In the northwest corner of Italy, 30 minutes from France and one hour away from Switzerland, lies a beautiful town, named after Augustus Caesar, called Valle d’ Aosta.

Valle d’ Aosta is in the shadows of the tallest mountain in Europe, Monte Blanco, and it is where the City of Valdosta, got its name.

Dr. Deb Marciano, Valdosta State University associate professor of reading and early childhood education, grew up in an Italian family where a few of her relatives spoke Italian, so she was introduced to the Italian language and culture at an early age.

About a year and a half ago, Marciano joined an Italian club where members meet and discuss everything Italy. This is where she got the idea to travel to Valle d’ Aosta, a city that has been occupied for 9,000 years, once by the Romans.

“Valdosta, Ga., was named after this valley. Gov. Troup traveled to this valley and named his estate in Georgia after this valley because it was so beautiful,” Marciano said.

There are a lot of similarities between Valdosta and Valle d’ Aosta.

“Both are about the same size. They also have gone through population decreases and they’re trying to reinvent themselves, too. We both have strong ties to agriculture,” Marciano said.

Every Saturday, Valle d’ Aosta has a similar downtown event to Valdosta’s Downtown Farm Days; both of these are to help local farmers sell their produce to their communities.

“Furthermore, both of us grow grapes for wine, both have a tourism industry because we’re off the beaten path, and both have unique landscapes,” she said. “Valle d’ Aosta is an Alpine valley and Valdosta, Ga., is a part of the southern coastal plains.”

One more connection, albeit a small one, is their colors are red and black, and Valdosta State University’s colors are red and black.

Before Marciano left, she went to Valdosta Mayor John Gayle’s office and spoke to staff about her plans to travel to Valdosta’s sister city. Gayle gave her a City of Valdosta lapel pin and a gold medallion as a gift from Valdosta. She also went to Valdosta State University and bought gifts from the VSU bookstore. “I looked for anything with Valdosta on it,” Marciano said.

Upon arrival to Valle d’ Aosta, Marciano and her husband, Ray Noll, met with Mayor Bruno Giordano to give him the gifts. In return, Giordano sent Mayor Gayle the medallion of Valle d’ Aosta, and wrote him a thank you letter for the Valdosta medallion.

Marciano traveled to Valle d’ Aosta hoping to establish a three- to four-week travel-abroad program for VSU’s College of Education and Human Services. The potential host cities in Italy will be Florence, Siena, Perugia, or Rome. If approved, Marciano will make sure that the students stop in Valle d’ Aosta.

If permitted, this will be the second study-abroad program Marciano has created; the first was with Penn State in 2005. That program is still going.

For this program, she wants to focus on Italian culture, children, and cuisine. She chose Italy because it has revolutionized education in two ways, by creating the Montessori school system and by creating the Reggio Emilia approach to education, Marciano said.

“The first year will be a pilot program where I take 10 students,” Marciano said. “They would be rising senior education majors. So, they would have had two in-field experiences during the two previous semesters, so when we go into schools to do observations they’ll know what they’re looking for.”

Marciano hopes to travel to Valdosta’s sister city in 2015 and she would like the community to be aware of the potential study-abroad program.