Professor TBA
This daily course immerses students in the Italian language. The basic structures and vocabulary of the Italian language are presented. Students are also provided with systematic practice of oral Italian through dialogues, pattern drills, and exercises. Special emphasis is given to correct pronunciation, sound placement, and intonation. Conducted in Italian.

Sample Syllabus

Professor TBA
Prerequisites: V59.0001 & V59.0002, Elementary Italian I & II; or V59.0010, Intensive Elementary Italian

This course offers students who are at the intermediate level a daily immersion class. The acquisition and practice of more sophisticated structures of Italian are undertaken. Fundamental oral and written skills are developed, and vocabulary enrichment and conversational ability are emphasized. Conducted in Italian.

Sample Syllabus

Professor L. Tarabusi
Prerequisites: V59.0011, V59.0012, Intermediate Italian I & II; or V59.0020, Intensive Intermediate Italian

Intensive review of Italian grammar through written and oral exercises, conversations, compositions, translation, and readings from contemporary Italian literature. Conducted in Italian.

Sample Syllabus

Professor TBA
Prerequisites: V59.0030, Advanced Review of Modern Italian

Students entering the course should have mastered the fundamental structure of Italian. The course is designed to help students gain confidence and increase their effectiveness in speaking present-day Italian. Through discussions, oral reports, and readings, students develop vocabulary in a variety of topics, improve pronunciation, and learn an extensive range of idiomatic expressions. Conducted in Italian.

Sample Syllabus

Professor TBA
Prerequisites: V59.0030, Advanced Review of Modern Italian

Aims to improve Italian comprehension and writing skills through an analysis of the language of cinema. The focus is on detailed readings of selected films and their scripts. Emphasis on colloquial and contemporary Italian. Conducted in Italian.

Sample Syllabus

Professor B. Edelstein
Cross-listed with V59.9410 (Italian)

NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

Prerequisite: V43.0002, History of Western Art II & V43.0300 or permission of the instructor

Students in the Art History Dept: This course counts for Advanced Renaissance/Baroque credit.

When speaking of great contemporary patrons of the arts, we often hear someone called “a modern Medici.” What exactly does this phrase mean and how did the family name of the principal banking house of Renaissance Florence become synonymous with the sponsorship of cultural endeavors? This upper level seminar attempts to answer these questions and others by examining the development of Medici patronage from the emergence of the family as a political force at the dawn of the Renaissance to the establishment of the grand ducal dynasty that reigned for almost two centuries in Florence. The commissions of Cosimo the Elder, Piero the Gouty, Lorenzo the Magnificent, the two Medici Popes (Leo X and Clement VII) and the first three Medici Grand Dukes (Cosimo I, Francesco I and Ferdinando I) are given particular emphasis. The works of artists such as Brunelleschi, Michelozzo, Donatello, Fra Angelico, Michelangelo, Bandinelli, Vasari and Buontalenti, all of whom produced significant numbers of works under the aegis of the Medici, are therefore the main focus of the lectures, class discussions and site visits. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Zaloga
NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

Prerequisite: V43.0002, History of Western Art II, V43.0019, History of Architecture, V43.0301, European Architecture, or permission of the instructor. Students in the Art History Dept: This course counts for Advanced Renaissance/Baroque and Urban Design credit.

The new style in architecture, sparked by the buildings of Brunelleschi and the designs and writings of L.B. Alberti, developed in 15th-century Florence against the background of a vigorously evolving humanist culture. A study of the new movement through the great qattrocento masters and the work of the giants of the 16th century (e.g., Bramante, Michelangelo, Palladio) and the spread of Renaissance style into other countries. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor B. Edelstein
NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

Prerequisite: V43.0002, History of Western Art II, V43.0019, History of Architecture, V43.0301, European Architecture, or permission of the instructor. Students in the Art History Dept: This course counts for Advanced Renaissance/Baroque credit.

