150 courses with the subject ITAL, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
ITAL 0050Sicilian Language and Culture
Occupied over the centuries by the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, French, and Spaniards, Sicily is a region of many histories and many traditions. Birthplace and crossroad of cultures and artistic movements, the Sicilian land has shaped the imagination of its inhabitants and has never ceased to fascinate its visitors. Its language and culture have also been exported abroad, through the many Sicilians who left the island and settled all over the world. This course is an introduction to Sicilian Language and Culture. We will study spoken Sicilian and cultural artifacts ranging from film to literature, to music and food, in order to learn to recognize and understand the unique sounds and features of "siciliano" and to converse in Sicilian with native speakers and with one another. Class sessions include lectures and interactive discussions. Between classes, the learning experience is extended through assignments, lectures and discussions.
ITAL 0085Representations of Rome in Film and Literature (1848-present)
- First Year Seminar The myth of Rome as “The Eternal City” stands as one of the longest enduring narratives in Western cultural history, spanning from the 1st century BC to contemporary times. In this course, students will delve into the historical trajectory of this term, with a specific focus on its literary and cinematic representations over the last two and a half centuries. Throughout the semester, fundamental questions will be explored: When and why did this myth originate? How was it politically and rhetorically wielded by historical figures such as Napoleon and Mussolini? Through engagement with an extensive array of sources, ranging from historical documents to literary and cinematic representations, along with 20th- century poetry, students will develop the critical and theoretical tools for the analysis of historical, literary, and cinematic texts. Simultaneously, they will immerse themselves in the history of one of the world’s most enduring urban centers. Commencing with an exploration of the historical roots defining Rome’s designation as “The Eternal City,” the course will progress to an examination of the political exploitation of this myth throughout modern history, starting from the mid 18th-century. Key topics addressed will include representations of Rome during the Grand Tour, the city's transformation from the seat of the Catholic Church to the capital of a modern secular democracy, its pivotal role in the development of fascist culture, its significance during the Second World War and the 1968 student protests, culminating in its contemporary multicultural identity. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 0085 1 Course Unit
ITAL 0087Desire and Deception in Medieval Erotic Literature
In this course, we will investigate the ideology, content, and material forms of love literature from Dante Alighieri to Francesco Petrarca. Through close readings of such texts as Dante’s Vita nova (ca. 1295), Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron (ca. 1353), and Petrarca's Rerum vulgarium fragmenta (often referred to as the poetry book par excellence: il canzoniere, ca. 1374), we will unveil the literary and fictitious nature of medieval erotic literature. We will explore the origins of love poetry in medieval France and its subsequent interpretation and rewriting in Italian courts and comuni. We will inquire into the cultural constructions of the medieval notion of lyrical self and how it still has an impact on our own notion of consciousness. We will study the forms, themes, and characters that populate 'love stories' in the Middle Ages. We will analyze the dynamics of composition, circulation, and reception in manuscript culture. Our close analysis of the texts as they have been preserved in manuscript form will help us gauge the differences between medieval and contemporary ways of writing, reading, and loving. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: COML 0087, GSWS 0087 1 Course Unit
MUSC 0810 ITAL/CIMS First-Year Seminar: Italian American 0090/ Studies ENGL 1299/ GSWS 0090 ITAL/CIMS First-Year Seminar: Contemporary Italy 0091 ITAL/CIMS/ First-Year Seminar: Italian Film and Media
ITAL 0097First-Year Seminar: Italian Foods and Cultures
This first#year seminar invites students to explore the history and cultural meanings of Italian gastronomy, tracing its transformations from Ancient Rome to the present, in Italy and abroad. We examine how Italian food has been conceived, represented, produced, consumed, and marketed across a range of contexts including family in rural and urban settings, commercial spaces like restaurants, markets, and food industries. As we investigate how Italian culinary practices reflect broader historical, social, and economic shifts, we consider how food shapes politics, national identity, international relations, and contemporary marketing strategies. Building on this foundation, we adopt an intercultural perspective to study the migration of Italian culinary traditions to the United States to address some questions, including: How have dishes, ingredients, and food rituals changed? What emerges when Italian foodways interact with local cultures, particularly in communities in the Philadelphia area? By examining these dynamics, we gain insight into adaptation, hybridization, and cultural exchange. Through close reading analysis, case studies, and experiential learning activities (conversation with guest speakers, interviews with food experts, visits to museums and local food establishments) students develop a deeper understanding of Italian food as both a political artifact and a living, evolving practice. Course materials include literary narratives, films, scholarly articles, artworks, recipes and cookbooks, selected archival material, and commercial sources. All the reading and viewing material is in English. No knowledge of Italian is needed. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 0097, GSWS 0097 1 Course Unit
A first-semester elementary language course for students who have never studied Italian or who have had very little exposure to the language. Students who have previously studied Italian are required to take the placement test. Class work emphasizes the development of spontaneous discourse skills and interactional competence. Out-of-class homework required.
An intensive two-credit course covering the first and second semester of the elementary year for students who have never studied Italian before but have already fulfilled the language requirement in another modern language, preferably a romance language. Students who have fulfilled the language requirement in a language other than a romance language will be considered on an individual basis. All students must have departmental permission to register. Class work emphasizes the development of spontaneous discourse skills and interactional competence. Out-of-class homework required.
This course is the continuation of the elementary-level sequence designed to develop functional competence in the four skills. Class work emphasizes the further development of spontaneous discourse skills and interactional competence. Out-of-class homework required.
Italian 0300 is the first half of a two-semester intermediate sequence designed to help you attain a level of proficiency that will allow you to function comfortably in an Italian-speaking environment. The course will build on your existing skills in Italian, increase your confidence and your ability to read, write, speak and understand the language, and introduce you to more refined lexical items, more complex grammatical structures, and more challenging cultural material. You are expected to have already learned the most basic grammatical structures in elementary Italian and to review these. The course materials will allow you to explore culturally relevant topics and to develop cross-cultural skills through the exploration of similarities and differences between your native culture and the Italian world.
This course is the intensive and accelerated course that combines in one semester the intermediate sequence (0300 and 0400). It will build on your existing skills in Italian, increase your confidence and your abilit to read, write, speak and understand the language, and introduce you to more refined lexical items, more complex grammatical structures, and more challenging cultural material. The course will allow you to explore culturally relevant topics and to develop cross-cultural skills through the exploration of similarities and differences between your native culture and the Italian world.
