UC Center, Rome

This course aims to provides a cultural perspective on human development. Specifically, the course emphasizes the usefulness of (cross-)cultural approaches to understanding parenting and psychological functioning, to assess culturally diverse children and families, and to implement culturally sensitive interventions. The course draws from specific examples from the Italian culture, and particularly the Roman one. This means that students are given the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the culture and the characteristics of the city and its peoples. Upon completion of the course, students are expected to be knowledgeable about the role of culture in human development and in socialization processes, as well as to identify the risk and protective factors involved in the adaptation of relocated families.

This course provides a foundation in both leadership and business administration, emphasizing various leadership styles and their application in organizational settings. Students from diverse disciplines — including sociology of work, economics, business administration, communication, and the arts — develop the skills needed to lead and manage organizations effectively by addressing the challenges of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling (POLC). Key topics include the evolution of management thought, business ethics, organizational culture, and social responsibility. A strong focus is placed on the ethical responsibilities of leadership, with real-world case studies examining how leaders navigate moral dilemmas and foster ethical practices within organizations. These case studies include examples from industries where leadership plays a crucial role in balancing business goals with broader cultural, environmental, and societal concerns. Students also explore how leadership can address issues like diversity, sustainable development, and the global impact on business operations. This course is ideal for students interested in management, economics, business administration, sociology of work, and communication, offering valuable insights into leadership, management, and the role of ethics in decision-making, with particular relevance to sectors connected to art, food, and society in Rome and Italy.

This course explores banquet culture in the Mediterranean, investigating the traditions of the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans. Our journey will take us to museums and archaeological sites in and around Rome, as well as Tuscany, Lazio, and Campania. In particular, we study the material remains from the Etruscan town of Tarquinia, the Villa of Tiberius at Sperlonga, the Greek city of Paestum, and the luxury villas of the Bay of Naples. As we explore these ancient aristocratic villas, we also explore the pastimes of the elite related to banquets, such as raising fish, birds, and flora, by studying their gardens, fisheries, and wine and olive presses, as well as the entertainment accompanying these feasts. Key ancient texts, such as the ancient Roman cookbook by Apicius, invite us into the Roman kitchen with original recipes and menus. Through the investigation of the ritual of feasting, this course assesses how the Roman banquet has shaped our ideas of culture, leisure, and status today.

This course will introduce you to an evidence-based roadmap and practical tools for gaining control, living a life you aspire to, and functioning effectively. Students will gain insight into their well-being and how it may impact their and others’ lives and work. This course offers an in-depth exploration of the intersection between social psychology and individual well-being. Field trips to historical sites, museums, and community organizations offer experiential learning and cultural immersion opportunities. Lectures delve into how social factors influence human behavior, cognition, and emotion, ultimately shaping our choices and overall health. Well-being is not about being happy. The pursuit of happiness falls short, while real contentment comes from living a fulfilling and meaningful life. Students will examine fundamental concepts in social psychology, such as social influence, conformity, obedience, group dynamics, attribution, and attitudes. They will gain insights into how these concepts manifest in real-life contexts and impact individual decision-making processes through theoretical frameworks and empirical research. The course emphasizes the role of social relationships, cultural norms, and societal structures in shaping perceptions of well-being and the pursuit of happiness. Students will critically evaluate theories and research findings regarding subjective well-being, life satisfaction, and the factors contributing to happiness.

This course provides students with a sound basis for communicating effectively and accurately in oral and written Italian. Authentic materials (songs, videos, advertisements, and film clips) are used in a communicative-based approach, and emphasis is placed on the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students participate on field trips take them outside the classroom to engage with the city and Romans to reinforce their skills. The course is conducted entirely in Italian.

Exploring Rome is divided into two components: language instruction (mostly in class), and a culture component (mostly on-site). The course is structured for exposure to the language and the opportunity to engage directly with Italian culture. The language component of the course provides the tools and skills to navigate the city and complete tasks in real-life situations and specific contexts. Through small group work, the course builds basic communicative structures to react effectively to authentic communicative situations. The culture component of the course investigates different aspects of Italian life by making Rome its classroom. Onsite lectures complement and contextualize the language component by studying the city’s history, its traditions, and current events in situ.

