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The American Academy in Rome is the oldest American overseas center for independent study and advanced research in the arts and the humanities.

Each year, through a national juried competition, the Academy awards the Rome Prize (room and board, a stipend, a separate work space, and generally a year in Rome) to a carefully selected group of artists and scholars from the following disciplines: architecture, landscape architecture, design, historic preservation and conservation, literature, visual arts, music composition, and in humanistic approaches to ancient, medieval, Renaissance and early modern, and modern Italian studies. Besides this core group, the community includes a small number of Residents, Affiliated Fellows, and Visiting Artists and Scholars, all invited to pursue their work in an atmosphere conducive to intellectual and artistic freedom, interdisciplinary exchange, and innovation. The encounter with Rome represents now, as it has done since the Academy’s inception, something unique: a chance for American artists and scholars to spend significant time interacting and working in one of the oldest, most cosmopolitan cities in the world.

At its 11-acre site on the Gianicolo, or Janiculum Hill, the highest point within the walls of the historic city, the Academy sponsors exhibitions, concerts, lectures, and symposia that draw international audiences An excellent research library, a series of summer programs, and projects in archaeology and in publishing complement these activities, enabling the Academy to serve directly more than three thousand people each year.

The Academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

History
In 1893, a group of American architects, including Charles Follen McKim and Richard Howland Hunt, painters, including John La Farge and Frank Millet, and sculptors, including Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Daniel Chester French, met regularly as part of the design team for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, or The Chicago World's Fair of 1893. At their late-night, round-the-fire planning sessions in the artists' administrative building, known as "The Shack", the group marveled at the benefits of an artists' meeting of the minds. McKim particularly appreciated the special environment which had been created during the Exposition's design process, recognizing that the skills of each artist, and each occupation, "had brought to fruition the artistry of the others". Newly invigorated by concepts of collaboration, Charles Follen McKim felt that there was a need for an American academy in Europe, "where the principles of collaboration within the classic discipline were still honored". He settled on Rome as the Academy's location in large part to keep up with France's Prix de Rome and similar classically-focused academies in Rome established by Spain, Hungary, and Germany. Of course, Rome was also chosen due to the city's being a veritable museum of masterpieces of painting, sculpture, and architecture throughout the ages. As a result of McKim's enthusiasm and persistence, the Committee on the Plan of Study was created, consisting of artists, heads of fine art departments at universities, like Charles Eliot Norton of Harvard, Warren Laird of University of Pennsylvania and William Robert Ware of Columbia University, and other notables. Altogether, the committee consisted of 17 prestigious leaders of the American art community, lending validity to the fledgling program. Soon after the committee was launched, both Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania agreed to send two prize scholarship candidates to the new Academy in Rome, where the men would work under the curriculum assigned by the Academy. In October 1894, what was then known as "The American School of Architecture in Rome" opened temporarily in eight rooms on the upper floor of the Palazzo Torlonia. The School was directed by Austin Lord, and boasted one visiting student, three prize-winning fellows, each with endowments of $1,000, and a library with one volume, said to be John Henry Middleton's Ancient Rome in 1885. Starting in the fall of 1895, the program moved into the larger Villa Aurora, which was shared primarily with the American School of Classical Studies. Despite tensions, renting space out to the American School of Classical Studies and the British & American Archeological Society Library, allowed for the school to remain open.

In 1895, the American School of Architecture in Rome was legally recognized by and incorporated in New York state, and ten shares of capital stock were issued. Despite fund-raising efforts and the withdrawal of the American School of Classical Studies from Villa Aurora, the organization struggled financially. McKim made up for the financial loss with his own personal funds. These struggles would cause the American School of Architecture to restructure their program along the guidelines of the French Academy. Hoping for a rejuvenation of the program, the board of trustees dissolved the American School of Architecture at a monthly meeting in June 1897 and formed The American Academy in Rome.

In 1904, the Academy moved into Villa Mirafiore, which was soon purchased and renovated. Shortly after, in 1905, the American Academy in Rome was chartered by an Act of Congress. The Academy then formed an endowment, which raised over a million dollars, and designated those having donated over $100,000 as founders. Such founders included: McKim, Harvard College, The Carnegie Foundation, J.P. Morgan, J.P. Morgan, Jr., John D. Rockefeller, Jr., The Rockefeller Foundation, William K. Vanderbilt, Henry Walters, and others.

