Italy

This course provides general knowledge of Italian contemporary history and the main interpretations of it. The course prepares students to transmit the knowledge acquired, adopting the appropriate vocabulary and being versed in the historiographical debate. It covers the methodologies used by the research on social classes including basic mass culture and consumption phenomena. It provides awareness of how sources and choice of methodology bear on the ultimate result. The course covers: Italy from the First to the Second Republic; the main political, economic, and social junctures that represented the framework within which the democratic political system was reconstituted in Italy in the aftermath of the Second World War; the institutional as well as the economic and social framework, always keeping the international context as a reference perspective; the various moments that have marked the history of the Italian peninsula since the Second World War, from reconstruction to the economic boom, from the years of revolts and movements to the crisis of the First Republic and of that party system that had contributed to rewriting the democratic political framework. Finally, attention is focused on the different generations of men and women who were protagonists of that history.

The course is a rigorous introduction to probability. Students gain a solid grounding on the its foundations, learn how to deal with randomness with the correct mathematical tools and how to solve problems. Course topics include probability; definition and properties; conditional probability and independence; random variables and random vectors; joint and conditional distributions; expectation and moments; integral tranforms; convergence in distribution and the Central Limit Theorum; and modes of convergence and the laws of large numbers. Prerequisites: Set theory, sequences and series, continuous and differentiable functions, and integrals.

This studio course introduces the principles of painting and develops skills in composition, observation, and the use of color. The course includes sessions on technique, brushwork, color theory, and the use of different media.  During the first half of the course assignments concentrate on developing different skills and building techniques, using traditional and experimental approaches to painting. During the second half of the course, students use these skills to develop their own work. Students explore the history of art in Florence in the many galleries and museums and use this knowledge to inform their own work. The course covers the technical developments of the Renaissance, including the study of perspective, line, and form. Through guided instructional sessions, students cultivate their unique artistic styles and engage in individual research, which may involve integrating themes and techniques from both modern and contemporary art. This study is the basis for developing painting skills through engaging with, and responding to, the works and artists they study. The course also has a focus on developing skills for self and peer criticism to discuss the development of the work. Students create a final piece supported by an Artist's Statement, a research breakdown outlining the evolution of the project's concept, and technical development. 

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 analyzes the connections between artistic practices and political issues in relation with the development and expansion of digital technologies. The course gives a historical-political perspective on the evolution of digitization from the birth of the internet to platform capitalism through a visual approach drawing on the main artistic movements that reflected on new technologies. The course is articulated into three parts. First, the course frames a political genealogy of the digital technologies, highlighting the philosophical issues they pose. For this reason, a brief history of the evolution of internet until the burst of platform capitalism is presented. Then, the course focuses on some of the main cultural paradigms about the technological innovation (Californian ideology, Transhumanism, Accelerationism, etc…) to analyze the way they frame the relationship between the digital and the human. Finally, the course explores how artists embedded and renewed such paradigms in their practices and how art changed thanks to the introduction of digital tools (artificial intelligence, NFT, etc.)

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 an overview of labor market policies, highlighting the main areas of intervention and the beneficiaries: employment protection legislation, income support, promotion of job opportunities and training, and employment services. A comparative analysis of the evolution of labor policy regimes will be carried out with particular reference to current demographic, social, and economic challenges, considering the influence of politics on labor market policies. At the end of the course the students are able to: have a knowledge of the main areas of intervention of labor market policies and their beneficiaries; identify and compare the different labor policy regimes; gain an expertise as regards to the definition and planning of active and passive labor market policies; recognize the current characteristics of the labor market and the employment system, the emerging risks and the related needs in terms of labor market policies; and interpret the influence of politics in labor market policies. The course adopts an iterative approach between theoretical debates and the analysis of cases and empirical examples, also based on current events and trends, and aims at integrating in a transversal way a focus on the gender aspects of the issues addressed.

This course analyzes the economic issues related to the process of European integration through a theoretical and a policy perspective. Through the study of economic integration theories and the main European Union (EU) policies, students are able to acquire a critical perspective of the basic issues leading to the development of the European Institutions and the different historical phases of the European Union, ultimately giving birth to the Economic and Monetary Union. The course is composed of three parts. The first part of the course is devoted to the study of the theory of economic integration, considering the market of goods (customs unions, free trade areas), of factors of production (common markets) and the coordination of economic policies (economic union). A link is made between the theoretical instruments and the actual evolution of the European integration process. The second part explores the main European policies (common objectives, instruments, and financial means), their evolution over time and the corresponding mechanisms of governance. The third part of the course is centered on the Economic and Monetary Union and its effects for the European economy. 