Rome has played a pivotal role in the construction of a global scale culture. It first contributed to unifying the ancient world system as the capital of an empire. Then, in the early modern period (parallel to the age of explorations and colonialism), it became a laboratory for interactions between the local and the global. This course focuses on these interactions roughly between 1550 and 1750, the so-called Counter Reformation and Baroque Age.  Although this is mainly an on-site art history course, each art work, building, or urban plan is studied as a document to understand broader concepts related to geography, politics, religion, science, and philosophy. To assess the value of early modern art and architecture students develop multidisciplinary skills to investigate the multilayered meanings of objects, buildings, and urbanism. Focusing first on Caravaggio, then on the rivalry between Bernini and Borromini, and finally on the Renovatio Urbis (the new avenues connecting the main churches of the city), this course simultaneously explores the micro and the macro context of every commission. From the private fashioning of papal families (Borghese, Barberini, Pamphili, and Chigi) to the impression of orbialization (the concept that pervades the papal blessing addressed to the city and to the world), the city promised to be a topographical space of universal salvation. From the different approaches to art and architecture by Bernini and Borromini (theatrical and philosophical respectively) to the impact of the interreligious encounters of the new religious orders, Rome appeared as the laboratory of a globalization actualized in tandem with the colonial powers of Portugal, France, and Spain. The Spanish Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus in 1540 in Rome, shifted the religious discourse toward the universal good setting the program for a possible global society. The Jesuit system with their missionary and educational activities throughout the world was the most important institution for “interactions”. No wonder that in the 17th century, the Roman main educational institutions (Studium Urbis, Collegio Romano, Propaganda Fide) focused on the study of languages and the publication of dictionaries and grammar books. The impact of the Jesuit father Athanasius Kircher over 17th century Rome is as polyhedric as his writings. Kircher created one of the biggest cabinets of curiosities (wunderkammer) of Europe. His collection of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman antiques, embalmed animals, botanical rarities, scientific instruments, and a myriad of objects coming from China, India, Mexico, etc. was referred to as theatrum mundi (the theatre of the world), a metaphoric representation of the culture of the early modern city. By the end of the 17th century, Rome simultaneously assumed the connotations of new Jerusalem, Athens, Constantinople, Alexandria, and Babel mirroring the world as if in a theatre of memory and geography while other cities in different continents took the name of Rome of the East or Rome of the West through a religious and architectural response. The visual arts reveal the global resonance of Rome but also the presence of different ethnic groups in the city. The Eternal City was, undoubtedly, one of the loci where the subjective dimension of globalization originated.  

This course provides students with a sound basis for communicating effectively and accurately in oral and written Italian. In this course, students continue to practice recognizing and using complex Italian grammatical and syntactic structures, such as verbs in all tenses and moods, connective words, and all uses of the subjunctive mood in hypothetical sentences, conjunctions, or indirect speech. Authentic materials (songs, videos, advertisements, and film clips) are used in a communicative-based approach, and emphasis is placed on the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students participate in several sessions of language exchange with Italian university students, and field trips take them outside the classroom to engage with the city and Romans to reinforce the grammatical skills learned in class. The course is conducted entirely in Italian.

The life of the ancient Romans was guided by two important concepts, otium, or leisure time, and negotium, a more structured use of time that may be associated with work of varying kinds. A good Roman life could, and often did, include both. This course explores Roman daily life and the many activities associated with both otium and negotium. The business of ancient Rome was largely conducted in the central and market areas of the city, and students study the ancient Roman Forum, the ancient river port in Rome and its associated features (wharves, warehouses, and rubbish heaps), as well as the ancient port city of Ostia. The leisure time of the aristocracy was noticeably different than that of the poor. They often spent leisure time in a relaxing environment outside of the city, such as villas, where they could pursue all types of activities deemed beneficial to the mind and body. The poor, instead, tended to stay in Rome, and spend their unstructured time at state-sponsored events and venues such as the games held in the Flavian Amphitheater, or at a monumental bath complex, such as the Baths of Caracalla. Alternatively, they would congregate in small taverns or popinae, or they might just sit on the stairs of a city building and play a game. Students visit and study the places where the Romans spent their leisure time looking closely at the leisure activities. As students get to know the Romans by studying what they have left us in terms of physical and literary remains, they discuss how much of what is "reconstructed" from the evidence can be certain, and how much must remain debatable. This course includes visits to Rome-area museums and sites, and special outings to the Roman cities of Ostia and Pompeii.

"Made in Italy" may have been coined in the twentieth century, but the relationship between excellence in craftsmanship and the visual, performing, and decorative arts goes back centuries. Outstanding Italian quality, style, and know-how in a range of artistic traditions from architecture and fashion, to music, and theater have long been recognized internationally. This course examines the intersection between the Arts and Italy's reputation for luxury and high quality through a series of case studies beginning with the fifteenth century. It was Renaissance culture that first fueled the prosperity of the luxury sector in a time where the production and patronage of art was trendsetting. The course investigates how trans-Mediterranean trade inspired local craft industries like metal and stone work; the development of theatre and costume design and the theatrical influence on urban spaces and architecture across European capitals, and the effect of luxury goods on politics and economy. The course provides students the opportunity to interview local artists and artisans, and investigate and present on areas of interest of local excellence in craftsmanship and its connection with the Arts. The course visits the spaces, workshops, and ateliers in Rome that bear witness to this ongoing conversation.