Italian Studies Major

Designed for students with no prior knowledge of Italian. ITA 100 employs immersive experiential learning pedagogy, providing an introduction to the essentials of Italian grammar, vocabulary, and culture. The acquisition of aural/oral communication skills will be stressed and, as such, the predominant language of instruction will be Italian. By the end of the course students will achieve proficiency at the A1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Students are expected to acquire the basic knowledge of the written and spoken structures. Students are expected to read and comprehend short passages in Italian and to draft simple compositions / dialogues. Project-based assignments will be designed to foster practical communication skills and encourage efforts towards increased student integration in the local Italian-speaking community. Whenever possible, students will be encouraged to participate actively in local initiatives, festivals, events and to apply the skills they are mastering in class to their co-curricular learning on and off campus

ITA 101 employs immersive experiential learning pedagogy, providing an introduction to the essentials of Italian grammar, vocabulary, and culture. This course is designed for students who have completed one semester of Italian language study. The course provides an introduction to the essentials of Italian grammar, vocabulary, and culture. The acquisition of aural/oral communication skills will be stressed and, as such, the predominant language of instruction will be Italian. By the end of the course students will achieve proficiency at the A2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Students will be expected to be proficient in the written and spoken usage of basic linguistic structures. Students will be expected to read and comprehend short passages in Italian and to draft simple compositions / dialogues. Project-based assignments will be designed to foster practical communication skills and encourage efforts towards increased student integration in the local Italian-speaking community. Whenever possible, students will be encouraged to participate actively in local initiatives, festivals, events and to apply the skills they are mastering in class to their co-curricular learning on and off campus.

This course is designed for students who have completed two semesters of Italian language study. The course provides a review and expansion of command of Italian grammar, vocabulary, and culture. The acquisition of aural/oral communication skills will be stressed and, as such, the predominant language of instruction will be Italian. By the end of the course students will achieve proficiency at the B1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Students will be expected to be proficient in the written and spoken usage of intermediate linguistic structures. Students will be expected to deal with most situations likely to arise in the areas where the language is spoken. They will be able to: a) produce simple connected texts on topics, which are familiar or of personal interest; b) describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions; and c) briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans. Project-based assignments will be designed to foster practical communication skills and encourage efforts towards increased student integration in the local Italian-speaking community. Whenever possible, students will be encouraged to participate actively in local initiatives, festivals, events and to apply the skills they are mastering in class to their co-curricular learning on and off campus.

This course is designed for students who have completed three semesters of Italian language study. The course provides a review and expansion of command of Italian grammar, vocabulary, and culture. The acquisition of aural/oral communication skills will be stressed and, as such, the predominant language of instruction will be Italian. By the end of the course students will achieve proficiency at the B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Students will be expected to be proficient in the written and spoken usage of intermediate linguistic structures. Students will be able to interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. They will be able to: a) understand the main ideas of complex texts on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization; b) 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. Whenever possible, the written assignments will be designed to foster practical communication skills and encourage efforts towards increased student integration in the local Italian-speaking community.

For students who have completed at least two years of college-level language studies or the equivalent. This course offers cultural readings from a variety of sources, including some literary pieces, as well as magazine and newspaper articles reflecting the contemporary scene in the countries where the language is spoken. Vocabulary expansion and development of techniques of expression are accomplished through oral and written exercises.

For students who have completed at least two years of college-level language studies or the equivalent. This course offers cultural readings from a variety of sources, including some literary pieces, as well as magazine and newspaper articles reflecting the contemporary scene in the countries where the language is spoken. Vocabulary expansion and development of techniques of expression are accomplished through oral and written exercises.

This course uses techniques of oral expression to develop greater conversational fluency and accuracy. Conversational practice is based on topics in the culture and contemporary civilization related to the language.

The land and the people of Italy and the Italian-speaking world: historical, social and cultural evolution; major developments in the arts (literature, music, opera, figurative arts, theater, cinema,; television, digital cultures, and new technologies) as these relate to enduring questions related to linguistic and political unity, immigration and emigration, race, class, gender and sexuality. Aspects of contemporary Italy are also covered

Special topics course in Italian Literature; topics vary by semester.

