Print Page

Italian



Minor

Five courses beyond the 100-level:
231
232
301
305 or 306
Topics course: 321, 322, 323 or 324

Note: Students receiving credit for the Italian studies major may not receive credit for the Italian minor. See Italian Studies.

Independent Study and Research

Students interested in Independent Study or Independent Research in Italian should consult with the faculty member with whom they hope to work. In the past, students have researched the following topics: Rome in the Italian Renaissance; Italian Courts and Courtesans in the Renaissance; Futurism in Italy and Russia; Italian Theatre from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment; Italian Cinema; Italian Facism and Modernism; Italian Women Writers.

Internships

Internships may be available for interested students. The Department chairperson or the Coordinator in Bologna should be consulted for information. In Bologna, students are currently doing internships in Research and Analysis at the Feminist Bookstore in Bologna, and many other sites.

Summer Immersion Program in Italy

The Department will periodically offer to students an immersion program in Italy during the summer. This program is of special interest to those who cannot go abroad during the academic year.

Courses

  • *101, 104 Elementary Italian
    Intensive study of the fundamentals of Italian grammar, with a view to developing reading, writing, speaking, and understanding skills. Laboratory and other audiovisual techniques are used. Cultural elements are stressed as a context for the assimilation of the language.

  • 116 Intermediate Italian
    Intensive introduction to conversation and composition, with special attention to grammar review and refinement. Essays, fiction and theater, as well as Italian television and films, provide opportunities to improve familiarity with contemporary Italian language and civilization.
    Prerequisite: 104 or the equivalent.

  • 231 Reading and Writing Contemporary Italian Culture
    Designed to increase student's awareness of various rhetorical conventions and command of written Italian through analysis and imitation of model texts of a literary and non-literary nature.
    Two and a half hours classroom and one hour laboratory per week. Prerequisite: 116 or the equivalent. This course fulfills the WR graduation requirement.

  • 232 Reading and Performing Italian Texts
    Designed to increase student's comprehension and command of spoken Italian, this course is also an initiation in everyday verbal transactions and cultural communication prevalent in contemporary Italy. Phonetics, oral comprehension, and verbal production are practiced through exposure to authentic documents usually of a non-literary nature, such as television news programs, documentaries, commercial advertisements, and excerpts from films.
    Two and a half hours classroom and one hour laboratory per week. Prerequisite: 116 or the equivalent.

  • 301 The Discourse of Love
    What is Love? Through a diverse selection of works from authors such as St. Francis, Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Lorenzo de'Medici, Pietro Aretino, Gaspara Stampa, and Veronica Franco, students will examine the nature of love from a variety of perspectives. From the spirituality of religion to the physicality of desire and attraction, this course will confront topics such as the medieval and Renaissance ideas of love (courtly love, the Dolce Stil Novo, and love sickness), theological notions of love (charity), different expressions of love (heterosexuality, same-sex attraction and polyamory), and transgressive types of love (lust, adultery, and prostitution).
    This course is taught in Italian. Prerequisites: 231 and 232, or permission of the instructor. This course fulfills the DIV I. b. distribution requirement. Offered every year.

  • 305 Ideas of Italy
    In this course we study how Italian political thinkers, writers and intellectuals in different historical periods have constructed their own "idea" of Italy. We will analyze authors such as Niccolò Machiavelli, the forefather of modern political science, and Antonio Gramsci, an Italian philosopher and founder of the largest communist party in Western Europe. We also examine the role that film and literature played in the formation of a national consciousness, through selected readings by authors and directors such as Alessandro Manzoni, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Oriana Fallaci, Luchino Visconti and others.
    This course is taught in Italian. Prerequisites: 231 and 232, or permission of the instructor. This course fulfills the DIV I. b. distribution requirement. Offered every two years.