The course materials and nature of assignments and projects complement the Italian Studies curriculum by supporting the cultural content, linguistic functions, and types of assignments students may have already been exposed to in other Italian courses. This course will serve not only as a gateway to inspire students to take Italian Studies courses in the future, but will also accompany classes they may be taking simultaneously. The learning objectives of the works studied in this course will mirror and support the goals of the Italian Studies Curriculum while paying particular attention to oral expression, communication, and fostering a community of students of Italian both inside and outside the classroom. Two Term Class, Student may enter either term; credit given for either 0.5 Course Units
This course will focus on contemporary Italian culture following its development since the 1960s. Pertinent films, literary texts, articles, as well as material in other media will complement the analysis of films and allow in-depth discussion. The cultural material explored in the course will be also used as a basis for a review of linguistic structures and vocabulary. Audiovisual materials develop students' comprehension and production in Italian and enable them to function in an academic setting. Class work will center primarily on conversation to improve students' fluency, vocabulary, and accuracy in speaking. Homework will consist of y research and writing assignments in written Italian. Additionally, students will be required to prepare presentations. Students will write a final essay.
In this course, students will strengthen their communication skills, while continuing to explore significant aspects of contemporary Italian culture and history. Students will take further steps towards being able to understand in depth and to contextualize authentic Italian documents. Films, songs, and a variety of readings, will be used as windows on particular historical periods, cultural movements, political issues, and social customs. They will serve as a tool to investigate the many facets of Italian identity and, at the same time, as a way to prepare those students who will continue their study of Italian literature and culture in higher-level courses. Students are expected to participate in conversations and all other class activities in order to improve their oral and written ability to narrate, express opinion, hypothesize, and discuss a variety of topics, using rich, appropriate vocabulary and grammar, and organizing well-structured discourses, be they oral presentations, weekly compositions or the final essay. To reach these goals, speaking, listening, reading and writing activities -- role plays, discussions, oral presentations, journals, grammar reviews -- will be based on audio-visual material and written texts and/or proposed by the students themselves, based on their independent explorations and research.
The course is conducted entirely in Italian and should be taken after completion of Italian 1000 or equivalent. It is designed to enable students to acquire language proficiency in the current Italian business and labor world. Business terminology will be used in specific business situations such as banking, trade, communications, etc. The course will examine Italian business practices, cultural differences such as the attitude towards money, work, leisure and consumerism through websites, newspaper and magazine articles and video clips. Students will learn to read business publications, write and compose business texts, and participate in business-related conversations. Additionally, guest lecturers from the local business world with ties to Italy will provide students with information about internship and job opportunities and the knowledge necessary to navigate international and Italian commercial routes. All reading and lectures in Italian. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit 2026-27 Catalog | Generated 08/03/26
ITAL 1212Business Italian: Italian for Special Purposes
The course is conducted entirely in Italian and should be taken after completion of Italian 1000 or equivalent. It is designed to enable students to acquire language proficiency in the current Italian business and labor world. Business terminology will be used in specific business situations such as banking, trade, communications, etc. The course will examine Italian business practices, cultural differences such as the attitude towards money, work, leisure and consumerism through websites, newspaper and magazine articles and video clips. Students will learn to read business publications, write and compose business texts, and participate in business-related conversations. Additionally, guest lecturers from the local business world with ties to Italy will provide students with information about internship and job opportunities and the knowledge necessary to navigate international and Italian commercial routes. All reading and lectures in Italian. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
ITAL 1213Business Italian: Italian for Professions
The course is conducted entirely in Italian and should be taken after completion of Italian 1000 or equivalent. It is designed to enable students to acquire language proficiency in the current Italian business and labor world. Business terminology will be used in specific business situations such as banking, trade, communications, etc. The course will examine Italian business practices, cultural differences such as the attitude towards money, work, leisure and consumerism through websites, newspaper and magazine articles and video clips. Students will learn to read business publications, write and compose business texts, and participate in business-related conversations. Additionally, guest lecturers from the local business world with ties to Italy will provide students with information about internship and job opportunities and the knowledge necessary to navigate international and Italian commercial routes. All reading and lectures in Italian. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
ITAL 1214Business Italian: Translation and Interpreting
The course is conducted entirely in Italian and should be taken after completion of Italian 1000 or equivalent. It is designed to enable students to acquire language proficiency in the current Italian business and labor world. Business terminology will be used in specific business situations such as banking, trade, communications, etc. The course will examine Italian business practices, cultural differences such as the attitude towards money, work, leisure and consumerism through websites, newspaper and magazine articles and video clips. Students will learn to read business publications, write and compose business texts, and participate in business-related conversations. Additionally, guest lecturers from the local business world with ties to Italy will provide students with information about internship and job opportunities and the knowledge necessary to navigate international and Italian commercial routes. All reading and lectures in Italian. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
This course will center on the biography, works, and cultural context of a specific composer or group of composers. As well as introducing students to the musical works of the composer(s), the course will examine issues such as reception history, the canon, mechanisms of cult formation, authorship and attribution, identity, historical and social contexts, and nationalism and patriotism. Fulfills Arts and Letters Requirement. The course centers on a group of composers who created or developed opera as a successful genre by setting texts in Italian: Monteverdi, Handel, Mozart, Verdi, and Puccini. We will explore how these musicians were involved in opera as a business model, how their careers took shape, how their music interacted on stage with words, bodies, and sets (enhancing narratives based on literature, mythology and history), how their works were products of larger social contexts, and finally, how and why these operas are presented today by American theatres (also adapted as Broadway musicals) or in film versions. The course is intended for non-majors, but music majors are welcome. Knowledge of Italian is not necessary. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: MUSC 1320 1 Course Unit
This course will center on the biography, works, and cultural context of a specific composer or group of composers. As well as introducing students to the musical works of the composer(s), the course will examine issues such as reception history, the canon, mechanisms of cult formation, authorship and attribution, identity, historical and social contexts, and nationalism and patriotism. Fulfills Arts and Letters Requirement. Mozart’s meeting with Lorenzo Da Ponte in Vienna in 1783 sparked one of the most successful collaborations in opera history between a poet and a composer, generating three works that are frequently staged in today’s theatres worldwide, The Marriage of Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787), and Così fan tutte (1790). We will study the literary sources of these operas, the poetic and operatic conventions of the time, and the issues (such as love, power, and gender) that these works raise, by also comparing different versions on video. The course is intended for non-majors, but music majors are welcome. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: MUSC 1322 1 Course Unit