Aspects of political, social and cultural history of twentieth century Italy are studied through documentaries and some of the major accomplishments of Italian cinema. Some novels adapted into film are also examined. Most of the films are in Italian (some with English subtitles).

The aim of this course is to introduce students to the major accomplishments of Italian cinema from ''neorealism'' through the ''commedia all'italiana'' to the present. Emphasis is placed on film as an artistic, aesthetic and theoretical medium for an exploration and interpretation of issues related to contemporary life. Some of Italy's major film directors will be considered, such as Rossellini, De Sica, Visconti, Antonioni, the Taviani brothers, Scola. Particular attention is dedicated to the films of Fellini.

The course introduces the student to the development of Italian cinema through close study of the relationship between Italian literature and film adaptation. The selected books and films will offer a unique opportunity to analyze and discuss crucial issues related to the historical, political, and cultural evolution of Italy from its Unification to the present. Among the adaptations we will be looking at will be: Antonio Fogazzaro's Malombra as interpreted by Carmine Gallone (1917) and Mario Soldati (1942), Luchino Visconti's 1963 rendering of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's The Leopard, Vittorio De Sica's 1970 adaptation of Giorgio Bassani's The Garden of the Finzi-Contini, Alberto Moravia's The Conformist, as adapted by Bernardo Bertolucci (1970), Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron, adapted by Pier Paolo Pasolini (1971).

The number and variety of towns, cities, villages and castles stunned travelers to Italy in the early Middle Ages. This phenomenon became even more distinctive with the passing of time. During the Renaissance, the Italian city-states were compressed into wider, regional domains which were ruled by either a local family or a foreign state, and, much to Machiavelli’s regret, republicanism gave way to what we now know as the court civilization. Though the seats of intrinsically tyrannical powers, Italian courts and their patrons were successful in allying themselves with the most powerful of them all: the power of culture and art. In return, they were transformed into ideal, timeless places whose death was meant to be regretted. Even today, Italy retains her fairy-land beauty, and her monuments (public or private, urban, suburban or rural) still possess their unique power of inspiration notwithstanding the touristic commercialization. The course examines a number of authors and artists who took part in the shaping of both the communal and court values that formed Italy’s manifold cultural identities. Additionally, the course includes fairy-tales from the Italian folkloric tradition, where princes and princesses provide yet another perspective of Italy’s many ''kingdoms''. The travel itinerary will include visits to Ravenna, Arezzo and Florence, Urbino, Padua, Vicenza and Mantua.

The aim of this course is to introduce students to the major accomplishments of Italian cinema from ''neorealism'' through the ''commedia all'italiana'' to the present. Emphasis is placed on film as a narrative, visual, and theoretical medium for scholarly exploration of current societal issues in contemporary life. Some of Italy's major film directors will be considered, such as Rossellini, De Sica, Visconti, Antonioni, the Taviani brothers, Scola. Particular attention is dedicated to the films of Fellini. A module dedicated to Italian-American cinema (Capra, Scorsese, Coppola, Tarantino) offers a means for comparative study of two related but contrasting traditions in filmmaking. EMPHASIS IS PLACED ON FILM AS A NARRATIVE, VISUAL, AND THEORETICAL MEDIUM FOR SCHOLARLY EXPLORATION OF CURRENT SOCIIETAL ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY LIFE

While focusing on the twentieth century and its various -isms (Futurism, Decadentism, Crepuscularism, Hermeticism, Neorealism), this course also offers a broader, foundational history of Italian poetry from the poets of the scuola siciliana to Dante and Petrarch;surveying major developments in Italian poetry since the Renaissance. Among the authors we will be looking at will be Giuseppe Ungaretti, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Salvatore Quasimodo, Eugenio Montale, Maria Luisa Spaziani, Cesare Pavese, Elio Vittorini, Dino Campana, Mario Luzi, Lalla Romano, Amelia Rosselli, Andrea Zanzotto. The course will be conducted entirely in English.