  • 306 Real and Imaginary Journeys
    By exploring the inner conflicts of their own soul and venturing beyond the boundaries of their native culture, Italian authors from Dante and Petrarch to Italo Calvino and Federico Fellini have opened new paths that often influenced the development of Western art and literature and touched the lives of countless readers and viewers around the world. In this course, we use the theme of the journey to analyze the work of some of the most influential Italian authors and trace their cultural legacy.
    This course is taught in Italian. Prerequisites: 231 and 232, or permission of the instructor. This course fulfills the DIV I. b. distribution requirement. Offered every two years.

  • 321 Topics in Medieval and Early Modern Studies
    In this course, students will study significant themes and values that inform Italian literature and culture of the Medieval and Early Modern periods. This course draws on a wide selection of sources including history, sociology, psychology, and popular culture. Topics may include: Petrarch and Petrarchism; Boccaccio and the Art of Story Telling, Niccolò Machiavelli and others. This course is offered in English. Italian Studies majors, Italian minors and INBM majors using this course to satisfy major/minor requirements will attend a discussion group in Italian and will write their papers in Italian. Upon successful completion of the work in Italian, students will receive a "FLIC: Italian" notation on their transcript.
    Prerequisites: 231 if taken as Italian FLIC; none, if taking the English only portion. This course fulfills the DIV I. b. distribution requirement. Offered on an as-needed basis.

  • 322 Dante's "Divine Comedy"
    This topics course is on Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Although a special focus will be placed on the Inferno, which will be read in its entirety, various cantos from Purgatorio and Paradiso will also be studied. Aiding the students along their journey through Hell and beyond will be critical readings that consider the historical, social, cultural and literary context of the period. The poem will be read in English translation. Italian Studies majors, Italian minors and INBM majors using this course to satisfy major/minor requirements will attend a discussion group in Italian and will write their papers in Italian. Upon successful completion of the work in Italian, students will receive a "FLIC: Italian" notation on their transcript.
    Prerequisites: 231 if taken as Italian FLIC; none, if taking the English only portion. This course fulfills the DIV I. b. distribution requirement. Offered every two years.

  • 323 Topics in Modern and Contemporary Italian Studies
    Study of significant themes and values that inform Italian culture and are informed by it. This course draws on a wide selection of sources including history, sociology, psychology, popular culture. Students in this course will concentrate on specific cultural, social or political issues, such as "Representations of the Holocaust and/or Terrorism in Italian Cinema;" "The Italian Southern Question;" "The Making and Unmaking of Italy," and others. This course is offered in English. Italian Studies majors, Italian minors and INBM majors using this course to satisfy major/minor requirements will attend a discussion group in Italian and will write their papers in Italian. Upon successful completion of the work in Italian, students will receive a "FLIC: Italian" notation on their transcript.
    Prerequisites: 231 if taken as Italian FLIC; none, if taking the English only portion. This course fulfills the DIV I. b. distribution requirement. Offered on an as-needed basis.

  • 324 Italian Cinema
    This course is a general introduction to Italian cinema, from the origins to the present. It provides students with basic tools for film analysis and analyzes a selection of films and directors within their cultural and social contexts. This course is offered in English. Italian Studies majors, Italian minors and INBM majors using this course to satisfy major/minor requirements will attend a discussion group in Italian and will write their papers in Italian. Upon successful completion of the work in Italian, students will receive a "FLIC: Italian" notation on their transcript.
    Prerequisites: 231 if taken as Italian FLIC; none, if taking the English only portion. This course fulfills the DIV I. b. distribution requirement. Offered on an as-needed basis. This course is cross-listed as FLST 310.

  • 400 Senior Seminar
    Conceived as an integrative experience, this tutorial provides an opportunity for students to examine a specific theme or author from various perspectives. Independent research, under close supervision of a professor, will be shared with other seniors in regular discussion group meetings and will be articulated in a substantial critical paper at the end of the semester.
    Prerequisite: Italian studies major or permission of the director of the Italian studies program.