English

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. Students acquire the fundamental knowledge in history of Medieval art and develop the necessary skills to familiarize themselves with the artistic production of the period. Students analyze some of the main works of the history of Medieval art using specific methodologies and compare these appropriately. The first part of the course focuses on the study of artistic phenomena and their development with particular attention to the mendicant orders (Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustinians). Attention is paid to the material aspects, techniques, form, and function of the works of art (architecture, paintings, frescoes, illuminated books) in relation to the liturgy, architecture, accesses, and pilgrimage routes. The second part of the course focuses on monographic terms of the spatial and decorative restitution of one of the most significant European monuments: the basilica of San Francesco in Assisi.

Current theories of psychiatric and neurological disorders are largely derived from what is known about drugs that can mimic the symptoms or that are used for treating these disorders. Basic knowledge of the effects of drugs and their underlying neurobiological mechanisms will therefore help to understand these theories better. This course facilitates the understanding of therapeutic and side effects of psychoactive drugs. The course presents major classes of CNS drugs and their use in prominent disorders, such as anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia, and presents the mechanisms and effects of a number of recreational drugs such as cocaine, LSD, and ketamine. The course recommends a basic understanding of neuroanatomy and neurotransmission as a prerequisite.

This course offers an in-depth analysis of the multidimensional social challenges that are embedded in the global food systems, utilizing the Sicilian foodways as a case study. Immigration from Africa and the Middle East, recent food quality discourses and fair-trade practices intersect in Sicily, at the center of the Mediterranean, offering a rich landscape of NGOs and businesses that lead the social change towards a more equitable and just system of food production, distribution, and consumption. The course discusses the experiences of the migrant agricultural labor force, seeking to create a better life for themselves far from their homelands; and the course explores the agricultural system into which they find themselves inserted. Combined with an in-depth introduction to the new regimes of food quality that have influenced the emergence of prestigious and innovative food brands and labels in Sicily, students use their new understanding of the trends of the recent past to map the possible developments that Sicilian cuisine may take in the future.

This course examines different philosophies and political theories of how to foster belief and fashion deception in politics, while asking how we might be more ethical and honest in a post-truth context and in the university.

This course explores the psychology of thought including characteristics that make it adaptive and flexible and limitations such as biases, memory, and processing capacity. Topics include: cognitive models of different facets of thinking; normative theories on logical thinking and theories of probability, statistics and economics; the difference between everyday and normative thinking; the influence of evolution on human thought.