Italian

By the end of the course, the student: knows the processes and techniques related to the creation, writing, production, packaging, and distribution of film and tv products; knows how to place film and tv production within the broader context of the creation of contents for media and cultural industries; is able to contribute autonomously to the creation of an audiovisual product. The course provides comprehensive training on the world of audiovisuals and the main audiovisual production techniques, both in relation to the different media and to the possible destinations of the product. Tools are provided both from a practical point of view, for the creation of crossmedia and transmedia content, and analytical, for the use and understanding of the basic elements of audiovisual language in a transmedia key. In parallel with the more theoretical introduction, with the help of the teacher, ample space is dedicated to the practical dimension of the laboratory. With the request to design some products of a transmedia nature, collectively or individually, which is analyzed with the teacher and constitutes material for the exam. The following topics are addressed during the course: 
• transmedia approach to entertainment
• design and production of transmedia products
• transmedia storytelling
• storyworld
• transmedia architectures
• analysis of particularly significant cases in transmedia production

This is an advanced level photography course for students with prior experience. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. Lessons focus on individual or group design and implementation of a project using casting processes and techniques in the laboratory under the instructor's supervision. Furthermore, the course includes hours and lessons dedicated to ongoing discussion and review of projects throughout the various stages of development, right up until the final exam. This course is offered during the spring semester. 

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. By the end of the course, students will have acquired a solid understanding of key aspects of Italy's cultural heritage, as well as a deeper appreciation of the complexities of its history and society. They are equipped to independently develop advanced knowledge and specialized skills, applying these to the analysis of cultural and institutional phenomena that define Italian culture and society. This course offers an overview of key moments in 20th-century Italian history, aiming to develop both linguistic and intercultural skills through the analysis of texts, guided activities, and group discussions. Topics covered include war, dictatorship, post-war reconstruction, and the profound cultural and social changes of the second half of the century. Special attention is given to comparing Italian historical processes with those experienced in the students’ countries of origin, fostering a broader and shared understanding of the complex dynamics of the 20th century.

The course is divided into five thematic modules, each focusing on a significant historical moment:

1. World War I, exploring how war vocabulary and narrative structures reflect the experience of conflict.
2. Fascism and political language, analyzing the rhetoric and discourse of the regime.
3. World War II and the Resistance, with a focus on the vocabulary of freedom and clandestinity.
4. The birth of the Republic, examining institutional language.
5. The 1968 movements and the feminist revolution, exploring the language of protest and civil rights.

Classes are conducted in Italian and include interactive activities, language exercises, written production, and intercultural exchange. Audiovisual materials are used to stimulate reflection and enrich the historical and linguistic context.

This is an advanced level art studio course for students with prior experience. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. Learn the technique to create bronze sculptures using lost-wax casting, pressure casting, cuttlebone casting, flask casting, centrifugal casting, casting in porcelain-based molds and chemical agglutinates.  

Course contents: Using and knowing tools, materials, and techniques; learning about the following materials: plaster and scagliola, modeling clay, gelatin, synthetic silicone rubbers, waxes, foundry sands, nails or pins, metal rods, irons, burners, etc.; molding techniques: piece molds, gelatin molds, synthetic rubber molds, lost molds, etc.; reproducing wax models, retouching, arranging channels (pouring and vents), creating molds with refractory earth mixtures (core and external shells), firing molds in electric and gas furnaces, etc.; degree of metal fusion, composition, characteristics, and behavior; types of furnaces used for casting: reverberatory, crucible, electric, etc.; different procedures for pouring molten metal (with crucible, with ladle, etc.); analysis of defects and methods for finishing castings: sandblasting, chasing, gilding, patination, etc.; historical and cultural references to past casting processes.  

Lessons involve individual or group design and realization of a project through foundry techniques under the supervision of the instructor. In addition, the course includes hours dedicated to the discussion and review of projects, until the final exam. The exam is an evaluation of the project and of the theoretical knowledge acquired by the student. To pass the exam, students must attend regularly, complete the project, and submit a final report with pictures illustrating the work phases, content, and stylistic choices. 

This is course that runs for the entire year. Part B, offered during the spring semester, is worth 6 quarter units. 