What was the attitude of European culture towards non-Europeans in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance? How were African, Arab, Turk, Mongol, but also Native American and Jewish people represented in Western art and why? From the fabulous East described by Marco Polo to the myth of Prester John, from the clash with the Islamic world to the conquest of America, the imagery of non-European peoples reveals a broad spectrum of symbolic, social, and religious meanings. The analysis of these portrayals provides insight into the processes of self-identification of Western Europeans and the emergence and development of categories of "otherness". This course enables students not only to understand the classification of human groups in the past, but also to better assess critically the modern and present-day use of such categories. The course takes a thorough multidisciplinary approach, encompassing social, political, religious, and broader cultural history. Florence offers a unique opportunity to analyze on-site, and often in their original context, works representing non-Europeans from the 13th to the 17th century. 

The topics for this course differ each term. In spring 2024, this course has a special focus on The Origin and Development of Political Psychology: From Plato to Martha Nussbaum. Political Philosophy is conceived as the application of philosophical investigation to politics and thus as a study of the contribution that philosophy may give to political practice. This implies both a clarification of the terms used in our everyday political vocabulary and an attempt at designing models of a just society. The course provides the following: a) notions on methodology in historical investigation; b) the ability to analytically read a text while at the same time situating it into the historical and linguistic context of the age; c) knowledge of the perennial tasks of political philosophy; d) an introduction to political realism. The course is devoted to the examination of the origin and development of political psychology. It starts with Plato's notion of the tripartite soul and arrives to the role of emotions in Martha Nussbaum's thought. The first part is devoted to a clarification of the notion of 'political philosophy' and to an account of the methodology in the history of political thought.

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 knowledge of the multilateral trade system (the WTO system) and international investment law. The course teaches the ability to recognize the interests underlying those rules and legal instruments to enforce them, especially through the dynamics of argumentation emerging from international litigation. The course contains: an overview of the WTO system; the dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO; the most favored nation clause; the national treatment principle; GATT Article XX trade & non-trade values; the WTO TBT Agreement; the precautionary principle and the SPS Agreement; the New Government Procurement Agreement; the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS); the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPs); China in the WTO; DSM the cases concerning natural resources; WTO and climate change; WTO and energy; the new generation of EU Free Trade agreements; principles of non discrimination and of fair and equitable treatment; direct and indirect expropriation; interpretation and application of investment treaties; investment dispute settlement mechanisms; transparency in investment arbitration proceedings; investment and sustainability issues; and protection of foreign investment, environmental, and human rights protection. For students who have not previously attended a course on International Law, it is advised to read Jan Klabbers, Cambridge University Press, 2020.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. This course develops an appropriate knowledge base of theories of gender in relation to cultural processes and an understanding of the relevance of gender as a lens to analyze operations of power. In addition, it develops a good awareness of methodological issues in the study of gender and space/place and their mutually constitutive nature. The course focuses on the analytical skills needed for digesting complex theories to put theories to use in engaging with contemporary debates inside and outside of academia. Finally, this course develops appropriate and diverse research and communication skills where theory can be applied in projects outside of the classroom. This course explores the construction and lived realities of gender in its intersection with race, space, and place. Exploring “gender” as a fluid, socially, and spatially constructed category, the course guides through the ways that gender, race, and space intertwine in theory and in lived experience, both historically and in present times. Taught through interdisciplinary contributions ranging from social, feminist, queer, and affect theories – across disciplines such as anthropology, political geography, cultural studies, architecture - the course examines the diverse and interconnected understandings, experiences, and effects of “gender” as a system of meaning-making and power across spaces, places, and historical times. The course includes gender and feminist theories, starting from the nature/culture divide through to the contestation and dissolution of gender binaries. The course further examines the interface between gender theory and a variety of other theoretical perspectives applied to the study of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, including postcolonialism, postmodernism, and poststructuralism. The course also investigates central questions of epistemology and methodology in relation to the application of gender theories in the field of cross-cultural studies. The main focus running through the course is the body, and body politics. The class pays particular attention to introducing diverse feminist trajectories and embodied politics, including Black feminism, Islamic feminism, feminist liberation movements in the Global south, and others.