This course, conducted entirely in English, is distinguished by a creative writing component that runs parallel to a topical exploration of the history of the Italian short story, from the Middle Ages to the present. While analyzing the transformation of the short story throughout the centuries, students will use their creative writing as a means to travel, figuratively, into foreign landscapes; to experiment, literally, with foreign concepts and forms. Students will discover key questions in Italian cultural history such as the Italian search for a common linguistic identity or the struggle for political unification. They will reflect on these questions as informed thinkers and interact with Italian culture as experimental authors. Special attention will be paid to thematic as well as formal issues in the stories of writers such as Giovanni Boccaccio, Niccolò Machiavelli, Giovanni Verga, Luigi Pirandello, Matilde Serao, Alberto Moravia, Natalia Ginzburg, and Italo Calvino. Local Swiss writers, and related questions of Ticinese identity, may also be introduced.

The course explores the expression of the male and female narrative ''I'' against the greater context of the historical development of the Italian novel, with an emphasis on the late 19th and 20th centuries. An experiential approach to classic texts, framed by embodied learning methodology whereby students will improvise and adapt excerpts to allow literature to come alive through focused performance exercise and spectator reflection. As the traditional Italian hero finds his narrative trajectory from Modernity into the Postmodern, the Italian heroine appears to be engaged in the pursuit of Other agendas. The ongoing affirmation of a feminine alternative to the insistently male-dominated Italian canon will be studied via readings from the following novels: Giovanni Verga's The House by the Medlar Tree and Italo Svevo's Confessions of Zeno, Luigi Pirandello's, The Late Mattia Pascal, Sibilla Aleramo's A Woman, Grazia Deledda's Cosima, Natlia Ginsburg Family Sayings, Dacia Maraini's The Silent Duchess, Anna Banti's Artemisia. The course will be conducted entirely in English.

This course offers an innovative look at Italian filmmakers, novelists, journalists, television actors, philosophers, photographers, translators, singers, contemporary internet personalities, who refuse to be defined by one category of artistry and, instead, view work across genres and media as an important means to amplifying the scope and range of their unique message, while commonly embracing the value of cross-fertilization and hybridity. Franca Rame and Dario Fo, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Federico Fellini, Dacia Maraini, Umberto Eco, Amelia Rosselli: these are just a few of the Italian cultural icons of hybridity to whom students will be introduced. There is a significant project production component to this class which asks students to venture into multimedia assignments (merging digital photography with fiction writing, for example; or exploring the concept of liminality in both music and the prose poem).

The stories told in the films and novels to be studied in this course were written by two generations of Italians typically associated in literary history with what has been called the mito americano, or American myth. Defining and contextualizing this myth will be among our first objectives. In what ways has the New World positively impacted Old World culture and, conversely, what are some of the negative perceptions of America (or apocalyptic anxieties) represented by Italian writers and filmmakers? Authors to be studied (in translation) may include Mario Soldati, Ignazio Silone, Beppe Fenoglio, Eugenio Montale, Italo Calvino, Curzio Malaparte, Elio Vittorini, Cesare Pavese, Umberto Eco, Alberto Moravia, Giorgio Bassani. Among the chief learning goals in this course is to provide students with the opportunity to consider some of the common metaphorical and allegorical terms in which America has been positively and negatively mythified through the lens of Italian film, poetry, and fiction.

This course provides an introduction to classic cinematic portrayals of the city of Rome and its inhabitants, with an emphasis on 20th-century authors and filmmakers. Landmark films, such as Roberto Rossellini's ''Open City'' and Federico Fellini's ''La Dolce Vita'' will be contextualized both historically and thematically. Subsequently, students will begin crafting their own short film design; to be pitched in the form of a multi-media presentation prior to travel. Filming and production will follow in Rome, under the guidance and supervision of the professor. During the final weeks of the semester, class time will be devoted to close the discussion of contemporary readings from Italian Cultural Studies and, parallel to this, editing and completion of the student's semester-long short film project. Students enrolling in this course should have basic knowledge of how to create and edit short films using their own digital video devices. Students should be familiar with the program Final Cut (or similar editing program).

