Courses

students posing in front of Denny ChimesIT 101 Introductory Italian I

Five hours of instruction per week. This course is the first semester of college-level study in Italian. Emphasis is placed on the development of oral proficiency and listening skills, reading comprehension, writing skills, analysis of grammatical structures, and an understanding of Italian culture and society. Regular class attendance and participation are expected.

IT 102 Introductory Italian II

Prerequisite: IT 101 with a grade of “C-” or higher.

Five hours of instruction per week. This course is the second semester of college-level study in Italian. Emphasis is placed on the further development of oral proficiency and listening skills, advanced reading comprehension, writing skills, analysis of grammatical structures, and an understanding of Italian culture and society. Regular class attendance and participation is expected.

IT 105 Honors Introductory Italian I

This course is the first semester of college-level study in Italian. Emphasis is placed on the development of oral proficiency and listening skills, reading comprehension, writing skills, analysis of grammatical structures, and an understanding of Italian culture and society.

IT 201 Intermediate Italian I

Prerequisite: IT 102 with a grade of “C-” or higher, or permission of instructor.

This course will give emphasis to all of the four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) in Italian vis-à-vis our reading and discussion of Italo Calvino’s novel, Marcovaldo, and review of the main points of Italian grammar. Course requirements include midterm and final exams, seven written compositions, frequent homework assignments and a journal. Regular class attendance and participation is expected.

IT 202 Intermediate Italian II

Prerequisite: IT 201 with a grade of “C-” or higher, or permission of instructor.

This course will give emphasis to all of the four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) in Italian vis-à-vis our reading and discussion of Luigi Pirandello’s play, Enrico IV, and our study of a host of more complex structures and fine points of Italian grammar. Course requirements include midterm and final exams, six written compositions, frequent homework assignments, and a journal. Regular class attendance and participation is expected.

IT 323 Introduction to Italian Cinema

This course provides a chronological overview of the history of Italian cinema from its early days to the present. We will survey the major Italian film movements, including Neorealism, commedia all’italiana, and the Spaghetti Western, as well as the work of key filmmakers such as Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Luchino Visconti, Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Bernardo Bertolucci, Lina Wertmueller, and Paolo Sorrentino. The course will focus primarily on the history of style and narrative in Italian cinema, but will also consider developments in the Italian film industry, and the connection between cinematic existent and emergent cultural forms.

The course is taught in English and the films shown are in Italian with English subtitles. No prerequisites.

This course meets the Writing (W) core curriculum designation.

IT 353 Italian Conversation

Prerequisite: IT 202 with a grade of “C-” or higher, or permission of instructor.

Development of conversational skills through group discussion, role-playing, oral presentations, vocabulary building, and other related activities.

IT 356 Advanced Grammar and Composition

Prerequisite: IT 202 with a grade of “C-” or higher, or permission of instructor.

Italian 356 is a combined writing theory and writings skills course focusing upon more advanced notions of Italian grammar and on the development of techniques for written expression. Students should expect writing assignments after each class meeting, and eight longer writing assignments ranging in character from creative writing, textual analysis, journalistic writing, to a bibliographical research project at the end of the semester.

IT 361 Introduction to Romance Linguistics

Introduction to linguistic science and its use in describing language in general and the Romance languages in particular.

(Cross-listed with FR 361 and SP 361.)

IT 364 Masterpieces of Italian Literature

This course traces Italian literature and thought from the origins to early modernity (13th-17th century), looking at major figures such as Dante, Michelangelo, and Galileo. By considering a broad spectrum of genres (poetry, epic, short stories, letters, comedy, treaties, dialogue, librettos), it examines questions of love, sin, beauty, power, appearance, truth, deception, and civility across the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and up to the Scientific Revolution. Taught in translation, but with original texts made available, the class is appropriate for students who may or may not have knowledge of Italian.

This is a Core Curriculum Literature class. No prerequisites.

IT 380 Special Topics: Film and Literature

Prerequisite: IT 353 or IT 356 with a grade of “C-” or higher, or permission of instructor.

The aim of this course is to study and compare specific trends in literature and in film making.

IT 480 Undergraduate Seminar

The subject matter varies. Intensive study of one or more significant subjects, authors, periods, works, or genres not studied in depth in other courses. May be repeated for credit. Offered according to demand.