An investigation, through a series of representative works, of the central problem of opera: how does the combination of music, text, and visual spectacle create an art form in which the whole is more powerful than its parts. Today this issue can be examined not only in live performances but also through media such as film, DVD, streaming video-- media to which this four-centuries-old multimedia form has adapted, evolving in still compelling ways. The works chosen for the course provide a chronological survey but also represent the variety of sources on which opera has drawn for it subject matter: myth and legend, the epic, the novel, and the play. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: MUSC 1430 1 Course Unit University of Pennsylvania Catalog 2105
An exploration of cinematic sound through the lens of specific composer/ director collaborations in post-1950 Italy, examining scores, soundtracks, and the interaction of diegetic and non-diegetic music with larger soundscapes. Composers Nino Rota and Ennio Morricone serve as case studies, in partnership with directors Fellini, Visconti, Leone, Pontecorve, Pasolini, and Coppola. Highlights include several excerpts form the Fellini/Rota collaboration, including The White Sheik, I vitelloni, The Road, Nights of Cabiria, La dolce vita, 8 1/2, Juliet of the Spirits, Satyricon, The Clowns, Roma, Amarcord, Casanova, and Orchestra Rehearsal. Rota's music for Visconti will be examined in Senso, the Leopard, and Rocco and his Brothers, along with his Transatlantic collaboration for The Godfather. Morricone's work with various directors will be discussed in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The Battle of Algiers, and Teorema, as well as for American films such as Malick's Days of Heaven and Tarantino's The Hateful Eight. Weekly screenings required. Open to all: music majors, minors, and non-majors; will count toward requirements for music minor. Knowledge of music and Italian helpful but not required. All readings and lectures in English. Also Offered As: CIMS 1440, MUSC 1440 1 Course Unit
This course surveys the history of Italian literature through its major masterpieces. Beginning with Dante's Divine Comedy, Petrarca's love poems, and Boccaccio's Decameron, we will follow the development of Italian literary tradition through the Renaissance (Machiavelli's political theory and Ariosto's epic poem), and then through Romanticism (Leopardi's lyric poetry and Manzoni's historical novel), up to the 20th century (from D'annunzio's sensual poetry to Calvino's post-modern short stories). The course will provide students with the tools needed for analyzing the texts in terms of both form and content, and for framing them in their historical, cultural, and socio-political context. Classes and readings will be in Italian. ITAL 1890 is mandatory for Majors in Italian Literature and Minors in Italian Literature. If necessary, ITAL 1000 can be taken at the same time as ITAL 1890. Prerequisite: Open to students who have completed ITAL 1000 or equivalent.
ITAL 1900Italian History on Screen: How Movies Tell the Story of Italy
How has our image of Italy arrived to us? Where does the story begin and who has recounted, rewritten, and rearranged it over the centuries? In this course, we will study Italy's rich and complex past and present. We will carefully read literary and historical texts and thoughtfully watch films in order to attain an understanding of Italy that is as varied and multifacted as the country itself. Group work, discussions and readings will allow us to examine the problems and trends in the political, cultural and social history from ancient Rome to today. We will focus on: the Roman Empire, Middle Ages, Renaissance, Unification, Turn of the Century, Fascist era, World War II, post-war and contemporary Italy. Lectures and readings are in English.
What images come to mind when we hear the words Sicily and Sicilians? Often our thoughts range from scenic vacation spots, delicious seafood and cannoli, and sweet grandmothers dressed in black, to mafia violence, vendettas, and the deep-rooted code of silence, omerta. But, how did these ideas get to us? Is there truth in them? Is there more to this island and its people? Through careful analysis of literary and cinematic representations of this Italian region, and those that do and have inhabited it, we will trace and analyze how Sicilians have represented themselves, how mainland Italians have interpreted Sicilian culture, how outsiders have understood these symbols, how our own perceptions shaped what we thought we knew about this place and, finally, how our own observations will have evolved throughout our studies. We will watch films such as Tornatore's Cinema paradiso and Coppola's The Godfather II, and read texts such as Lampedusa's The Leopard and Maraini's Bagheria. This course aims to increase students' understanding and knowledge of the Sicilian socio-cultural system. It will help students develop their ability to understand and interpret Sicilian culture through close analysis of its history, values, attitudes, and experiences, thereby allowing them to better recognize and examine the values and practices that define their own, as well as others', cultural frameworks.
ITAL 1940Food, History and Culture in Europe, 100-1600
Before the age of mass transportation, was all food locally sourced? In an era when most medicines were plant based, what did it mean to eat a balanced diet? “Feed a cold, starve a fever.” Why? This course focuses on food, diet, and cuisine in European culture, thought, and society with a focus on the later Middle Ages and Renaissance. In it, we will examine a variety of primary sources ranging from food in art, health handbooks, and cookbooks, some of which we will consult in the original at the Kislak Center at Penn. By the end of the semester, students will understand the roles played by climate, culture, religion, the economy, and medicine in shaping the “foodways” of Europe. Also Offered As: HIST 1212 1 Course Unit
MUSC 1810 ITAL/HIST Florence in History 2200 ITAL/HIST The City of Rome: From Constantine to the 2201 Borgias ITAL/HIST Food and Diet in Early Europe: Farm to 2204 Table in the Renaissance ITAL/CIMS Cultura E Letteratura 2500
No credit (fulfills language requirement) Latin 204 (1 c.u.) (fulfills language requirement) No credit (fulfills language requirement) Latin 204 (1 c.u.) (fulfills language requirement) No credit (fulfills language requirement) Latin 204 (1 c.u.) (fulfills language requirement) No credit (fulfills language requirement)
ITAL 210(1 c.u., fulfills the Foreign Language Requirement)
No credit (fulfills the Foreign Langague Requirement) LATN Free (1 c.u., fulfills the Foreign Language Requirement) No credit (fulfills the Foreign Language Requirement) LATN Free (1 c.u., fulfills the Foreign Language Requirement) No credit (fulfills the Foreign Language Requirement) LATN Free (1 c.u., fulfills the Foreign Language Requirement) No credit (fulfills the Foreign Language Requirement)
Florence is justly famous for its art and learning, especially during the era of the Renaissance. It was also one of the most literate states in Europe during this era; thanks to the city’s 3 abundant records, it is one of the best-studied cities in Europe from the later Middle Ages through the early modern era. Our course readings present a mix of major primary sources, synthetic summaries, and important modern scholarship. Most of our class time will focus on the information and issues they raise. . Fall or Spring Also Offered As: HIST 2200 1 Course Unit
ITAL 2201The City of Rome: From Constantine to the Borgias
The great city of Rome outlived its empire and its emperors. What happened to the Eternal City after “the fall of the Roman Empire in the West?” In this course, we will follow the story of this great city, its people its buildings old and new, and its legacy across Italy, Europe, and beyond. Rome rebuilt and reshaped itself through the Middle Ages: home for popes, destination for pilgrims, power broker for Italy. It became a great Renaissance and early modern city, a center of art and architecture, of religion, and of politics. We will be reading a mix of primary sources and modern scholarship. All required texts are in English, though students who take this course for Italian Studies credit may choose to read some works in Italian.
