Please provide incite based on the following criteria:
For Italian food/feel, you can’t beat Arthur Avenue in the Bronx near Fordham.
For history and charm- College of Charleston
For charming little town - Brunswick ME where Bowdoin is located.
Overall good college towns, Burlington VT - UVM, Ann Arbor MI- UMich, Madison WI - Univ of Wisconsin
I don’t think they have an Italian “feel,” but Italian restaurants are available in these two towns. But many of the other criteria apply.
My personal favorites are Ithaca, NY (Cornell, Ithaca) and Saratoga Springs, NY (Skidmore). Both are charming, bustling towns in rural areas, surrounded by incredible natural beauty, too. If you don’t like rural areas, though, rule them out.
I am voting for Clinton, NY (Hamilton College) as I know its @CrewDad 's favorite!
Because of the old theater close to campus requirement, I’d have to agree with Ann Arbor! There is even someone playing an organ up front, while you wait for the movie to begin. Total blast from the past! http://www.michtheater.org
-Gettysburg PA -not so Italian, though, but charming restaurants, shops theater, Civil War history.
-Williamsburg, VA -(not sure about the theater) charm, shops, British/American history on steroids.
-NOLA -more French than Italian, of course, but a mix of many cultures, oozes funky charm and history.
How about the schools in this list?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_universities_in_Italy
Charlottesville, Virginia. History. Nice shops. Good restaurant scene. Paramount Theatre . Architecture - UVA designed by Jefferson, part of a World Heritage Site.
Boston is an awesome college town
Case Western has Little Italy nearby, and a lot of culture. However definitely has more of a city feel than college town.
Ok- not sure about Italian restaurants or fantastic architecture but check out Davis, CA. Quintessential college town- great little downtown, fantastic (and huge) farmers’ market, low crime, one can bike to Lake Berryessa, Putah creek runs through campus and it’s a pretty affluent town.
Oxford MS
Is Pizza Hut Italian enough?
My two favorite college towns are Athens, Ohio (not Georgia) and Chico, California.
In New England, Smith College in Northampton and Dartmouth; elsewhere, Northern Arizona in Flagstaff and UNC-Asheville, both great towns with lots of great restaurants.
I agree with the above comments about Ann Arbor, Case Western in Cleveland, University of Vermont in Burlington, and William and Mary (weak on Italian food though). Case Western is more city, but is in the heart of the cultural district, with Little Italy about a ten-minute walk from campus.I think Ann Arbor, Burlington, Flagstaff, and Asheville are amazing college towns, and the last three are in really beautiful areas.
Believe it or not I know some professors who’ve taught at the University of Kansas and one of the schools mentioned above. They said Lawrence is a great college town with a lot of ethnic restaurants and a great, high-tech vibe, much more so than the other school/town. I also saw it on some list as the best college town. Maybe the University of Oregon in Eugene too. I’m not an expert on these two though. I’ve been to all the other school/towns at least several times.
@wisteria100 thanks! what are some of the benefits of arthur av? is it safe? is there a big italian population? how many students spend time there?
Not a fan of Eugene, myself.
Cleveland is a college town?
The Bronx is charming?
This article focuses on restaurants and includes some of the colleges mentioned, such as Fordham: http://college.usatoday.com/2015/03/20/the-39-most-iconic-college-town-food-joints-across-north-america/
In terms of a village with charm, Hamilton NY (Colgate) appears as the only college town in a Forbes article, “America’s Friendliest Towns”: https://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2012/12/19/americas-friendliest-towns/#58c618ed61cb. Along these lines, many smaller college towns would be difficult to describe without the word charm.
College "towns’ are mostly an American phenomenon. Not everyone wants to go away to a quaint small town. Here are the top student cities in the world.
https://www.topuniversities.com/city-rankings/2017
Montreal and Boston are tops in North America.
^^^^…and yet, that’s the title of this thread. Not everyone, along with the OP, wants to go away to a large, impersonal city.
When I think of Hamilton, NY I tee up small (yes!), friendly, clean, safe, quiet, hospitable (due to a range of popular amenities), and very accessible to everyone given the proximity and complimentary Cruiser service to/from campus.
It’s been years since the Forbes article above, but nothing has changed. Charming, indeed!
Go ‘gate!