By the end of the course, the student: has an in-depth knowledge of the films, the directors, and the main trends of the history of documentary cinema; has an in-depth knowledge of the creative features of documentaries, as well as of their production and distribution process; and is able to identify and analyze the linguistic and expressive characteristics of documentary cinema. The course investigates the history of documentary cinema from its origins to nowadays, taking into consideration the key moments of its historical development. The course considers the international panorama with some focuses on specific areas where, in given historical moments, new movements, styles, and approaches in making documentaries emerged. The course pays particular attention to the following topics: the origins of cinema; the two fathers of documentaries (Robert Flaherty and Dziga Vertov); the British social documentaries; documentaries and propaganda; the relationship between Italian Neorealism and documentary films; Cine Vérité in France and the Direct Cinema in the United States; activist documentaries; mockumentary; interactive documentary; contemporary Italian documentaries. During the course, a constant comparison between fiction films and documentary films is considered in order to achieve a better understanding of their own specific features and a well-designed definition of documentary cinema. The historical and text analysis are integrated by the investigation of documentary production and circulation. In the final part of the course, a special lecture is devoted to documentary financing in Italy. Mandatory filmography: Nanook of the North (Robert J. Flaherty, 1922); Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929); Comizi d'amore/Love Meetings (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1964); The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez, 1999); Bowling for Columbine (Michael Moore, 2003).

At the end of the course, the student acquires the ability to understand the main classical and contemporary sociological theories and to critically reflect on the fundamental social and cultural mechanisms, identities, and processes. The student acquires the conceptual tools necessary to consider contemporary phenomena of cultural production and consumption. The course focuses on the main concepts to understand classical and contemporary sociological theories and to reflect critically on the socio-historical genesis of contemporary societies and on social mechanisms and social structure with particular reference to the globalized Western world. In particular, the course provides the analytical tools to thematize the genesis of contemporary society from a sociological perspective with particular attention to the classics of the subject and their reflections on modernity and the forms of capitalism; social roles and institutions; social differences and inequalities. Also relevant to this part of the course is a theoretical reflection on sociological styles exemplified by some foundational studies of the subject. The course then considers social interaction more closely in the framework of the debate between structure and action and focuses on the construction of identity and social differences, with particular attention to gender identities. Finally, some of the most important social issues in contemporary societies are considered, with particular attention to the sphere of culture, cultural production, and consumption.

At the end of the course, the student has acquired knowledge of the romance languages and literatures of the Middle Ages and their formation, with particular regard to French and Occitan. The student acquires the skills for adopting the instruments of textual criticism, in order to be aware of the transformations of texts and languages through the centuries. The course content is divided into 3 parts:

I. Linguistics: From Latin to the Romance languages (phonetics, morphosyntax, lexicon); The Romance languages across space and time; Characteristics of Gallo-Romance, with particular reference to Old French and Old Occitan.

II. Textual Criticism: The concept of textual tradition; The manuscript; Elements of textual editing.

III. Literary History: Origins of Romance literatures; Comparative history of the literatures of langue d’oc and langue d’oïl: genres and texts (hagiography, epic, lyric, romance, tale, allegorical-didactic literature); Elements of metrics.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The course provides students with the most up-to-date methods of analysis of the literary text. In particular, it focuses on the reception of authors and works that have gained success through international circulation and on the cultural impact of the images and models of “Italianness” that they promote. Italian literary and audio-visual products circulate in various markets, spreading – at national and international levels – images and models (stereotypes and/or counter-stereotypes) of “Italianness”. Such images of Italy are tightly connected to the processes through which cultural products reiterate certain privileged aspects of Italian life: politics, crime, religious institutions, landscapes, cultural heritage, food, lifestyle, fashion, the entertainment industry, etc. The student possesses in-depth knowledge of Italian women's literature and is able to apply practical methodologies for the analysis and the interpretation of the literary text. 

This is an advanced level art studio course for students with prior experience. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. Students work on their own painting projects, guided by the professor. Some theory lessons are also provided. This course is offered during the spring semester. 

This is an advanced level photography course for students with prior experience. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. In the initial phase, students gather study materials through the reading of texts dedicated to a specific topic, sources, and archival materials; and develop awareness of the collected content in relation to the contemporary history of photography and the languages of art in their multiple cultural and professional directions. In the intermediate phase, students attend field trips and site inspections (returning to places as an essential artistic practice for training one’s gaze) planning photographic shoots and organizing the work in the form of written‑photographic notes arranged in mock‑ups, study notebooks, and slide projections. Final reworking of the content on a medium chosen by each student: the creation of a photographic book, both technically and conceptually; the construction of a photographic diary as a personal biography developed within a specific space/time. The relationship between photographic images and the exhibition space  (whether printed, digital, or spatial/environmental: magazines, publishing, web, galleries, museums, public and private institutions) are a constant subject of analysis, comparison, and dialogue with students throughout the course. 

Teaching methods: Starting from historical examples of interpreting the territory through the practice of traversing the city, within and along its margins, the lessons alternate between theoretical sessions on and around the history of photography (and the history of the arts more broadly) and short excursions into the surrounding area to work hands‑on with materials specific to the photographic medium, always in dialogue with other expressive media. 

This course is offered during the spring semester.