Western notions of feminism are often dominated by anglophone cultures and experiences, but the fight for rights and equity for women is intrinsically tied to their lived experiences and the socio-political- economic factors that contribute to their position within a society. In this course students will research and reflect on many of the topics at the heart of feminist debate in Italy throughout the decades. From voting, to procreation laws, to abortion rights, to IVF, to sex work, to transfeminist debates, to anti-femicide actions, to intersectional feminist experience, to neofascist feminist moralism, to transnational feminist activism, this class will seek to explore various feminist movements of the 20th and 21st century in Italy and the contexts from which they stemmed as well as the moments of conflict between various factions of national feminism and transnational feminist discourse. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: GSWS 2240 1 Course Unit University of Pennsylvania Catalog 2107
ITAL 2320Medium Matters: How to Make Books, Cuneiform to Kindle
This course is a hands-on historical and theoretical investigation into diverse media of textual and literary expression from clay tablets to , digital texts. Through the direct examination of rare books and various textual oddities from Penn’s Special Collections and Archives and the Penn Museum, we will inquire into the history of the book and the history of writing. We will focus on different textual technologies and modes of composition, circulation, transmission, and reception of texts (from antiquity to the present day). By engaging in such topics as the transition from manuscript to print, from scroll to codex, and from book to Kindle, we will consider the history of literacy and literature in relation to other forms of expression (oral, visual, networked) and analyze different practices of organizing textual materials (from punctuation to annotation). We will examine paratextual elements (titles, forewords, afterwords) and various forms of verbal and visual accretion (from commentaries to illustrations). We will survey shifting notions of authorship, intellectual property, creativity, and originality and explore different systems of storage (libraries, archives, museums). By questioning the multi-faceted, non-deterministic interplay between textual artifacts and the media by which they are formalized and materially formed, we will conduct a critical reflection on the nature of textuality, writing, literature, and media. Readings will set essays in the history of the book and media studies alongside key case studies from various periods and geographical areas. And we will engage with textual materiality through the creation of book-objects of our own. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: COML 2320, ENGL 0761, ENGL 2320 1 Course Unit
Please check the website for a current course description at: http:// www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 2522, GSWS 2522 1 Course Unit
The course explores the historical, social, and cultural history of Florence across the centuries. Florence, which has been one of the largest and most powerful city-states since the Middle Ages, has undergone different changes that have significantly shaped both the character and the urban texture of the city. Cradle of the Renaissance, culinary and fashion hub, a political laboratory, Florence has lived many lives that will be discussed in the course, also offering comparisons with other Italian and Mediterranean realities. Readings by authors, philosophers, architects, and artists will be complemented by field trips, excursions, and tours of Florence’s most iconic sites and monuments. Trips to other Tuscan cities (Siena, S. Gimignano, Arezzo, Cortona) will be part of the course.
ITAL 2550Michelangelo and the Art of the Italian Renaissance
An introduction to the work of the Renaissance artist Michelangelo (1475-1564)-his sculptures, paintings, architecture, poetry, and artistic theory-in relation to his patrons, predecessors, and contemporaries, above all Leonardo and Raphael. Topics include artistic creativity and license, religious devotion, the revival of antiquity, observation of nature, art as problem-solving, the public reception and function of artworks, debates about style, artistic rivalry, and traveling artists. Rather than taking the form of a survey, this course selects works as paradigmatic case studies, and will analyze contemporary attitudes toward art of this period through study of primary sources. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: ARTH 2500 Mutually Exclusive: ARTH 6500, ITAL 6500 1 Course Unit
Please check the website for a current course description at: http:// www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 2600 1 Course Unit
When you think of the term “scandal,” what comes to mind? Is there something about a society’s national identity that makes particular scandals resonate and shake the culture more than others? By exploring several Italian scandals that have helped define the cultural fabric of generations of Italians, we will learn to understand the social and politica roots behind the what and why of these phenomena. Through cross- mediatic and transnational archival research, we will look at the ways that different media and different nations use these phenomena to represent national belonging, social fear, and cultural expectation. Each crime has its own story, but how do they help us understand how Italy makes sense of itself through tragedy, corruption, murder, and mayhem? How bello is this bel paese after all? Did you ever wonder what’s behind Italy’s ever- revolving government? Or why do Italians prefer to use the English word “serial killer”? This course will be taught in English Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: GSWS 2620 1 Course Unit
This seminar explores the history and contemporary experiences of the peoples of Palermo, Sicily, especially its migrant communities. Historically one of the most "conquered" cities in the world and today the fifth largest city in Italy, Palermo is an important site to consider critical questions about: race and ethnicity, diversity and intercultural relations, organized crime, power and exploitation, mobility and human rights, among other issues at the intersection of migration and cities. In the first half of the semester, we will survey Palermo’s long history, with a focus on its different rulers (including the mafia), migrations, and the relationships, experiences, identities, and impacts of different peoples on the city, its social life, built environment and cultures. The class trip over spring break will include visits to and assignments exploring: 1) historic sites, museums, and neighborhoods related to the historic peoples of Palermo; and 2) contemporary migrant neighborhoods, shops, and organizations with our hosts and cultural mediators from the communities we visit. Migrant leaders long involved in city government and civil society will be our partners in this trip, helping us engage with migrant communities. In the second half of the semester, our readings, discussions, and assignment will expand our focus on the contemporary politics of immigration, inclusion, and related topics in Italy and Europe. Students will identify specific topics they wish to explore and help lead our conversations about readings and other material we choose to explore. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: URBS 2952 Mutually Exclusive: URBS 2950 1 Course Unit University of Pennsylvania Catalog 2109
Queer Cinema, in Theory: This course explores the role of cinema in shaping the history of gender and sexuality, at the same time introducing students to some of the most relevant texts in the field of queer, gender and trans studies. While the last decades have been characterized by increasing acceptance of gays, lesbians and trans people into mainstream society, this process has no doubt reproduced new inequalities and asymmetries – in terms of race, class, and gender presentation. Does “queer” still pose a threat to the mainstream or is it now part of the “normal”? Should one welcome the progressive acceptance or queer lives within the mainstream or should one reject it in the name of an indissoluble difference? How do whiteness and l homonormativity participate in the structural marginalization of black and trans people? Some of the topics addressed by this course are the “closet” in classical Hollywood cinema and its critique in 1990s queer films such as Happy Together (Wong Kar-wai, 1997); the intersection of sexuality and race in black feminist films such as Born in Flames (Lizzie Borden,1983) and Watermelon Woman (Cheryl Dunye, 1996); the treatment of reproductive labor in experimental feminist films such as Jeanne Dielman (Chantal Akerman, 1975); the representation of the AIDS crisis in new queer films such as The Living End (Gregg Araki,1992); sex reassignment politics in 2000s Iranian films such as Sex My Life (Bahman Motemedian). Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3030, GSWS 3020 1 Course Unit