This course follows the evolution of early Renaissance architecture, sculpture and painting in Florence as exemplified in the works of Brunelleschi, Alberti, Donatello, and Masaccio, before taking up the principles of High Renaissance art and its major exponents: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. The course is designed to define the objectives of individual artists and to discuss to what extent these objectives are indicative of Renaissance thought. Note: This course may carry an additional fee for weekend field trips.

This course will expose students to the challenges of creating a market for artistic products, in particular for movies. Marketing movies requires a deep understanding of the needs consumers are trying to satisfy when deciding to consume an experience. At the same time, dealing with artists and managers of artistic institutions requires a solid understanding of their mindset and the intrinsic motivations for creating artistic pieces. There is thus a constant trade off between market orientation and product orientation. This course will focus in particular on understanding the specifics of creative production and aligning it with the right audience. Students will learn how to create a marketing plan for such an endeavor. The travel component will explore two cities in Italy, Rome and Bologna, so as to take advantage of the Rome Film Festival and the Cineteca (in Bologna).

Stories are everywhere. We use them, consciously or unconsciously, to make sense of identities, experiences, and desires. And, at the same time, we are shaped by the stories that we absorb and interpret. This course explores how storytelling both reflects and shapes our lives. It introduces students to keywords and terms for reading and reflecting upon stories, both in the pages of books and in everyday life. The course considers a variety of narrative forms, including short stories, novels, fairy tales, self-help manuals, comics, films, podcasts, and political discourse. The course introduces students to fundamental questions about the nature of storytelling, while developing the vocabulary and critical skills for analysing and discussing stories. This is a writing intensive course in which students read as they learn to write. Students practice applying a critical vocabulary to textual forms as well as becoming familiar with the skills of drafting and editing. The course also introduces students to some of the professional pathways open to writers and storytellers.(This writing-intensive course counts towards the Academic Writing requirements).

This course has two primary goals: to introduce students to the history and theoretical writings of various strands of cultural studies, and to acquaint them with some of the intersecting axes - race, class and gender - that energize the field. Close attention will be paid to issues such as the shaping of identity, forms of representation, the production, consumption and distribution of cultural goods, and the construction of knowledge and power in a host of cultural practices and cultural institutions.

This course presents an interdisciplinary introduction to key concepts in gender studies. Focusing on the way in which gender operates in different cultural domains, this class investigates the manner in which race, culture, ethnicity, and class intersect with gender. (This writing-intensive course counts towards the Academic Writing requirements).

In this course, students will explore the cultures that produce and are reproduced by our current food systems in Europe, touching upon the local, national and global dimensions. This course will examine the cultural, ecological, political, and geographic forces at work influencing the chain of production from farm to table. In particular, students will consider the contemporary food systems in Italy and Switzerland as well as their cultural and historical roots. Students will learn more about what it takes to become an active food citizen as the class considers where food comes from here in Europe and how the food we eat shapes who we are, both literally and figuratively. This course includes a travel component to Italy and Switzerland where students will study first hand some of the concepts discussed, including terroir, slow food, and local farm to table movements.

This course explores various aspects of rivers, freshwater lakes, and groundwater aquifers. It provides an introduction to the distinct ecology of these three freshwater systems, their human uses, different approaches to their conservation, possibilities for restoration of degraded systems, and a look at the role that lakes and rivers play in international relationships. During Academic Travel, the class will visit various freshwater systems and will also practice field data collection techniques. Tentatively, the travel will take place in North-East Italy and Slovenia. This course may also include shorter day-trips to local points of interests.

Serving as an introduction to environmental management in Switzerland, this course draws from case studies and current examples. Students learn how the Swiss manage and exploit forests, agricultural areas, and aquatic systems. Students further explore the cultural and economic importance of natural resources and wildlife in Switzerland, the policies behind their protection and use, and the challenges Switzerland faces in managing them. The course includes multiple required trips to local points of interest including a weekend field-trip.