Painting in Florence and Rome from about 1490 to the later decades of the 16th century. From a study of selected commissions by Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Fra Bartolomeo, and Andrea del Sarto, we go on to investigate new pictorial modes emerging before 1520 in Pontormo, Rosso, Parmigianino, Giulio Romano, and other members of RaphaelÕs school. We consider their younger contemporaries and successors, including Bronzino and Vasari. The course emphasizes the patronage, symbolic tasks, and functions of Renaissance painting and critically examines historical concepts such as "High Renaissance," "Mannerism," and "Maniera." Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Massimo Agus
NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

Students must bring their own camera and use either a digital or a traditional 35mm manual adjust camera for this class.

Students registering for this course must also register for Lab section.
Students in the Art History Dept: This course counts for Art History elective and Urban Design credit.

The course will provide the students with the appropriate tools for understanding and photographing the architecture of Florence, using different photographic techniques, and aiming to define a personal approach.
The students will be able to explore different architecture styles following various photographic assignments.
At the end of the course the students will produce a portfolio on the architecture of Florence.
Lectures will cover the History of Photography, with a special attention to Italian architecture and urban photography, History of Architecture in Florence, technical aspects related to photography production.
Students will pursue digital and traditional photographic techniques in the course. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Massimo Agus
NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

Students must bring their own camera and use either a digital or a traditional 35mm manual adjust camera for this class.

Students registering for this course must also register for the Lecture section.

Professor G. Gobbi-Sica
Cross-listed with V59.9404 (Italian)

NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

Students in the Art History Dept: This course counts for Art History elective and Urban Design credit.

Starting from Villa La Pietra, this course explores the connection between the history of the Italian villa and the economy, architecture, art, and landscape. Historical and economic reasons have contributed to the unique typology of the Florentine landscape and the relationship between the villa, the farmer house and the "podere." The course examines the original development of the villa and the ideology of country life in Florentine culture and society. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Baldry
NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

The aim of this course is to provide an integrated approach to Museum theory and practice. It is designed for those students who are interested in the history and the nature of Museums, Museum management (including the international art legislation), the methods of research and documentation (file system and photography), conservation methodologies to preserve the collections in a Museum context, and the means of presenting all kinds of art objects to the public (the education role of the museum in the society). Themes such as the change of the artistic taste, the role of the artists, the collectors and the dealers in the creation of the public galleries and the house museums will be discussed. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Mussolin
NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

Cross-listed with: V57.9091(History), V90.9650 (Religious Studies), and V59.9407 (Italian). Art History students: This course counts for Art History elective credit.

Prerequisite: Renaissance Art, or equivalent introductory Art History Course

The course will explore the unusually rich artistic and textual record of medieval holy people and places in Tuscany, and one site Umbria, Assisi. The goal of the course is to consider the intersection of popular religious expression, individual extraordinary lives, and the art and architecture produced by the society to celebrate its spiritual heroes. Students will be immersed in Italian medieval texts, art, and architecture as a means of understanding a vivid past which illuminates medieval civic pride and served as a springboard to the Italian Renaissance. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professors Zaloga & Giorgi
NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

NYU Students who have already taken V43.0002 will not receive major credit for V43.0005 [Renaissance Art survey] or V43.0006 [Modern Art survey].

The city of Florence will be the classroom as students study the masters, explore museums, examine texts, and analyze the historical significance of monuments. With eyes cast simultaneously on painting, the graphic arts, sculpture, and architecture, this class will explore a broad range of art patronage that included religious and civic bodies, princely courts, and a growing number of private clients. The course will focus on points of intersection, transition, and the transformations that lead from one tradition to the next. Above all, our approach will encourage critical thinking and a search for unifying connections in studying the underlying logic of image making. Works will be examined on their native terms: both as physical objects, with sensitivity to their particular function and intended reception, and as visual images active within larger contexts. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor N. Leszczynski
Cross-listed with V59.9405 (Italian)

NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

Students in the Art History Dept: This course counts for Urban Design credit.

