ITAL

Intermediate/ advanced semester students of Italian Course Description: The goal of this course is to develop the students’ language knowledge, building on the knowledge acquired in previous courses, through the study of a wide array of Italian literary texts about the city of Rome and its history. In particular we will explore text from three periods, the Fascism era, the boom economico period, and the beginning of the XXI century. This will provide the students the opportunity to read literary texts of different genres and registers.

The goal of this class is to provide novice students with foundations of the Italian language, including basic grammar, vocabulary, and speech patterns, through the lens of art and art history in Rome. Students will work cooperatively in class and independently at home to build their grammar and vocabulary knowledge. Primary goal is to achieve competence in the spoken language, along with basic skills in reading and writing. Face-to-face lessons will be divided between time in the classroom and time visiting relevant sites in the city of Rome, in order to allow the students to employ on the field their newly acquired knowledge.

This is a cross-listed course with HAA 0302 Italian Renaissance Art History. Only students in the "Pitt in Florence - Italian Track" are eligible to register for the ITAL 0183 course code. All other students interested in this course must apply for the Pitt in Florence program and request HAA 0302. 

This is a study abroad course taught in Florence, Italy. We will explore the arts - painting, sculpture, architecture, and the decorative arts - that flourished in Italy between 1250 and 1590. The Renaissance is one of the great epochs of Western culture; this course offers an introduction to the visual evidence that reveals the development of new attitudes about human life and its meaning. Emphasis will be on works of those revolutionary individuals who transformed the arts - Giotto, Donatello, Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, Bellini, Titian, and Palladio - to name only the most important. 

This course takes a place-based, diachronic approach to the study of Mediterranean interconnectedness, from the perspective of the main Sicilianisland and indeed the very notion of islandness. As Godfrey Baldacchino has written in the introduction to his seminal A World of Islands: “islands suggest themselves as terrae nullius, empty spaces, waiting, wanting, to be possessed: potential laboratories for any conceivable and uninhibited human project, in thought or in action...But: the small, remote and insular also suggests marginality, being on the edge, being out of sight and so out of mind, situations which can expose the weakness of mainstream ideas, orthodoxies, and received wisdoms, while fomenting alternatives to the status quo. Any dominant paradigm is supposedly weakest at its periphery.” Reflecting on Mediterranean islandness and the multicultural history of Sicily permits us to scrutinize the processes of transregional interconnectedness, mobility, and exchange that are hallmarks of historical globalization. Islands connect, but also divide; they are sites where identities are not only forged, but also blended and challenged; they offer a microcosm in which global issues may be observed and studied.

Introductory readings, screenings, and discussions (Week 1) introduce students to the interpretive possibilities of islands, their inherent polyvalence and multiplicity of perspectives, as well as to the theme of the outsider’s approach and landing on the Sicilian island, in particular. In Week 2, texts and discussions focus on the island’s eastern coast, and shift to themes of colonialism and imperialism, both in the classical world and in the post-Italian unification era: readings depict the Mediterranean both as a place of adventure and as a path for escape, with emphasis on Sicily’s history of colonial occupation and performances of imperial power. Sicily’s connections to broad transregional institutions and networks (ancient economies and social networks, the Persian Empire, the Catholic Church, and Jesuit missions to the Americas) shape Week 3 readings, discussions, and field trips to the Baroque environments of the Val di Noto. The last week of the course is conducted on site through an extended tour of the interior and Western part of the island: readings and discussions emphasize the Mediterranean and its islands, especially Sicily, as nodes in long-running systems of cross-border movement and exchange.

Cross listed with CLASS 1154

“Reading (in) Italy: Sicily” explores contemporary Sicily through its literature, film, and popular culture, while helping students to develop advanced reading and oral expression competencies. Course texts and discussions will help us to examine themes that are central to understanding Sicilian culture and society, such as Sicily’s position within Italian national discourses; emigration from and immigration to the island; and myths and popular/folk culture. This advanced-level course, taught in Italian, counts for the Italian minor and both major tracks. Students wishing to enroll in this course must have completed any two of the following courses with a B- or better before beginning the Pitt in Sicily program: ITAL 0113, ITAL 0115, ITAL 0117.