Switzerland can be seen as a striking exception to the idea of a modern Western nation state: one of the oldest republics, with four official languages, neutral by tradition with at the same time a strong military tradition, a direct democracy and nevertheless one of the most stable states in the world. Hence, it has convincingly been called a ''country of minorities'' or just ''an exception''. This course analyzes the political, economic, social, and cultural development of Switzerland as a coherent and significant part of the history of medieval and modern Europe, with visits to places such as Bern, Basel, Schwyz, St. Gallen, and Zurich. Key themes covered include the founding of the Swiss Confederation in the thirteenth century, the initiation of the Swiss Reformation by Ulrich Zwingli in the sixteenth century, the introduction of the federal government in the nineteenth century, and the present day polemics of immigration and direct democracy. Local day trips to the medieval Ticinese towns of Riva San Vitale and Mendrisio round out the course.

Italy in many of its aspects can be considered to be a laboratory of Western modernity. The peninsula had a leading role in Western affairs during Antiquity and the Middle Ages, but this role was lost by the end of the fifteenth century.  During  the  modern  age,  however, Italy continued to provide a central point of reference in the European mind. This course focuses attention on the cultural, social and political developments in Italian history in their European context since the Renaissance. Themes include the struggles over national identity in the absence of a unified nation state, the differing regions and competing centers, the interplay of culture and politics, the discussions of the nature of law and of legitimacy, and the relation between religion and politics.

This course undertakes an in-depth discussion of the origins and development of nationalism as an ideology, as a political movement, and as a source of internal and international conflict in Europe. Following an introduction to important approaches in the theory of nationalism, special attention is devoted to the periods of the Napoleonic Wars, the First World War and its impact, and the period after the end of the Cold War in 1989.

This course will introduce students to the contemporary politics of Italy and the issues that are confronting its policy makers and people. The focus is on the evolution of Italian society after World War II and the cultural, economic, and social trends that have shaped its political system. The goal of this course is to give the students a comprehensive picture of contemporary Italy and the political challenges facing Italians today. The travel component focuses on Puglia, a region that highlights the intersections of tradition and transformation in Italian society. Recommended POL 100.

This is a hands-on course designed to explore key aspects of an exciting contemporary film genre known as The Video Essay: a branch of experimental cinema which stems from the contributions of avant-garde filmmakers such as Man Ray, Jean-Luc Godard, Nam June Paik, and Bill Viola. Video Art, like its celluloid counterpart in experimental film, emphasizes the artistic potential of the film medium, as opposed to cinema's more common function as an object of consumption for entertainment value. As the etymology of the name implies, the video essay is an expression of how and what we see when we try to make visual sense of the world. The key aspects of videomaking to be studied in this course have been divided into four learning modules. Each module corresponds to one week in the four- week summer program, each week being dedicated to one of the questions noted above. These learning modules are: 1) Conceptualizing the Image; 2) Capturing the Image; 3) Contextualizing the Image; and 4) Projecting the Image. Students will be evaluated on a portfolio comprised of four completed video essays, with accompanying statements of artistic intent, and one conclusive paper which will be presented orally to the class. Students enrolled in this class must have their own digital video recording device.

This introductory ceramics course combines art history and studio work with an intensive travel period in northern and central Italy. Students will be given the opportunity to understand the complete process of producing objects in clay and terracotta, from the first planning/designing phases, through the basic modeling techniques, to the more complicated processes of firing and glazing. Studio sessions both on and off campus will incorporate lectures on artists and art movements, as well as visits to local venues, major museums and other sites of importance with regard to the use of clay and terracotta in the fine arts. The on-campus lectures aim to provide students with an understanding of the importance of northern and central Italy for the history of ceramics from the age of the Etruscans to the present day. All students will have the opportunity to do in-depth, intensive work in clay modeling, hand-built ceramics and glazing techniques. The first part of the course will focus on the functional aspects of the terracotta object, while the second will introduce terracotta as sculpture.

Aimed at beginning and intermediate students, this digital-based media course (photography, sound and video) is designed to reveal key aspects of the production of the video essay through excursions in the Ticino region, studio work and critical discussions based on readings and screenings. The video essay is an expression of how and what we see when we try to make visual sense of the world-- a genre of experience. Through projects using photography, sound and video, students will explore this dynamic genre and how it can be used to express place and their relationship to it, with the goal of producing a personal portfolio of creative work. Students enrolled in this class must have their own digital video recording device, which can range from a smart phone to a digital camera or video camera. The course carries a nominal fee of 100 CHF or USD 100 for art supplies and travel expenses.

