In January 2024, Professor of Art Véronique Plesch led a group of 20 Colby-connected people to Sicily for a type of “Alumni Jan Plan.”  Titled “Sicily, Crossroads of Cultures: Art, Architecture & Cuisine,” the 13-day trip “entailed a near-circumnavigation of the island of Sicily to explore its many treasures and extraordinary range of cultures,” according to Bruce Drouin ’74, who instigated the trip.  Plesch lined up an itinerary with sites (a staggering number of which are on the UNESCO World Heritage List) that retraced the many cultures and artistic styles that left their mark on the island: Phoenician, ancient Greek and Roman, Jewish, Byzantine, Muslim, Norman, Gothic, Romanesque, Mannerist, and Baroque—all the way to 20th- and 21st-century contemporary art. Plesch also took the group to a winery,  an artisanal chocolate maker, and a hillside olive oil maker.