Italian Program students on Pitt in Sicily must take either ITAL 0110 or ITAL 1111, but may not take both.

“Modern Italy: Sicily” is an intermediate-level course, taught in Italian, that explores contemporary Sicily through its literature, film, and popular culture. At the same time, it aims to help students improve their Italian proficiency in all skills (oral and written production, oral and written comprehension). Course texts and discussions will help us to examine themes that are central to understanding Sicilian culture and society, such as Sicily’s position within Italian national discourses; emigration from and immigration to the island; and myths and popular/folk culture. ITAL 0110 is the Study Abroad counterpart--in goals, objectives, and levels--to Oakland-campus courses such as ITAL 0113 (Contemporary Italian Society), ITAL 0115 (Performing Italian), and ITAL 0117 (Italies). As such, it may be applied to the Italian minor or majors in the same ways as these analogous courses. Students wishing to enroll in this course must have completed ITAL 0103 with a B- or better before beginning the Pitt in Sicily program and may have already taken one or two of these intermediate-level courses.

Italian Program students on Pitt in Sicily must take either ITAL 0110 or ITAL 1111, but may not take both.

An introduction to the Italian language, including basic grammar, vocabulary and speech patterns. Primary goal is to achieve competence in the spoken language, along with basic skills in reading and writing. Face-to-face lesson meetings consist of communicative activities in which students practiced learned structures and vocabulary.  Students will watch/listen/read lectures, complete exercises related to grammar and vocabulary. This instructional approach is designed to allow for maximum interaction in the classroom environment, so that students can receive extensive feedback on their progress. 

Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Specific Geographic Region,  Diversity  General Education Requirement

Italy has long been a nation of emigrants, but only in the last few decades has become a nation receiving large numbers of immigrants. The fall of communism in Eastern Europe, and wars and violence in the Balkans, across Africa and the Middle East, have spurred new migrants towards the West in search of safety and economic prosperity. The unique position of the Italian peninsula in the Mediterranean has made it a key territory of arrival in these modern-day migrations, but to what advantage and to what cost? This course will explore the complexities of cultural identity and migration, and the impact they have on intercultural conflict and cooperation. There will be a particular focus on migration in Italy and on the marginalized communities of contemporary Italy, such as migrants, their Italianborn non-citizen children, and the Roma. We will examine the fluidity of cultural boundaries across time and space, and how ingroup and outgroup dynamics contribute to the manufacturing of fear and prejudice among populations. During their semester abroad, students will reflect on the various elements that define a culture while gaining an increased understanding of how culture shapes individuals and how our cultural identities interact in shared social spaces such as the piazze of Florence. 

This is a part-time internship (20 hours per week) in an Italian-speaking work environment. In addition, you will attend weekly discussion-led sessions that include educational support and mentoring in a classroom environment, develop personal and professional skills, and learn to contextualize your internship experience socially and culturally. You will receive 3 credits for this course.
 
 

The aim of this course is to provide students with the means to better understand Italy, its history and culture, while experiencing Italian everyday life first-hand, in one of its major cities and regions. The course is designed to improve, in particular, students, oral proficiency and sociolinguistic competence through immersion; it consists of various sections focused on different, but complementary social and linguistic skills pertaining to getting to know people and places, learning and discussing current Italian events, making cultural comparisons, and argue one's opinions. All the while, students will get acquainted with the city and its territory, their influential past as well as their vibrant present. Emphasis is on acquiring the authentic oral communication skills necessary to navigate expertly Italian-speaking environments, and acquiring cultural knowledge through daily, immersive and exclusive practice of the Italian language