When and why did fascism first emerge? What social and political problems did it claim to address? Where did its ideas come from? And how did cinema help transform those ideas into powerful images that shaped both the Italian fascist regime and its political afterlives? To address these questions, this course explores how Italian fascism has been imagined and contested through cinema from its inception in 1920s Italy to the present. Italy was the political laboratory in which fascism was first invented—both as a term and as a political experiment —before becoming a global model of authoritarian power. Moving from the historical emergence of fascism in the wake of World War I to its cinematic articulation in propaganda films and newsreels of the 1920s, the course analyzes how cinema functioned as a laboratory in which fascism was aestheticized and rendered politically legible across the twentieth century. The films studied range from fascist-era propaganda films such as Scipio The African (Gallone, 1937) and neorealist classics such as Rome, Open City (Rossellini, 1945) to the provocative art cinema of the 1970s, including works by Bertolucci, Cavani, and Pasolini, as well as contemporary films that revisit and reconfigure the legacy of fascism. The course approaches these films through multiple critical lenses, including gender and sexuality, race, class and nationalism, and the relationship between aesthetics and politics. Through close analysis of films, political manifestos, and historical documents, students will investigate how images produce consent and why the visual language of fascism remains a potent tool of political imaginaries in the digital age. Also Offered As: CIMS 3045, GSWS 3045 1 Course Unit 2026-27 Catalog | Generated 08/03/26
This course examines representations of the mafia in Italian and American cinema from the early 20th-century until contemporary times, exploring the historical, economic and political causes that led to the mafia’s rise in Italy and the USA. Beginning with an analysis of the social problems that led to its emergence in 19th-century Sicily, the course will trace the transformation of the mafia into an international criminal organization throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, focusing on historical events such as Italian migration to the Americas, the Second World War, the rise and consolidation of an Italian-American mafia in 1950s and 1960s New York, the Sicilian mafia’s attack on the Italian justice system in the 1980s and 1990s, and its more recent transformation into a global financial player. Some of the films we will watch and discuss include Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972), Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990), Marco Bellocchio’s The Traitor (2019), and popular American and Italian TV shows such as David Chase’s The Sopranos (1999-2007) and Stefano Sollima’s Romanzo criminale (2008-10). In our discussions, we will pay particular attention to the ways that gender, class and race figure in cultural perceptions of the mafia and of Italy more broadly. Taught in English. Also Offered As: CIMS 3060 1 Course Unit
ITAL 3300Historical Eras and Topics: Earlier Periods
Classes under this number offer a more in-depth look at historical eras and topics or repertories associated with a specific period of music history. Classes will focus on one historical epoch (Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque). The purpose of this course is to give students the opportunity to engage deeply with musical objects, both historically and analytically, as well as to expose them to a range of methodologies with which to study music. Topics include: the Italian and English Renaissance madrigal; Baroque Opera 1600-1750. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: MUSC 3300 1 Course Unit
We will explore the history of Baroque opera from the vantage point of its beginning and its end: Claudio Monteverdi’s Orfeo (1607) and Christoph Willibald Gluck‘s Orfeo ed Euridice (1762), both works setting into music narratives about the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice as told by Ovid, Virgil, and others. We will discuss not only the historical documents that survive about these two masterworks (scores, librettos, letters etc.) but also today’s productions available in video. Why was the myth of Orpheus central to creators and audiences? What do these two operas and their performances tell us about being human in the world, both back then and today? How do we approach and understand this 400-years old multimedia genre, and why do these works still attract worldwide audiences today? We will also investigate works by Sartorio, Lully, Charpentier, Purcell, Telemann, and Handel. These works are based on poetic texts (“librettos”) thus we will explore text/music issues, focusing on prosody. Students in ITAL/FIGS are not expected to know music (in technical terms) but will have an opportunity to be exposed to poetic texts (in Italian, French, and German) that, by supporting music, function differently from other texts.
In this course we will read the Inferno, the Purgatorio and the Paradiso, focusing on a series of interrelated problems raised by the poem: authority, fiction, history, politics and language. Particular attention will be given to how the Commedia presents itself as Dante's autobiography, and to how the autobiographical narrative serves as a unifying thread for this supremely rich literary text. Supplementary readings will include Virgil's Aeneid and selections from Ovid's Metamorphoses. All readings and written work will be in English. Italian or Italian Studies credit will require reading Italian texts in their original language and writing about their themes in Italian. This course may be taken for graduate credit, but additional work and meetings with the instructor will be required. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: COML 3330, ENGL 0509 1 Course Unit
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3400, ENGL 2299 1 Course Unit
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3401, GSWS 3401 1 Course Unit
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3402, GSWS 3402 1 Course Unit
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3403, GSWS 3403 1 Course Unit
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3404, GSWS 3404 1 Course Unit
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3405, GSWS 3405 1 Course Unit
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3406, GSWS 3406 1 Course Unit
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3407, GSWS 3407 1 Course Unit
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3408, GSWS 3408 1 Course Unit 2026-27 Catalog | Generated 08/03/26
ITAL/CIMS/ Italian Renaissance Studies GSWS 3410 ITAL/CIMS/ Mediterranean Studies GSWS 3411 ITAL/CIMS/ Italian Performance Studies GSWS 3412 ITAL/CIMS/ Italian Science and Philosophy GSWS 3413 ITAL/CIMS Italian Material Studies 3414 ITAL/CIMS Italian Digital Humanities 3415
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3410, GSWS 3410 1 Course Unit
From the Roman Empire's expansion to the contemporary European migration crisis, the Italian peninsula has served as a dynamic space where languages, identities, and histories intersect and clash. But, how was the Italian identity shaped by Mediterranean encounters? How do Italians envision the Mediterranean today? This course investigates the central question of how Mediterranean encounters have fundamentally shaped Italian national identity. We will explore how Italians have historically envisioned the Mediterranean—as a space of connection or division—and examine its enduring role in public discourse. To fully grasp Italy's current social and geopolitical challenges, we will analyze how forces like emigration, colonialism, and postcolonial legacies have molded the national self-conception both within and beyond its borders, particularly since the Unification of 1861. By engaging with the perspectives of writers, artists, politicians, filmmakers, journalists, an ordinary citizens, this course explores the diverse ways these groups have experienced and represented migration, colonial memory, and "otherness." Through guided readings, critical class discussions, and conversations with guest speakers, you'll not only refine your language skills but also gain a nuanced and critical understanding of Italy's complex position in the Mediterranean and the wider world. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3411, GSWS 3411 1 Course Unit
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3412, GSWS 3412 1 Course Unit
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3413, GSWS 3413 1 Course Unit
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3414 1 Course Unit 2026-27 Catalog | Generated 08/03/26
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3415 1 Course Unit
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: GSWS 3416 1 Course Unit
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses d Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3502 1 Course Unit
Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3503 1 Course Unit
Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: GSWS 3504 1 Course Unit
Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3505 1 Course Unit
Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 3506 1 Course Unit
Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: THAR 3512 1 Course Unit
Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit University of Pennsylvania Catalog 2113
Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
The Renaissance was a defining era in European history, the age of Machiavelli, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci, crucial in the formation of Europe’s culture and identity. In this course we will examine the philosophers, writers, artists, and scientists of this era, as well as the political and social climate in which they lived and worked. We will give particular attention to the humanist movement, university culture, revolutionary changes in the visual arts, science, and religion. Readings will include key primary sources from the Renaissance era as well as the writings of modern historians.
