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.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The course is centered on the relationships between Italian Literature and Visual Culture, from the second half of the twentieth century to the first decade of the new millennium, with a focus on photography, graphic novel, advertising, cinema, television, and videogames. Special attention is placed on the identification and analysis of the interactions between the different languages and their contextualization in Italy’s contemporary cultural environment. Course topics change yearly. The 2023 topic is: A Transmedia Longseller: IL NOME DELLA ROSA (THE NAME OF THE ROSE) by Umberto Eco.

This is an advanced intermediate Italian Language course offered by the University Language Center (CLA) for University of Bologna exchange students. The course is at the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) B2 level. Enrolment in this course is based on an entrance exam. Students enrolled in this course have generally successfully completed ITAL 132 as part of the UCEAP Intensive Language Program (ILP). At the end of the course students can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in their field of specialization. They can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. They can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options. The course covers the following grammatical points: use of verbs in the past - all tenses; the conditional and past conditional; the present subjunctive vs. the imperfect; the subjunctive: all form of the past; concordance of subjunctive verbs; the passive voice; relative pronouns; and presenting the future in the past. This course is available to UCEAP students in the spring semester only. The course is graded pass/no pass only.

This course is for students who are learning Italian for the first time. It aims to help develop the full range of linguistic skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) through practice in grammar, reading, and conversational role-playing, as well as through the use of music and other audiovisual materials that will help students gain a better understanding of Italian culture and language.

By the end of the course, the students will be able to: 
1) Understand and utilize frequently-used everyday expressions as well as simple phrases to meet immediate needs.
2) Introduce themselves and others; asking and answering questions about personal details such as where they live, things they have, and people they know.
3) Interact in a simple way. 

This course is broadly equivalent to A1 Basic User, Breakthrough level of the Common European Framework. 

The course is an introduction to the COMMEDIA: INFERNO, PURGATORIO, AND PARADISO with particular attention to key cantos. Students read texts and apply methodological tools for the analysis of literary texts. Required reading includes COMMEDIA by Dante Alighieri. Students are also required to read essays in Italian from a list provided by the course instructor.

This course is for true beginners to Italian language. It runs at the pre-A1 level according to the CEFR level. This communicative course develops oral skills in Italian.

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.

This is a graduate level course that is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. This course covers basics concepts in the history of Italian cinematography. In particular, the course tackles a number of common focal points that link cinema with the history of Italian culture (method of representation, cultural industry, relationships with other expressive forms). The class starts with an analysis of the concept of “national cinema” for better understanding both the focus and the approach adopted by the lecturer in presenting the Italian case study. After this methodological introduction, the class investigates the history of Italian cinema from the silent era to nowadays. In doing that, Italian films are analyzed both as art form and as economic good. The aim of the class is twofold. On the one hand it investigates an historical path in order to retrace the evolution of Italian films in terms of style, aesthetics, themes, etc. On the other hand, it detects relationships between Italian films, Italian history, Italian art forms and Italian cultural industry. The investigation of Italian film history is supported by the analysis of some films which are particularly important for understanding key-periods and key-genres of Italian film history. The films are: MA L'AMOR MIO NON MUORE (1913) by Mario Caserini, CABIRIA (2014) by Giovanni Pastrone, OSSESSIONE (1943) by Luchino Visconti, LADRI DI BICICLETTE (1948) by Vittorio De Sica, RISO AMARO (1949) by Giuseppe De Santis, LA STRADA (1954) by Federico Fellini, DIVORZIO ALL'ITALIANA (1961) by Pietro Germi, PER UN PUGNO DI DOLLARI (1964) by Sergio Leone, BLOW-UP (1966) by Michelangelo Antonioni, PROFONDO ROSSO (1975) by Dario Argento, CALL ME BY YOUR NAME (2017) by Luca Guadagnino, DOGMAN (2018) by Matteo Garrone. The course is structured in lecture/seminars led by the teacher. Sessions are accompanied with power point presentations, video clips, and film screenings. All students are required to attend the class, the screenings and to actively participate in class discussion.

This is an intensive intermediate Italian language course designed for students with a minimum of 3 quarters/2 semesters of previous Italian language (the equivalent of Italian 1B). Grammar is applied through exercises, games, communicative activities, written texts and oral monologues, role play and use of various media. Students express basic and more complex needs which enable them to communicate regarding a variety of topics. Students read texts and write descriptive and narrative texts. Grammar topics covered include: regular and irregular verbs in present, past, past perfect, imperfect, future simple and past and conditional tenses and learning to recognize the remote past tense; adjectives and indefinite pronouns; direct and indirect pronouns; simple and complex prepositions. Student performance is evaluated based on quizzes and a final exam. Texts include a reader provided by Bocconi.