlonia; directed by Austin Lord, it had three fellows, one visiting student, and a library with one volume. In July 1895, the program moved into the larger Villa Aurora. Renting space out to the American School of Classical Studies and the British & American Archeological Society Library, and financial contributions from McKim, allowed for the school to remain open.

Rome (/ˈroʊm/; Italian: Roma pronounced [ˈroːma] ( listen); Latin: Rōma) is a city and special comune ("Roma Capitale") in Italy. Rome is the capital of Italy and the capital of Lazio (Latin: Latium). With 2.8 million residents in 1,285.3 km² (496.3 sq mi), it is also the country's largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. Between 3.2 and 3.7 million people live in the Rome metropolitan area. The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.

Rome's history spans two and a half thousand years. It was the capital city of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, which was the dominant power in Western Europe and the lands bordering the Mediterranean for over seven hundred years from the 1st century BC until the 7th century AD and the city is regarded as one of the birthplaces of western civilization. Since the 1st century AD Rome has been the seat of the Papacy and, after the end of Byzantine domination, in the 8th century it became the capital of the Papal States, which lasted until 1870. In 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic.

Coordinates: 42°22′51″N 71°06′37″W / 42.380755°N 71.110256°W / 42.380755; -71.110256

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (American Academy) is one of the oldest and most prestigious honorary societies and a leading center for independent policy research in the United States. Election to the Academy is considered one of the nation’s highest honors since its founding during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin and other scholar-patriots who contributed prominently to the establishment of the new nation, its government, and its Constitution.

Today the Academy is with a dual function: to elect to membership finest minds and most influential leaders, drawn from science, scholarship, business, public affairs, and the arts, from each generation, and to conduct policy studies in response to the needs of society. Major Academy projects now have focused on higher education and research, humanities and cultural studies, scientific and technological advances, politics, population and the environment, and the welfare of children. Dædalus, the Academy’s quarterly journal, is widely regarded as one of the world's leading intellectual journals.

Arnold I. Davidson Ph.D. (Harvard University) is Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Service Professor in Philosophy, Comparative Literature, History of Science, and Philosophy of Religion at the University of Chicago. He is also a member of the Committee on the Conceptual Foundations of Science at Chicago and a professor at the Università di Pisa in Pisa, Italy. Davidson, who often speaks and teaches at French and Italian universities, has been a fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin as well as visiting professor, chaire d'Etat, at the Collège de France. He is also the executive editor of the journal Critical Inquiry. Davidson is a recent Guggenheim Fellowship recipient.

Davidson's scholarship concentrates in contemporary Continental Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, the History of Theology, and Historical Epistemology and the History of the Human Sciences. His publications (books, articles and essays) cover a wide array of ranging from the Moral Philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, Vladimir Jankelevitch, and Pierre Hadot to Georges Canguilhem's Philosophy of Science. Many of Davidson's publications are written in French and Italian and published by European presses.

Michael Graves (born July 9, 1934) is an American architect. Identified as one of The New York Five, Graves has become a household name with his designs for domestic products sold at Target stores in the United States.

Graves was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He attended Broad Ripple High School, receiving his diploma in 1952. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Cincinnati where he also became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, and a master's degree from Harvard University.

An architect in public practice in Princeton, New Jersey, since 1964, Graves is also the Robert Schirmer Professor of Architecture, Emeritus at Princeton University. He directs the firm Michael Graves & Associates, which has offices in Princeton and in New York City. In addition to his popular line of household items, Graves and his firm have earned critical acclaim for a wide variety of commercial and residential buildings and interior design, although some occupants of the buildings object to the confined views caused by signature features such as small or circular windows and squat columns. Graves was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1979. In 1999 Graves was awarded the National Medal of Arts, in 2001 the AIA Gold Medal, in 2010 the AIA Topaz Medal, and in 2012 the Driehaus Prize for Classical Architecture. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council.