This course will consider the horror genre within the specific context of two national cinemas: France and Italy. For France, the focus will be almost exclusively on the contemporary period which has been witnessing an unprecedented revival in horror. For Italy, there will be a marked emphasis on the 1960s-1970s, i.e. the Golden Age of Gothic horror and the giallo craze initiated by the likes of Mario Bava and Dario Argento. Various subgenres will be examined: supernatural horror, ghost story, slasher, zombie film, body horror, cannibalism, etc. Issues of ethics, gender, sexuality, violence, spectatorship will be examined through a variety of critical lenses (psychoanalysis, socio-historical and cultural context, aesthetics, politics, gender, etc.).
Independent research under the supervision of a department faculty member. Research topic is determined in consultation with the supervising faculty member.
This is an advanced seminar, primarily for juniors and seniors who are prepared to engage deeply and critically with a specialized research topic. The topic of the seminar focuses on a particular genre or body of repertoire, music-maker or composer, or the cultural and social dynamics of a period in music and Italian or American history. Among the topics that we will explore are: opera and its literary and figurative sources 1600-1900; opera performance 1600-today; music and rhetoric ca. 1500-1800; text, music, and image ca. 1500-1750.
ITAL 5110/ Introduction to Paleography & Book History
CLST 7709/ COML 5111 ITAL/AAMW/ Myth Through Time and in Time Seminar ARTH 5254/ CLST 7407 ITAL/COML Medieval Italian Literature 5300 ITAL/COML Dante's Commedia I 5310 ITAL/COML/ After Dante’s Divine Comedy: Transmission ENGL 5320 and Material Form, Creative Adaptation and
The textual and physical remains of Greek and Roman culture and belief as 'myth' entranced the post-antique European world and its neighbors. Makers, patrons and viewers manipulated those survivals to challenge and speak to a contemporary world. This course focuses on how and why artists and their patrons engaged the mythic and examines the various areas of political and religious life that sought animation through an evocation of narratives from the past. Readings and case studies will examine very late antique through medieval and early modern art. This seminar is open to graduate and undergraduate students. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: AAMW 5254, ARTH 5254, CLST 7407 1 Course Unit
Please check the department's website for the course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/graduate/courses Dante Visualizing: Dante Visualizing and Dante Visualized. Dante's Commedia has inspired art, but at the same time art is present within the Comedy itself, through images, metaphors, descriptions and even more concrete examples. This course aims at discussing these aspects, taking into consideration also the philosophical, political and religious background of these motifs. While analyzing images in and from the Commedia, we will look at illustrations and artistic interpretations, spanning from medieval illuminations and Renaissance printed boooks (mainly from Van Pelt Library) to contemporary examples, and focusing on artists such as Giotto, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Blake, Dore, and Dali. The course will be taught in English. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: COML 5310 1 Course Unit
ITAL 5320After Dante’s Divine Comedy: Transmission and Material Form
Creative Adaptation and Performance This 5000-level seminar considers how Dante and the copyists of his works deployed the tools of scribal culture to shape, signal, or layer meanings beyond those conveyed in his written texts. Medieval texts, uniquely positioned to provide such perspective, are foundational to theoretical understanding of new forms and materials in our media- saturated, contemporary world. In this course, we also read later creative responses to Dante, especially in Irish and English, American and African American contexts, and in poetry and prose, video and film. We will work from a parallel text, paying attention to the Italian but with no prior experience of the language required. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: COML 5320, ENGL 5320 1 Course Unit
This PhD-level seminar offers a rigorous examination of Dante Alighieri’s works within their literary, philosophical, theological, and political contexts. Framed as both an intensive investigation of the central questions, themes, and formal features—textual and material—of Dante’s oeuvre and an introduction to the practices of philology and literary criticism within and beyond Dante Studies, the course situates Dante's works in the broader networks of production, circulation, transmission, reception, and dissemination of medieval and early modern literature. Students will engage with Dante’s texts in the original Italian, working closely with critical editions, commentaries, and a range of bibliographic and digital research tools. Emphasis will be placed on close reading and scholarly method. Participants will lead seminar discussions, evaluate current trends in Dante scholarship, provide peer feedback, and develop original research projects. Designed to cultivate advanced expertise in Dante Studies, the course prepares students for scholarly research and teaching in medieval literature and culture. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
ITAL 5384Plato and Aristotle in the Early Modern Period
In one of the most evocative frescoes of the Renaissance, Raphael juxtaposes Plato and Aristotle. The pairing would seem obvious, since the two thinkers had been for centuries symbols of philosophy and wisdom. But only the recent revival of Plato, begun in the mid-fifteenth century, had allowed the Latin world to gain a better understanding of Platonic philosophy and, therefore, to compare Plato's doctrines directly to those of Aristotle. Were master and disciple in harmony? And if not, which of the two should be favored? Such questions were less innocent than one might think, and the answers to them had implications for philosophy, theology, speculation on the natural world, and even politics. The course will offer an overview of Renaissance philosophy and culture by focusing on the different ways in which Plato and Aristotle were read, interpreted, and exploited between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. The course will be conducted in English; a basic knowledge of Latin is desirable but not required. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: COML 5384 1 Course Unit
This course examines the literary and social resonances of mural arts in medieval and Early Modern Italy. We will investigate emerging artistic conventions alongside textual moments that employ ekphrastic descriptions of mural art as a point of departure for larger commentaries on the role of gender, social hierarchies, the labor of the author and the artist, and civic justice. How did mural arts in medieval and early modern Italy shape viewers’ understanding of justice, society, and city life and their role within it? How did Italian authors appropriate artistic conventions, through text, in order to intervene in public discourse on sociopolitical concerns? Through a comparison of images and texts, we will explore the ways in which Italian writers and artists visualized justice, critiqued dominant social hierarchies, and renegotiated gendered spaces in their literary and artistic works. Alongside viewing works of art, course readings will explore literary representations of mural arts, both fictional and real, described ekphrastically in the works of Dante, Boccaccio, Ariosto, and Machiavelli, among others. Select readings from the work of Marguerite de Navarre, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Classical antecedents will shed light on cross cultural dialogue on the representation of civic life, gender, and justice in the Early Modern period. Primary source readings will be accompanied by selections from contemporary and critical theory on art history, gender, race, and politics. Finally, we will examine contemporary street art and graffiti in Florence to consider the legacy of these early modern tensions in Florentine culture today. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit
