Italy

Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean, with its diverse landscapes — ranging from Mt. Etna’s volcanic geology and coastal marine biodiversity to rural agricultural practices and conservation areas — offers a unique and comprehensive setting for immersive ecological and environmental field studies. This course will engage with key topics such as the natural history and ecology of Mediterranean island environments, the geological processes that shape the landscape, perspectives on human-environment interactions, and the oceanographic dynamics that influence coastal and marine habitats.

This is an advanced level painting course for students who have experience in painting techniques. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor. The course includes lectures and a minimum of 15 hours/week of studio time for individual projects.  The course continues study of all aspects of painting from pre- to post-production, and of the technical processes involved. Students develop technique, critique their own work, and focus on defining their personal painting style. Assessment takes place throughout the semester with frequent critiques with the instructor, followed by a final oral interview including a presentation and discussion of the artworks completed.

Prerequisites: Fundamentals of anatomy and physiopathology. 

The course provides students with a solid knowledge and understanding of the fundamental principles of plastic and reconstructive surgery, with a focus on the management of soft tissue injuries and defects following oncologic resection. Basic concepts related to burn treatment are also introduced. Through theoretical lectures and clinical case discussions, students develop the ability to apply their knowledge in selecting appropriate reconstructive strategies, including skin grafts, local and regional flaps, muscular flaps, and microsurgical techniques. They are also expected to demonstrate independent judgment in evaluating the most effective approaches based on specific clinical contexts.

The course also supports the development of communication skills, as students are encouraged to actively participate in case discussions, articulating their reasoning clearly and effectively. Finally, the course promotes learning skills through an integrated approach that highlights the close relationship between the restoration of function and the aesthetic outcome of reconstructive surgery, with attention to the patient’s physical and emotional recovery.

The course is focused on the principal themes of the discipline with particular attention to typologies, functions, and significance of the Roman monuments and artistic expressions with spots on history of research, methods, and chronological questions. By the end of the course, thanks to the presentation and discussion of the basic components and main manifestations of Roman art, architecture, and town planning, students are familiar with the main themes of the discipline serving as a basis for the definition of the problems in a context of historical–cultural interaction. Moreover, students acquire the basic skills for independent use of the research tools and scientific bibliography and are able to reason critically and analyze or interpret data. They also learn to listen, understand, and debate respectfully with different viewpoints, and know how to spot tie-ups among different disciplines.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor.

Climate change is no longer an abstract future threat. Human population is at the center of the climate system. A demographic perspective is hence critical for understanding, on the one hand, the impact of human activities on the global climate, and, on the other hand, the impacts of climate change on human population. Upon successful completing of this course, students have the knowledge and skills to: 1) demonstrate an understanding of how human population contributes to anthropogenic climate change taking into account demographic heterogeneity; 2) demonstrate an understanding of how anthropogenic climate change differentially affects human health, wellbeing and livelihoods; 3) critically evaluate and explain different scientific and statistical evidence employed to study the links between population dynamics and climate change; 4) conduct research through the consultation of academic literature and/or through the collection and analysis of data; 5) work in groups and develop class discussions. The course topics include:

• Introduction to population and climate change interactions
• Climate change and demographic heterogeneity (e.g. age, gender, education, income, locations)
• Population and energy consumption/carbon emissions
• Population, water, and food
• Climate change and health and mortality
• Climate change and family and fertility
• Climate change and migration
• Climate change and future population dynamics
• Date and methods for the study of population and climate change

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor. 

At the end of the course, students will have acquired knowledge of the theoretical and critical reflections on the performing arts in Italy from the second half of the twentieth century to the first decade of the new millennium, with a particular focus on mise-en-scène and dance. Students will be capable of autonomously analyzing critical, theoretical, and poetic texts regarding the performing arts and will have acquired a series of tools for understanding pertinent iconographic and video documents.

What is performance? How is it related to its cultural and historical context? Which tools does its study provide to read the Italian contemporary culture? The course provides an answer to these questions in regard to the history of the Italian Performance Scene since the Sixties. After a methodological introduction on diverse concepts and theories of performance, the course focuses on the most relevant case studies of New Theatre with a focus on the most engaged forms of theatre, which allow for an introduction to the cultural, social, and political changes that shaped the Italian history in between the Sixties and Seventies. The course then focuses on relevant case studies in Applied and Social Theatre (theatre in prison, in health centers, and with vulnerable communities).

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 content includes the following: Elements of noncooperative game theory, and solution concepts; The basics of oligopoly theory: price and quantity competition and product differentiation; Supply function competition; Mergers: private and social incentives; Cartels: implicit collusion and the theorem; Discrete choice theory: horizontal and vertical differentiation; R&D, process and product innovation and the indirect debate between Schumpeter and Arrow; Network externalities, technological standards and switching costs; Sketch of the environmental implications.

At the end of the course, the student is expected to be acquainted with: basic game theory instruments; the evolution of the theory of industrial organization, including the basic oligopoly models of Cournot, Bertrand and Stackelberg; and the manifold issues connected with the impact of firms' unregulated strategic behavior on the environment and natural resources.

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 acquire an updated knowledge about the main phenomena characterising the archaeology of settlements and environment of the Middle Ages. They will be familiar with the main methodological approaches of contemporary research, as well as be able to assess the reliability of the data presented and to highlight their limits. The students acquire a general knowledge about the main aspects of the settlement patterns evolution and the transformations of the environment during the Middle Ages in several geographic contexts. By knowing the different methodological approaches adopted by the contemporary research, the students gain the skills that they need to plan by themselves further studies or fieldwork itself, starting with the best methodological approach and the right research questions.

The course presents a series of research topics and processes through which the history and archaeology of Italian medieval landscapes are explored and compared with those of other areas in medieval Europe and the Mediterranean. To address this subject effectively, the course also delves into key methods and strategies in the archaeology and history of landscapes. The topics covered include: Archaeology, history, and medieval landscapes: methods and strategies; Fortifications and castles; Villages and other rural settlements; Uncultivated and agrarian landscapes; Urban landscapes; New towns and secondary settlements; Churches, monastic landscapes, and deserta; Archaeology of rural lords and peasant communities; The end of the Roman period; Italy: comparative landscapes of the north, center, and south; Italy in comparison with the eastern and western Mediterranean and northern and southern Europe.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor. At the end of the course unit students have the tools for an integrated approach to the study of the archaeological sites around Vesuvius, attentive to their specific nature of historic sites, which have their status as the best sample of classical archeology, not because of their real excellence in the ancient world, but because of the fate and their exceptional material preservation. Students demonstrate critical consciousness about the “vulgata” and develop a self-sufficient ability to review their “topoi”, enabling them to read the Vesuvian archaeological sites back to their actual nature as privileged case-study, but not as a benchmark of universal value. At the end of the course students are able to orientate themselves in the rich scientific literature, to identify potential research topics, to independently design a circumscribed research project, and to elaborate the results in an original form, both oral and written.

The course explores the Vesuvian area, well known but still poorly investigated and studied. After an introduction about the status quaestionis, the course follows the analysis of some specific cases study, both investigated by other research institutions and equips, and in regard to the projects (Pompeii, Herculaneum, Torre del Greco) of the Vesuviana program lead by the University of Bologna.

This course involves singing with the choir of the University of Bologna. Students are invited to join the choir after they pass an audition with the Choir Director. The course involves weekly and biweekly practices as well as public performances. There are about 60 members in the choir every year, and musical selections change yearly. Local performances are held in various locations around Bologna.