2021-2022 Italian Courses

Summer 2021 Classes

Italian 1: Introduction to Italian I at D (Alberti and Convertini): An introduction to Italian as a spoken and written language. The work includes regular practice in class and scheduled drill-sessions in understanding and using the spoken language. Written exercises and elementary reading materials serve for vocabulary building and discussion. Never serves in partial satisfaction of the Distributive or World Culture Requirements

FRIT 37.04: European Fairy Tales at J (Canepa): In this course we will study the evolution of the forms and contents of the rich European fairy-tale tradition, from the Renaissance to our times. Along the way we will address questions concerning canon formation; the role of "marvelous" genres such as the fairy tale in socialization and the expression of national identity; the relation between oral folk narratives and written literary tales; and the reworking of fairy-tale subjects and motifs in contemporary culture. We will also acquaint ourselves with a variety of critical approaches to the fairy tale, and create tales of our own in a special storytelling workshop.

2021-2022

FALL 2021 ITALIAN COURSES

ITAL 1: Introduction to Italian I (3 sections) at 8L, 10 and 11 (Alberti and Gilebbi): An introduction to Italian as a spoken and written language. The work includes regular practice in class and scheduled drill-sessions in understanding and using the spoken language. Written exercises and elementary reading materials serve for vocabulary building and discussion. Never serves in partial satisfaction of the Distributive or World Culture Requirements

ITAL 2: Introduction to Italian II at 12 (Benvegnù): Rapid review and continued study of the fundamentals of Italian, with intensive work in vocabulary building. The course will also include an introduction to the culture and civilization of Italy. Open to students by qualifying placement or to students who have passed ITAL 1. Never serves in partial satisfaction of the Distributive or World Culture Requirements.

ITAL 3: Intermediate Italian at 11 (Benvegnù): Given on-campus as the final course in the required sequence and off-campus as part of the L.S.A. curriculum, this course is designed to develop reading, writing, and speaking skills, with emphasis on expansion of vocabulary and reinforcement of grammatical structures. Some discussion of texts and films of literary or cultural interest. Frequent oral and written assignments and tests, both on-campus and off, plus daily drills off-campus. Open to students by qualifying test or to students who have passed Italian 2. Never serves in partial satisfaction of the Distributive or World Culture Requirements.

ITAL 11: Intensive Italian at 11 (Alberti) : This 1-credit course is designed for students who have studied Italian for one to three years in high school, or those who have been exposed to Italian through family ties or have spent some time in an Italian-speaking environment. It is also suitable for students with little or no knowledge of the Italian language, but who have a strong background in another Romance language (i.e. Spanish, French,  Romanian, Portuguese, Catalan, and also Latin).  Italian 11 is an accelerated course that combines Italian 1 and 2 in one term, offering an exciting and fast-paced atmosphere in which to learn Italian. The course will have a web-based component, which, through cultural, grammar and multimedia learning activities, will complement face-to-face work and prepare students for in-class work. Students will learn to talk about familiar events in the present and the past, as well as formulate plans for the future. Weekly cultural videos will situate in context the grammatical content of the course, making it relevant and meaningful. Students will be actively engaged in a variety of creative written and oral activities that will help them develop their language skills. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to sign up for Italian 3 or apply for our Italian LSAs in Rome. With the goal of facilitating the acquisition of the target language, this course will be conducted entirely in Italian. 

ITAL 9: Italian Culture at 12 (Gilebbi): Italian 9 expands on the skills acquired in the Italian language sequence (Italian 1, 2, 3, and/or the LSA) as well as offering a transition to Italian 10 and our upper-division literature and culture courses. This course introduces students to modern and contemporary Italian literature, culture and society through a focus on topics such as evolving political and regional identities, gender relations, the role of the media, and the culture of daily life. Students expand their active use of Italian, refine communicative, reading, and writing strategies, and comprehensively review grammar. Course work includes active participation in class discussions, oral presentations, and regular reading and writing assignments in the areas of narrative and poetry, cinema, music, and journalism. Instructors usually choose one or several "anchor" texts around which coursework revolves.

ITAL 14: Intro to Italian Culture at 2A (Convertini): This course introduces students to Italian culture through a representative selection of texts and topics from past to present, as well as encouraging students to think critically about notions of culture and identity. Topics include stereotypes and the idea of national identity, modern history, society and politics, food culture, the visual arts, music, cinema, religion, science and technology, the environment, Made in Italy, immigration, sports, and mafia. In many units, guest lecturers will widen the discussion by considering the global impact of Italian cultural production across time and space. Students will actively engage with Italian phenomena through in-class lectures and discussions, hands-on exercises, and site visits.

ITAL 26 at 10 (Parati): Conducted in Italian, this course introduces students to classic Italian cinema, including its history and its predominant genres-from the silent film to comedy and melodrama and thriller. Students will become familiar with Italian cinematic movements such as Neorealism, directors such as Federico Fellini and Roberto Benigni, as well as with important concepts in film analysis. Not open to students who have received credit for ITAL 15.