Since several years, the societal and cultural reality of multilingualism has become an important research field in linguistics and literary studies, as in cultural studies more generally. This graduate course will investigate how multilingual poetics challenge and resist paradigms and ideologies of innate monolingualism, linguistic mastery, absolute translatability and monocultural nationalism. To begin with, the course will introduce central aspects of scholarship on literature and multilingualism, covering concepts such as heteroglossia, code switching, translingualism and macaronic language, and debates such as those on world literature, global English, foreignization, (un)translatability and non-translation, including their political and ethical importance. After a brief historical overview, glancing at western literary multilingualism in the Middle Ages, Romanticism and the avantgarde, the course will mainly focus on literature of the late 20th and 21st centuries taken from Germanic and Romance linguistic contexts. Using an exemplary selection, the course will cover prose, poetry and drama, and include excerpts of texts by authors such as Andrea Camilleri, Gino Chiellino, Fikry El Azzouzi, Ernst Jandl, Jackie Kay, Çağlar Köseoğlu, Monique Mojica, Melinda Nadj Abonji, Emine Sevgi Özdamar, Olivier Rolin, Yoko Tawada, Nicoline van Harskamp, and others. Reading these texts, we will try to determine how multilingualism manifests itself (linguistically, discursively, rhetorically, thematically, contextually etc.) and how the texts engage with linguistic, cultural and social pluralities. The course will conclude with a focus on the translator as a central character in fictional prose and movies. Classes will take place in an interactive format that stimulates discussion and exchange. Students will get the respective excerpts – both in the original version and in English translation – one week at a time so that they can prepare themselves each week for the discussion. Theoretical and contextual information will be provided via Power Point presentations. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: COML 5710, DTCH 5710, FREN 5710, GRMN 5710 1 Course Unit 2026-27 Catalog | Generated 08/03/26
Please see department website for current description at: http:// www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/graduate/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: CIMS 5840 1 Course Unit
What is Italian philosophy? Does Italian philosophy have a peculiar character? Can we speak of "Italian philosophy" if Italy became a unified country only recently, and its history is complex and fragmented? Yet “Italian Thought” and its genealogy are central to today’s theoretical debates on concepts such as biopolitics, reproductive labor and “empire” among others. This course will offer a diachronic review of the most important Italian thinkers, highlighting the political vocation of Italian philosophy, and its engagement with history and science, while discussing the modern supporters and opponents of the “Italian Thought” category. Readings might include Dante, Machiavelli, Bruno, Vico, Beccaria, Gramsci, Cavarero and Agamben among others.
ITAL 5851Machiavelli’s Political Thought and its Modern Readers
There is hardly an author who has been as controversial as Niccolò Machiavelli. The influence of this Italian political thinker on the theoretical imaginary of subsequent thinkers and writers has been huge. Yet, there have been strong disagreements on how to interpret Machiavelli’s ideas and questions still abound on the political meaning of his thought. Is there a core message of Machiavellian politics? Is he a political philosopher or a theorist or a ‘scientist’ of politics? Can we call him a realist? Or is he rather a republican or a plebeian actor and thinker, as recent scholars have pointed out? If so, what kind of republicanism or plebeian ideas can be found in his context and in his works? What has been the impact of his ideas in 20th century political thought? The goal of this course is two-fold. Each class will comment and discuss passages from The Prince and the Discourses or important modern and contemporary texts based on Machiavelli’s ideas. On the one hand, the course aims to directly analyze some key passage of the two main texts of Machiavelli, The Prince and the Discourses. The aim of this investigation is to stress the complexity of Machiavelli’s thought in its own context, which substantially challenges any attempt to reduce him to simple labels. Machiavelli’s texts will also be approached through a close and thorough reading as well as a comparison with the ideas of its own sources (especially Polybius, Dante, Petrarca, Plutarch, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero etc.). On the other hand, the course aims to analyze the influence of Machiavelli thought on some 20th century thinkers (The students will also read texts from Antonio Gramsci, Claude Lefort, Isaiah Berlin, Leo Strauss, Louis Althusser, next to the most recent scholarly historical literature in Machiavelli studies). This will allow the students to become familiar not only with Machiavelli’s texts but also with several thinker who have drawn on this author from completely different perspectives to shape their own political thought. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: COML 5851 1 Course Unit
This is a year-long course required of all first-year Teaching Assistants in Italian. It is designed to provide new instructors with the necessary practical support to carry out their teaching responsibilities effectively and to build their own portfolio. It will also introduce students to various approaches to foreign language teaching as well as to current issues in second language acquisition. Two Term Class, Student must enter first term; credit given after both terms are complete 1 Course Unit University of Pennsylvania Catalog 2117
Please see department website for current description at: http:// www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/graduate/courses Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: COML 6010 1 Course Unit 2026-27 Catalog | Generated 08/03/26
This course will provide an overview of major European thinkers in critical theory of the 20th and 21st centuries. We will pay particular attention to critical currents that originated in Eastern European avant-garde and early socialist contexts and their legacies and successors. Topics covered will include: Russian Formalism and its successors in Structuralism and Deconstruction (Shklovsky, Levi-Strauss, Jakobson, Derrida); Bakhtin and his circle, dialogism and its later western reception; debates over aesthetics and politics of the 1930s (Lukacs, Brecht, Adorno, Benjamin, Radek, Clement Greenberg); the October group; Marxism, new Left criticism, and later lefts (Althusser, Williams, Eagleton, Jameson, Zizek).