In 1911, the American School of Classical Studies in Rome merged with the Academy, giving the Academy two wings: one that focuses on fine art and one on classical studies. Women were a part of the School of Classical Studies, but were not permitted participation in the School of Fine Arts until after World War II. In 1912, the board of trustees accepted the generous donation of property on Janiculum Hill from Mr. J.P. Morgan, and immediately began construction on the present layout of the Academy.

The Rome Prize Fellowship
Each year, the Rome Prize is awarded to thirty emerging artists and scholars in the early or middle stages of their careers who represent the highest standard of excellence in the arts and humanities. For periods that range from six months to two years, recipients are provided with stipends, residential accommodation, meals, studies or studios, and travel allowances to pursue their work. Since the founding of the Academy, over a thousand Rome Prize fellowships have been awarded.

Fellows are selected by juries of prominent artists and scholars in the Academy’s disciplines, and the juries change annually. Widely advertised, the competitions attract applications from approximately a thousand candidates from throughout the United States. November 15th is the annual deadline for submissions.

Currently, Rome Prizes are awarded in various fields:
 * Architecture
 * Design
 * Historic Preservation and Conservation
 * Landscape Architecture
 * Literature (the only field in which Rome Prizes are awarded by nomination through the American Academy of Arts and Letters, rather than by application)
 * Musical Composition
 * Visual Arts
 * Ancient Studies
 * Medieval Studies
 * Renaissance and Early Modern Studies
 * Modern Italian Studies

Residents
Each year the Director invites six to eight eminent artists and scholars from across the globe to become a part of the Academy community in Rome for several months. Each is provided an apartment, meals, work space, and the freedom to pursue his or her own project.

They are encouraged to participate in the community’s intellectual life by attending meals, sharing their research, and introducing the fellows to their colleagues throughout Italy. Some organize symposia or lectures; others serve as visiting critics or mentors for their colleagues in the visual arts or design; and others may lead walks or trips to the less-known treasures of the Roman world.

Affiliated Fellows
In addition to Rome Prize fellows, the Academy hosts the recipients of many other fellowships and awards offered by educational and cultural organizations around the world. These Affiliated Fellows usually reside at the Academy for periods from four weeks to three months, though Italian Affiliated Fellows can stay longer, and add to the diversity of the Academy’s artistic and scholarly community.

Summer Programs
Throughout most of the Academy’s history, it has sponsored summer programs, which are consistent with the Academy's mission, to provide American scholars, teachers, and advanced students the opportunity to experience and draw upon the resources of Rome. One especially prominent program has been the Classical Summer School. It is designed to provide qualified graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and middle school, high school, and two-year college teachers with a well-founded understanding of the growth and development of the city of Rome through a careful study of material remains and literary sources.

Visiting Artists and Scholars
The Academy accepts applications from artists and scholars who wish to rent living and studio space at the Academy for periods of two weeks to several months, to pursue individual projects and contribute to the Academy’s creative life.

The Rome Sustainable Food Project
Envisioned by Alice Waters at the request of the Academy and launched in 2007, the Rome Sustainable Food Project (RSFP) provides the American Academy in Rome with fresh local food for its community of artists and scholars, who gather for lunch and dinner most days. Thereby it also nourishes conviviality and intellectual cross-fertilization among fellowship disciplines. The project aspires to be a model for similar institutions committed to a meaningful and ecologically-sustainable communal dining atmosphere.

The Janiculum
The American Academy in Rome occupies ten buildings and eleven acres of gardens atop the Janiculum, the highest hill within the walls of Rome. The boundaries of the property are marked by several notable monuments. To the west is Porta San Pancrazio, once the Porta Aurelia, which is part of the city wall and was built in 1642-1644 by Pope Urban VIII. To the east is the majestic fountain of the Acqua Paola, built in 1612 by Pope Paul V.

McKim, Mead, and White Building
The Academy building is one of only two structures in the Western hemisphere designed by McKim's design firm, McKim, Mead & White.

The building, constructed in two years, was inspired by Renaissance architecture and has a five-bay façade, a piano nobile (two-story upper floors) and an interior courtyard with a Paul Manship fountain in its center.