This experimental, introductory course will explore the creative possibilities of media which have largely been considered mechanical, reproductive processes. Brief introductory lectures will introduce and demonstrate the following techniques: simple printing methods that do not use the printing press (direct stamping, stenciling, monotype, frottage); relief printing methods using linoleum, wood blocks and other surfaces; intaglio techniques (dry point). As time permits, collograph and silkscreen printing will also be introduced. The course has the following goals: to gain knowledge of printing materials, equipment and techniques; to produce prints using the techniques introduced during the course; to understand printing techniques in an art historical perspective and acknowledge of printing as a fine art; to construct a basic art vocabulary and develop the skills necessary to critical visual analysis. The course travels alternately to Urbino in Central Italy and to Lódz, Poland, to participate in the PATA summer workshops at the Strzeminski Academy of Art.

The best time to travel in Umbria is July, when everything that this distinctive territory of art and culture has to offer can be most fully appreciated: two internationally renowned music festivals, Umbria Jazz in Perugia and the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, the outdoors through an excursion in the Sibylline mountains, a hike along the Franciscan trail between Spoleto and Assisi or a bike ride through vestiges of ancient Rome around Campello di Clitunno, local festivals celebrating Italian food and local traditions, and last but not least, art from the age of the Etruscans (Perugia, Orvieto) through the contemporary era (architecture by Fuksas, the Burri Foundation, CIAC in Foligno, Arnaldo Pomodoro’s Carapace ‘living sculpture’ winery at Montefalco. All of this and much more can be experienced in the best way – by being there. Finally, students will have the opportunity to live art fully by learning basic techniques of ceramics during a stay at a sculptor’s home and studio at La Fratta Art House, near Deruta. After a week in Lugano, with introductory lectures and films on the region and its traditions, art and music, the next 2½ weeks will be spent in Umbria, alternating attendance at scheduled concerts and performances at Umbria Jazz and the Spoleto Festival with visits to nearby towns and villages to see art, architecture, museums and monuments, engage in outdoor activities or visit local industries (wine, olive oil, chocolate, ceramics). After Spoleto and Perugia, the group will move to La Fratta Art House, where they will live with an Italian artist’s family. Most of this part of the course will be dedicated to learning basic techniques of handbuilding and clay modeling. Many of the lessons will be conducted in Italian (with a translator) so the trip will have a high component of language immersion, and the stay at La Fratta Art House will be total immersion in Italian language and culture.

The region of Umbria stakes its reputation on ‘slow living’ and sustainability. Located in the center of Italy, and also known as its ‘green heart’, it has one of the highest pro capita percentages of UNESCO World Heritage sites in the world. Preserving this heritage and continuing to keep age-old traditions alive have contributed to making sustainability a way of life, as in the title of the overview of 20 years of EU research into cultural heritage, ''Preserving Our Heritage; Improving Our Environment''. This course will provide a unique opportunity for students to study the area on site, concentrating on different ways in which this challenge has or has not been met, ranging from world famous performing arts festivals to ventures in sustainable living. At the same time, the course features an intensive arts experience through visits to art cities, museums, areas of natural beauty, enological and gastronomical firms, as well as attendance at local seasonal fairs and festivals of music and the performing arts. There is a studio component of the course: STA 331T will be taken together with STA115/215/315 Painting, which will focus on projects and techniques particularly suited to sustainability themes.

The Senior Seminar is the capstone course for the Italian Studies major at Franklin University. The seminar will create a forum for the research and presentation of an original senior project in English or Italian. The capstone seminar will not only seek to bring together work done in other courses in the Italian Studies major, but will offer the chance to reflect on and integrate academic travel courses into the student's final project. Possible final projects may take various forms, including: a thesis, a performance, a video essay, or a portfolio of creative work. Projects will be designed and completed in consultation with the instructor and the student's major advisor.