This class examines various theories of and methods for archival research. Reflecting on the so-called archival turn in a number of disciplines, we will consider “the archive” as a philosophical, historiographic, and political problematic. We will also attend to specific, material archives as changing political, economic, and ideological sites. The 17th- to 19th-century Americas will be our center of gravity, but students are encouraged to bring questions, interests, and expertise in other periods and regions to our collective efforts. We will begin by reading some foundational philosophical and historiographic texts, and then turn to a series of thematic units, such as: black lives, indigeneity, and catastrophe.
ITAL 6070Pier Paolo Pasolini: Aesthetics, Politics, Sexuality
Pier Paolo Pasolini—poet, filmmaker, and radical intellectual—created some of the most provocative and influential films of the 20th century, blending insights from Freudian psychoanalysis, Marxism and religious mysticism. This course, marking the 50th anniversary of Pasolini’s death, explores his groundbreaking cinematic work in dialogue with the ideological struggles and artistic movements of the 20th century. We will trace Pasolini’s evolution from his representation of the Rome’s peripheries in Accattone (1961) through his mythological (Oedipus Rex, 1967; Medea, 1969) and experimental works (Teorema, 1968), culminating in his controversial Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975). In addition to his feature films, we will examine his documentary work, including Notes for an African Orestes (1970) and Love Meetings (1964), which offer key insights into his views on sexuality, political struggle, an the postcolonial world. At the core of our exploration will be Pasolini’s radical vision of sexuality and desire, which challenged social norms while positioning him within a broader network of queer and avant- garde filmmakers such as Agnès Varda, Andy Warhol, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, among others. Students will engage with his work through key theoretical frameworks—Gramsci, Freud, Lacan, Barthes—alongside contemporary approaches from queer theory, critical race studies, and ecocriticism. We will also examine his enduring influence on radical philosophy and feminist film criticism in the works of Teresa de Lauretis, Judith Mayne, Giorgio Agamben and Slavoj Zizek. This course is taught in English; no prior knowledge of Italian cinema or language is required. Also Offered As: CIMS 6070, GSWS 6070 Mutually Exclusive: ITAL 3070 1 Course Unit 2026-27 Catalog | Generated 08/03/26
‘Troubadour’ is a term whose meaning has evolved from the eleventh century to our day. In the Middle Ages, a troubadour was a singer- songwriter (male or female) who composed in a language called Occitan, the language spoken in northern Italy, across southern France, and into today’s Catalonia. Medieval works in this language include epic poetry, didactic texts, lengthy romances, and love poetry. Renowned and imitated throughout medieval Europe – by authors from today’s Italy, Austria, Germany, France, Spain, and Portugal – the Occitan literary heritage cannot be ignored. Though sometimes presented as a dead language, Occitan is very much alive, and one purpose of this course is to introduce students to it and to its broad importance in European literary history. This course will present the literary and cultural history of the Occitan region, writ large, from the Middle Ages to the modern day. By the end of the course, students will be able to read Occitan with the aid of a dictionary; they will understand the culture of the French Midi as distinct from that of France; they will know something of the distinctive cultural elements of Occitania. They will also have a profound knowledge of at least one Occitan author, medieval, modern, or contemporary. The course will be taught in English. In addition to learning the material covered in the course, students will gain expertise in producing professional presentations and research papers. Also Offered As: COML 6381, FREN 6381, GRMN 6381 1 Course Unit
ITAL 6500Michelangelo and the Art of the Italian Renaissance
An introduction to the work of the Renaissance artist Michelangelo (1475-1564)-his sculptures, paintings, architecture, poetry, and artistic theory-in relation to his patrons, predecessors, and contemporaries, above all Leonardo and Raphael. Topics include artistic creativity and license, religious devotion, the revival of antiquity, observation of nature, art as problem-solving, the public reception and function of artworks, debates about style, artistic rivalry, and traveling artists. Rather than taking the form of a survey, this course selects works as paradigmatic case studies, and will analyze contemporary attitudes toward art of this period through study of primary sources. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: ARTH 6500 Mutually Exclusive: ARTH 2500, ITAL 2550 1 Course Unit
This lecture course examines the art and architecture of the Venetian Republic, with emphasis on the work of the renowned painter, Titian. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: ARTH 6540 d 1 Course Unit
This lecture course explores the artistic culture of Baroque Rome, with focus on the life and career of Caravaggio. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: ARTH 6541 1 Course Unit
Seminar on selected topics in the music of the Baroque period. The seminar explores musical genres (madrigal, opera, cantata, etc.) using poetic texts in Italian (primarily), French, and German, which circulated mainly in Europe in both private and public settings during the 17th and early 18th centuries. Issues of reception and performance/staging during the 20th and 21st centuries are also investigated. Each instance of the seminar has a focus, e.g.: Monteverdi’s madrigals, opera in seventeenth- century Venice and Paris, Guarini and Marino in music, histories of the madrigal, Petrarchism and music, the ”Baroque” in theory and practice, Handel’s operas, staging Baroque opera today, historically informed performance practice, etc. Please see department website https:// music.sas.upenn.edu/course-list/ for current term course descriptions. Not Offered Every Year Also Offered As: MUSC 7320 1 Course Unit
ITAL 7770Francophone, Italian and Germanic Proseminar
This proseminar will introduce first-year FIGS graduate students to doctoral studies in the humanities. It is organized into four parts. Part I, “Scholarly Habits and Resources,” introduces students to a variety of resources at Penn, discusses the scholarly habits that graduate students should develop, and covers strategies for promoting mental and physical well-being as a graduate student. Part II, “Intervening in the Field,” introduces students to the processes of conference participation and article publication. Part III, “The Dissertation,” covers the ins-and- outs of writing the dissertation. Part IV, “Awards, Networking, and Jobs,” addresses the importance of awards and networking as well as the academic and non-academic job markets. While DEI issues are constantly addresses throughout the course, also in the form of assignments, there are also bridge sessions to other courses, especially on pedagogy and recent research trends. In addition to weekly discussions and activities, this course will include a number of guest speakers who will share their expertise and give guidance on the how-tos of the field. Students will be given pre- as well as post-class activities to reflect on each week’s topic and begin to prepare a dossier for later use in their graduate studies. Much of the information in this proseminar becomes particularly relevant during the final years of coursework and your dissertation writing years, but it is important to be introduced to these topics and to begin to think about them now. This course is designed for PhD students in Francophone, Italian, and Germanic Studies. Many of the topics apply to all three fields; however, students will also have the opportunity to work on areas that are specific to their language for certain topics. They will also be able to add to the course materials for future graduate students in FIGS.
Independent research under the supervision of a department faculty member. Research topic is determined in consultation with the supervising faculty member.