Opened in 1914, it contains most of the living and working quarters of the Rome Prize Fellows, the Library, gallery, and administrative offices, and public rooms Academy events.

Villa Aurelia
The Villa Aurelia, originally built for Cardinal Girolamo Farnese around 1650, holds conferences, public receptions, concerts, and other programs and houses the Academy's Residents, Visiting Artists, and Visiting Scholars. The Villa boasts 3.8 acres of magnificent gardens. Through Janus, s.u.r.l, it is made available occasionally for private use.

In the early 19th century, the property was purchased by Count Alessandro Savorelli, who began extensive restoration and new construction projects. Much of the decorative work from that period is still visible today. In 1849, Giuseppe Garibaldi selected the Villa Aurelia as his headquarters for the defense of the Roman Republic against the French Army, and, after only one month, French artillery had caused extensive damage. Count Savorelli was able to restore the Villa before his death, and it was then sold to the Monte di Pieta. Mrs. Clara Jessup Heyland, an American heiress from Philadelphia later bought it in 1881 and in 1909, when Mrs. Heyland died, bequeathed the villa to the American Academy in Rome.

Casa Rustica
Situated in the Academy's Mercedes T. and Sid R. Bass Garden, Casa Rustica was built on the site of a small villa or casino constructed at the end of the 16th century by Cardinal Innocenzo Malvasia.

The Gardens
The American Academy includes several acres of organically-cultivated gardens atop the Janiculum Hill, an area in Rome with a long history of an orchard and garden presence. Part of the Horti Caesaris and Getae, the Janiculum was occupied in the sixteenth century by several Casini in Vigna and in the late nineteenth century by smaller villas and gardens.

Since the adoption of the organic cultivation method, twelve varieties of butterflies have settled on the Academy grounds, and they have become a haven for hedgehogs, robins, herons, blue tits, woodpeckers, lizards, and a variety of bees.

In 1986, the Academy's Board of Trustees launched a campaign to restore the gardens to their original state. In 1990, the Academy began the implementation of the Landscape Master Plan, which continues today.

The Academy's two main garden areas are those around the Villa Aurelia, and the Mercedes T. and Sid R. Bass Garden, set behind the McKim, Mead & White Building and around the Casa Rustica.

Library
Renovated in 2006-2007, the Arthur and Janet C. Ross Library contains over 135,000 volumes in Classical studies and the history of art and architecture.

Especially strong and widely respected are its collections in ancient Mediterranean archaeology and art, Greek and Latin literature, ancient topography including the history of the city of Rome, ancient religions, and related fields such as epigraphy, numismatics and papyrology.

Eminent Scholars and Artists Affiliated with the Academy
Academy support and fellowships have been beacons to generations of young artists and scholars. The roster is a who’s who of America’s finest in their formative years, including:

Architects:
 * Louis Kahn, Resident of the American Academy in Rome, 1951
 * Robert Venturi, Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, 1956
 * Michael Graves, Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, 1960
 * John Russell Pope, Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, 1897

Landscape architects:
 * Edward Lawson, Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, 1920
 * Laurie Olin, Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, 1974
 * Martha Schwartz, Resident of the American Academy in Rome, 1992

Composers:
 * Aaron Copland, Resident of the American Academy in Rome, 1951
 * John Adams, Resident of the American Academy in Rome, 1988
 * Laurie Anderson, Resident of the American Academy in Rome, 2006
 * Goffredo Petrassi, Resident of the American Academy in Rome, 1956

Writers:
 * Ralph Ellison, Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, 1957
 * William Styron, Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, 1953
 * Francine Prose, Resident of the American Academy in Rome, 2006

Artists:
 * Frank Stella, Resident of the American Academy in Rome, 1983
 * Philip Guston, Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, 1949
 * Jenny Holzer, Resident of the American Academy in Rome, 2004
 * Paul Manship, Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, 1912

Classicists:
 * Lily Ross Taylor, Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, 1917
 * Richmond Lattimore, Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, 1935
 * Michael C.J. Putnam, Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, 1964; Resident of the American Academy in Rome, 1970

Medievalists:
 * Peter Brown,
 * Brian Stock, Resident of the American Academy in Rome, 2007

Scholars of Renaissance and early modern Europe:
 * James Hankins, Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, 1982
 * Anthony Grafton, American Academy in Rome Visitor, 1990-91