All courses satisfy distribution requirements unless otherwise indicated.
Courses are normally conducted in Italian. Courses offered in translation are listed at the end of the Italian course descriptions.
Students contemplating a junior year in Italy should elect an Italian course in the first semester of their first year.
ITAL-101 Elementary Italian I
This course emphasizes understanding, speaking, and writing in a contemporary context. It also promotes creativity with presentations and original group projects. It includes Web activities, films, short stories, and frequent conversation sessions with language assistants.
ITAL-102 Elementary Italian II
This course emphasizes understanding, speaking, and writing in a contemporary context. It also promotes creativity with presentations and original group projects. It includes Web activities, films, short stories, and frequent conversation sessions with language assistants.
ITAL-112 Bridge to Italian 201 Part 1
This course is particularly designed to create a new path for students who are taking (or have taken) Italian 101 and wish to have the necessary preparation to take Intermediate Italian (Italian 201) the following fall semester. They will be provided with the skills necessary to: understand, speak, and write Italian at the advanced beginner level, learn about contemporary Italian society, and develop the competence, interest and enthusiasm for the language that will inspire them to proceed to more advanced levels.
ITAL-113 Bridge to Italian 201 Part 2
This course is particularly designed to create a new path for students who have taken Italian 112 only. They will be provided with the skills necessary to: understand, speak, and write Italian at the advanced beginner level, learn about contemporary Italian society, and develop the competence, interest and enthusiasm for the language that will inspire them to proceed to more advanced levels.
ITAL-201 Intermediate Italian
After reviewing essential grammar and vocabulary, Intermediate Italian will expose students to new and more complex lexicon and communicative grammatical structures. Through authentic materials (videoclips, music, newspaper articles, websites etc.), the course emphasizes reading, writing, listening, and speaking. A realistic picture of modern Italy replaces stereotypical images of Italy with contemporary representation. Class time emphasizes group conversations and builds accurate use of the language in an interactive and dynamic way. Projects will give a solid foundation that provide opportunities for cultivating interests and help prepare students for more advanced study of Italian.
ITAL-209 Conversation and Composition
Offers practice of colloquial and idiomatic speech patterns in Italian to emphasize correct pronunciation and intonation. Includes oral presentations as well as frequent compositions, from short reports to full-length essays. Uses newspapers, magazines, and literary texts to discuss issues and lifestyles concerning Italian society.
ITAL-213 Italian Excellence: Science, Arts, Design
This course focuses on Italian excellence in the sciences, arts, and culture, with particular attention to fashion, design, the food industry, sustainability, the visual arts, and architecture. This course is multidisciplinary; students will be able to practice Italian while exploring connections between Italian culture and other disciplines. The course is student-centered, includes a digital project, and is taught using a wide variety of materials: articles, short stories, videos, documentaries, and social media. Designed primarily for the students who live on the Italian floor, the course aims to foster a sense of community and to expand students' perspectives and intellectual curiosity, whether they plan to study abroad or not.
ITAL-221 Introduction to Italian Culture and Literature I
ITAL-221LC Introduction to Italian Culture and Literature I: 'children Stories: 'Italian Children Culture: Italian Literature for Children 1800-Today'
This course explores the development of Italian identity through books and stories aimed at children in the 1800s, 1900s, and today. From Collodi's Pinocchio, to Rodari's theory of story-telling, we will examine gender roles and narratives, racism, colonialism, and the influence of television, cinema, and social media.
ITAL-221LT Introduction to Italian Culture and Literature I: 'Intro to Literary Culture' 1800-Today'
This course surveys the evolution of Italian literary culture from its origins to modern times. Short readings, class discussions, written work, and movie screenings are aimed at developing skills in oral expression and expository writing in Italian.
ITAL-222 Introduction to Italian Culture and Literature II
ITAL-222MB Introduction to Italian Culture and Literature II: "Mystery Boutique: The Modern Short Story in Italy'
Writing short stories is a challenging art. Starting with Boccaccio, Italian authors are considered masters of the novella. This course will explore the universe of the short story in modern Italy, from realism to mystery, from love to rebellion, from the hardships of child labour to the fantastic. Readings will include DeAmicis, Capuana, Verga, Neera, Marchesa Colombi, Serao, Pirandello, Ginzburg, Buzzati, Pavese, Landolfi, Calvino, and Scego.
ITAL-242 Sicily: Crossroads of the Mediterranean
Its long history as the locus of collisions among cultures -- Greek, Roman, Arab, Norman, Spanish, and (northern) Italian -- has earned Sicily a special place in Mediterranean studies. One product of these clashes is that for millennia Sicilians have confronted questions of identity. More recently, because of immigration waves from North Africa, Sicily is once again at the center of the Mediterranean cultural debate. This course will cover almost three thousand years of Sicilian life, as we explore the role of material culture and literature in shaping Sicilian identities. Readings (with related films) may include selections from such authors as Virgil, and Ovid; Ibn Hawkal and Al-Idrisi; Lampedusa, Pirandello, Giordana, and Maraini.
ITAL-295 Independent Study
ITAL-306 All in the Family: Italian Families
What is a family? Starting with Ancient Rome, familial ties have always played a strong role in Italian society. This course examines the concept of family through the centuries and through cultural, literary and historical changes. We will explore this idea from the ancient Roman family, to the Fascist family, to the modern and post-modern family, together with representations of Italian families in art, television, cinema, and advertisement.
ITAL-311 Advanced Topics in Italian
ITAL-361 Seminar in Romance Languages and Cultures
This interdisciplinary seminar will focus on a comparative study of Romance languages or literatures. Topics will vary from semester to semester. Seminar discussions will be conducted in English, but students wishing to obtain language credit are expected to read works in at least one original language. Papers will be written in either English or the Romance language of the student's choice.
ITAL-361AV Seminar in Romance Languages and Cultures: 'About Vanguards and Revolutionary Ideas'
This course addresses cultural relations between Latin America and Romance languages and cultures through the concept of vanguard: the Latin American poetic vanguardias of the early twentieth century and controversies with the Italian and Spanish vanguardias; the influence of the Négritude anti-colonial movement in Latin American decolonial thinking and the political avant-garde movements and guerrillas of the '60s and '70s; the intersections between French surrealism and Latin American magic realism; and the emergence of the Cinema Novo and New/Third Cinema (the vanguard of political cinema in Latin America) in the context of Italian neo-realism and the French nouvelle vague.
ITAL-361LT Seminar in Romance Languages and Cultures: 'Romance Languages Translate'
This seminar explores Romance languages, literatures and cultures through the prism of translation. By comparing translations from Spanish, Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian between each other and into English, we will map out the boundaries, intersections and middle grounds of this language family. Students will engage with the different traditions of translation studies in these languages and critically analyze translators' paratexts. Selecting an individual translation project in a Romance language of their choice, through a process of revision and collaboration, each student will produce both a polished translation and a commentary explaining challenges and choices.
ITAL-361MT Seminar in Romance Languages and Cultures: 'The Mind of the Traveler: Journeys, Expeditions, Tours'
Travel literature has always been a precious source for the study of culture, politics, arts, and last but not least, people. From Tacitus to Marco Polo, from Stendhal to Camilo Jose Cela, we will read and discuss authors who traveled for political, personal, and recreational reasons. We will also pay special attention to tales of emigration and immigration in the third millennium.
ITAL-395 Independent Study
