It¡¯s the end of a wait that has lasted more than half a century.

Florida State University started a study-abroad programme in Florence in 1966, and within six weeks of its launch the city was hit by the worst flood in its history.

¡°A wall of water, at some points 15 to 20 feet high, rushed into the museums and the churches,¡± explained Frank Nero, director of FSU¡¯s international programmes in Italy. FSU students ¨C left with no running water or toilet facilities ¨C nonetheless voted to stay and help with the recovery effort, helping to extract priceless manuscripts and local families alike from the mud.

Since then, ¡°we¡¯ve been looking for a permanent home for our school for 53 years¡±, he said.

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This search is finally at an end: in November, FSU that it had become the latest US university to purchase a Renaissance palace to house and teach its study-abroad students.

Mock-ups of FSU¡¯s planned renovation show people studying under vaulted ceilings amid classical columns and Graeco-Roman statues. With 3,400?square metres of space, the three-storey Palazzo Bagnesi Falconeri, two blocks from the city¡¯s Uffizi Gallery, should help to meet pent-up student demand for a stint in Tuscany, said Mr Nero. The first rooms should be usable from June.

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With the purchase, FSU has joined an exclusive ¨C?but growing ¨C club of US universities that have purchased palatial properties in the birthplace of the Renaissance.

Bagging?a slice of history ¨C which has been abandoned for more than a decade ¨C in a tourist-thronged city thirsty for new hotels was a ¡°miracle¡±, said Lucia Cossari, the associate director. She led the search for the site, navigating bureaucratic hurdles that would have overwhelmed a non-Italian, Mr Nero said.

¡°When I want something, I?find something,¡± Ms Cossari told Times Higher Education. ¡°When I?saw it, to be honest with you, I?immediately said: I?want it. It had to be the one.¡±

Mr Nero declined to reveal the palace¡¯s price tag as not all details of the deal have been tidied up.

The cost will double when renovations to restore ¡°16th-century authenticity¡± are taken into account, he said. ¡°It¡¯s a big investment,¡± acknowledged Mr Nero, although he argued that it made financial sense to buy rather than to continue renting.

The upside of a palatial campus, Mr Nero and Ms Cossari believe, is an unparalleled experience for students. ¡°Every step they take [in the new building] reminds them of why they are here: the Florentine Renaissance,¡± said Mr Nero.

With two-thirds of FSU¡¯s study-abroad students in Florence only 18 years old ¨C and many of them away from home for the first time ¨C a location in the city¡¯s historic core was crucial, he insisted.

¡°If they didn¡¯t have the city at their fingertips as soon as they walked out the front door, I?think the transition, and the ability to get better integrated, would be seriously hampered. It¡¯s so easy to stay in your room, watch Netflix, stay with your American friends,¡± Mr Nero argued.

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Students can have the first part of their lesson in the lecture hall ¡°and five minutes later, you¡¯re at the Uffizi and looking at the very works of art, face to face, that you just learned [about] 20 minutes ago in the classroom¡±, he said.

For parents who have a?voice in where their child studies, ¡°they will definitely choose places like Tuscany because they come to visit¡±, added Ms Cossari.

And the price of palazzo-based study? It costs $13,995 (?10,700) for a starting next autumn.

FSU¡¯s move into the palatial property market follows on the heels of Kent State University, which in 2016 expanded its Florentine operation into the Palazzo Vettori, a 4,000 square metre building dating back to the mid-15th century that was once owned by the Medicis.

That site, too, required renovations ¨C the work was so extensive ¡°that it made my hair whiter¡±, said Fabrizio Ricciardelli, director of Kent State¡¯s Florence Center.

Since 2012, the number of Kent State students wanting to spend part of their degree in Florence has exploded, he explained; the university now hosts about 900. Once the preserve of ¡°gentlemen or women¡± with a penchant for art history in the 1950s and 1960s, a spell in Florence now attracts students of numerous disciplines, he added.

¡°The demand for study abroad is growing in the US because all students need to have an experience abroad,¡± Dr Ricciardelli said.

Other members of this propertied club include Syracuse University, which owns a villa built by an Italian nobleman in the 19th century, and New York University, which in 1994 was bequeathed 37?acres of gardens, five villas and a collection of antiques by a British-Italian aesthete, Sir Harold Acton.

For now, Italy remains second to the UK in terms of hosting North American study-abroad students, according to Dr Ricciardelli.

But, he added, ¡°I¡¯m sure Brexit will help us a?lot¡±, as the UK¡¯s exit from the European Union makes travel around the continent harder for visiting students.

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david.matthews@timeshighereducation.com