ITAL 37.11: From Dagos to Sopranos: Italian American Film @ 2 (Parati): This course considers the role of culture and identity, migration, evolution of language, gender, race, and class issues, and studies the diverse cultural and artistic productions (literary, cinematic, musical, multi-media) that exemplify the tensions and negotiations between cultures and people.  **This course is also cross-listed as COLT 57.02: Italian American Film**

ITAL 85: Independent Reading and Research Students may arrange a program of study and research with individual faculty members. Open only to Italian, Italian Studies, and Romance Language Majors. A proposal, signed by the faculty advisor, must be submitted to the Departmental Committee on Independent Studies and Honors Theses for approval by the fifth day of classes of the term. 

ITAL 88: Senior Independent Reading and Research A program of individual study directed by a member of the staff. Open only to senior Italian, Italian Studies, and Romance Language (whose primary language is Italian) Majors. A proposal, signed by the faculty advisor, must be submitted to the Departmental Committee on Independent Studies and Honors Theses for approval by the fifth day of classes of the term.

Ital 89: Honors Seminar Honors students will arrange a program of study and research during any term of the senior year on a tutorial basis with individual faculty members. A thesis, written in Italian, and a public presentation are the normal culmination of this course. A proposal, signed by the faculty advisor, must be submitted to the Departmental Committee on Independent Studies and Honors Theses for approval by the fifth day of classes of the term.

Rome LSA/LSA+: Callegari

WINTER 2022 ITALIAN COURSES

ITAL 1: Introductory Italian I at 10 and 11(Gilebbi and Callegari)
ITAL 2: Introductory Italian II at 10 and 11(Alberti and Gilebbi) 
ITAL 3: Introductory Italian III at 12 (Benvegnù)

ITAL 10: Introduction to Italian Literature

  • ITAL 10.21: Eat, Pray, Love: Modes of Desire in Italian Literature at 12 (Alberti).  An introduction to Italian literature, especially short prose fiction and poetry. In this course, we will study the ways in which desire drives narrative plot; contributes to the creation of meaning; and challenges traditional constructions of politics, identity, community, gender and sexuality. Attention will be given to building a vocabulary and critical toolset for interpreting and writing about literary texts from Middle Ages to the contemporary period. Dist:LIT; WCult:W. Prerequisite: Italian 9.

ITAL 33 : Topics in Literature and Culture

  • ITAL 33:01: Into and Beyond Dante's Inferno @ 2A(Callegari): An austere ancient authority, a smitten teenage lover, a prophet, an embezzler, a national icon, an unapologetic heretic, a mercenary, and the only truly great poet to have ever lived: Dante has been called many things in the 700 hundred years since he began writing, and he continues to attract the interest of a wildly diverse group of readers. In his medieval masterpiece, the Divine Comedy, Dante irreversibly transformed literary language and perhaps even the way we perceive the universe. Our course will focus on the Inferno, before considering echoes of Dante beyond his time. Our goal will be to bring Dante's vision of Hell to life, reconstructing the terrifying landscape and interpreting the complex poetry of a text that continues to resonate with modern audiences as intensely as it did with its medieval public. Our class meetings will be flexible, to allow the participation of a wide group of students, and dynamic, inviting many outside speakers and using a variety of media to engage with Dante.  

ITAL 85: Independent Reading and Research Students may arrange a program of study and research with individual faculty members. Open only to Italian, Italian Studies, and Romance Language Majors. A proposal, signed by the faculty advisor, must be submitted to the Departmental Committee on Independent Studies and Honors Theses for approval by the fifth day of classes of the term. 

ITAL 88: Senior Independent Reading and Research A program of individual study directed by a member of the staff. Open only to senior Italian, Italian Studies, and Romance Language (whose primary language is Italian) Majors. A proposal, signed by the faculty advisor, must be submitted to the Departmental Committee on Independent Studies and Honors Theses for approval by the fifth day of classes of the term.

Ital 89: Honors Seminar Honors students will arrange a program of study and research during any term of the senior year on a tutorial basis with individual faculty members. A thesis, written in Italian, and a public presentation are the normal culmination of this course. A proposal, signed by the faculty advisor, must be submitted to the Departmental Committee on Independent Studies and Honors Theses for approval by the fifth day of classes of the term.

Rome LSA+ : Parati

SPRING 2022 ITALIAN COURSES

ITAL 1:Introductory Italian I at 10 (Zoller)

ITAL 2: Introductory Italian II (2 Sections) at 11 & 12 (Gilebbi & Benvegnù)

ITAL 3: Introductory Italian III at 10 (Alberti)

ITAL 11: Intensive Italian at 11(Alberti):  This 1-credit course is designed for students with little or no knowledge of the Italian language, but who have a strong background in another Romance language (i.e. Spanish, French, Romanian, Portuguese, Catalan, and also Latin).  Italian 11 is an accelerated course that combines Italian 1 and 2 in one term offering an exciting and fast-paced atmosphere to learn Italian. The course will have a web-based component, which, through cultural, grammar and multimedia learning activities, will complement face-to-face work and prepare students for their in-class work. In this course, students will learn to talk about familiar events in the present and the past, as well as formulate plans for the future. Weekly cultural videos will situate in context the grammatical content of the course making it relevant and meaningful. Students will be actively engaged in a variety of creative written and oral activities that will help them develop their language skills. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to sign up for Italian 3 or apply for our Italian LSA in Rome. With the goal to facilitate the acquisition of the target language, this course will be conducted entirely in Italian.  Prerequisite: One year or equivalent of university level instruction in a Romance Language or Latin; or three high school years of instruction in a Romance Language or Latin; or native speaking proficiency in a Romance Language; or permission of instructor.

ITAL 7: First Year Seminar: What is (Italian) Cinema? at 12 (Gilebbi). Cinema is a form of expression that, by integrating different media and disciplines (including writing, music, dance, theater, architecture, fashion, etc.) creates something that is beyond the sum of its parts. But how does cinema integrate all these other media into something new? What are the specific tools needed to read, understand, and critically analyze this multifaceted form of expression, and how can we use them effectively? In this course we will tackle these questions through an exploration of Italian cinema, watching and analyzing five Italian films to explore what cinema tout court is and does. Finally, watching a film with a critical eye, like doing any critical reading, is a social interaction. For this reason, this course is organized as a student-led seminar and all writings rely on peer-reviews.

ITAL 9: Italian Culture at 11 (Wyatt). Italian 9 expands on the skills acquired in the Italian language sequence (Italian 1, 2, 3, and/or the LSA) as well as offering a transition to Italian 10 and our upper-division literature and culture courses. This course introduces students to modern and contemporary Italian literature, culture and society through a focus on topics such as evolving political and regional identities, gender relations, the role of the media, and the culture of daily life. Students expand their active use of Italian, refine communicative, reading, and writing strategies, and comprehensively review grammar. Course work includes active participation in class discussions, oral presentations, and regular reading and writing assignments. Dist:LIT; WCult:W. Prerequisite: Italian 3.

ITAL 23: Marvelous Worlds [17th and 18th Century Italian Culture and Literature] at 12 (Canepa): This course explores the rich innovations that marked Italian literature and the arts over the course of the seventeenth century, the period of crisis and change that goes by the name of "Baroque." In particular, we will explore the attraction to the marvelous, the spectacular, the irregular, the new, the unexplored, and the marginal, in a wide spectrum of genres: fairy tales; lyric poetry; women's writing; the commedia dell'arte, or improvised comedy; travel accounts; opera; visual arts; and more!  We will also use the resources of Rauner Special Collections library and the Hood Museum, and host a workshop with the commedia dell'arte theatre troupe Pazzi Lazzi. Dist:LIT; WCult:W. Prerequisite: Italian 10.

ITAL 37.10: Mafias at 10 (Canepa): What is "mafia"? Organized crime, global big business, shadow state, deeply entrenched mentalities, glamorized myth, all of the above? This course focusses on Italian mafias (primarily the Sicilian Cosa Nostra) and, to a lesser degree, other Italian and Italian-American mafias. We will examine the conditions in which mafias emerged; those that make it possible for mafias to continue to thrive today; the social "codes" of the mafias, such as honor, omertà, and vendetta; and the forms that mafias take in the collective cultural imagination, in particular as they have been translated and represented in fiction and film on both sides of the Atlantic. In the process, we will explore Italian history and contemporary society and discuss topics such as the uses and abuses of power and the attraction of outlaw cultures. 

**This course is not open to students who have received credit for ITAL 07.07.**

ITAL 85: Independent Reading and Research Students may arrange a program of study and research with individual faculty members. Open only to Italian, Italian Studies, and Romance Language Majors. A proposal, signed by the faculty advisor, must be submitted to the Departmental Committee on Independent Studies and Honors Theses for approval by the fifth day of classes of the term. 

ITAL 88: Senior Independent Reading and Research A program of individual study directed by a member of the staff. Open only to senior Italian, Italian Studies, and Romance Language (whose primary language is Italian) Majors. A proposal, signed by the faculty advisor, must be submitted to the Departmental Committee on Independent Studies and Honors Theses for approval by the fifth day of classes of the term.

Ital 89: Honors Seminar Honors students will arrange a program of study and research during any term of the senior year on a tutorial basis with individual faculty members. A thesis, written in Italian, and a public presentation are the normal culmination of this course. A proposal, signed by the faculty advisor, must be submitted to the Departmental Committee on Independent Studies and Honors Theses for approval by the fifth day of classes of the term.

Rome LSA/LSA+ : Convertini