The city of Florence has long been admired for its combination of buildings and gardens. This course emphasizes the art of garden and landscape design, with tours to sites around the city and the surrounding areas. The starting point of the course is the 57 acres of historically significant landscape surrounding NYU's Villa La Pietra, with Renaissance-style gardens, rolling hills, and olive groves, all located within the city limits of Florence. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor C. Menchi
Cross-listed with V59.9401 (Italian)

NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

Students in the Art History Dept: This course counts for Art History elective credit.

Students trace the birth, evolution, decline, revival, and most recent developments of Italian fashion from the Late Gothic Age to the present "made in Italy" design. Italian fashion styles are decoded in relation to art history in an international, social and economic context. Fashion and its connections with culture, subculture, gender and communication are emphasized. On-site visits also illustrate the dominating role of Florence in fashion from its origin until now. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Lombardi
NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

Students in the Art History Dept: This course counts for Urban Design credit, but not Art History credit.

The city of Florence presents important aspects for a visual study of the Renaissance and its messages. This class will stress the ways to visualize the city through the keeping of a sketchbook. There will be walking tours in the city to explore topics and places for the students to draw. No art background necessary. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor A. Pascuzzi
NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

Art History students: This course counts for Art History elective credit.

Step back in time and study like a Renaissance apprentice using the same materials and techniques that Giotto, Leonardo and Michelangelo used. Working only with those materials used in the Renaissance (no modern art materials permitted), students will follow the same course of artistic instruction common to a Renaissance workshop. You will learn to draw with silverpoint, charcoal, and natural chalks, make your own paper, prepare panels, grind pigments for painting, execute in fresco, egg tempera and oil and learn how to use gold leaf. Lectures and drawing sessions will be held in the various museums and churches where students will be required to copy from masterpieces of the Renaissance. The course is a step back in time to learn techniques that have been lost and to revive the spirit of art creation that has made Florentine art admired for centuries. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor C. Ewell
Cross-listed with V59.9406 (Italian) and V27.9295 (Classics)

Art History students: This course counts for advanced Ancient/Medieval credit.

This course provides students with an awareness of and appreciation for the cultures and civilization of ancient Italy from 1000 B.C. to 200 A.D. The lectures will examine significant examples of sculpture, painting, architecture, city-planning and the minor arts of the period. The course will include local field trips to important sites and exhibits. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor G. Liberatore
An introduction to the area of financial accounting. Encompasses accounting concepts from the point of view of the corporate investor and business management. Accounting procedures are discussed to facilitate the comprehension of the recording, summarizing, and reporting of business transactions. The basic principles of asset valuation and revenue and cost recognition are presented. Various asset, liability, and capital accounts are studied in detail with emphasis on an analytical and interpretive approach. The area of financial accounting is further analyzed through a discussion of the concepts and underlying financial statement analysis and the exposition of funds flow. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor TBA
Evaluates, from the management point of view, marketing as a system for the satisfaction of human wants and as a catalyst of business activity. Deals with the subject at all levels from producer to consumer and emphasizes the planning required for the efficient use of marketing tools in the development and expansion of markets. Concentrates on the principles, functions, and tools of marketing, including quantitative methods. Utilizes cases and projects to develop a problem-solving ability in dealing with specific areas. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor TBA
Cross-listed with V30.9103 (Dramatic Literature)
Co-requisite: Enrollment in a screening time.

This course covers Italian film from the beginnings of the neo-realist movement to 1960, concentrating both on the aesthetic, theoretical development of neorealism and on its political, economic, social, and cultural context. Directors studied in detail include Rossellini, Visconti, de Sica, and Antonioni. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor TBA
Cross-listed with V30.9103 (Dramatic Literature)
Co-requisite: Enrollment in Italian Cinema (Lecture)

Professor C. Ewell
Cross-listed with V59.9406 (Italian) and V43.9150 (Art History)

This course provides students with an awareness of and appreciation for the cultures and civilization of ancient Italy from 1000 B.C. to 200 A.D. The lectures will examine significant examples of sculpture, painting, architecture, city-planning and the minor arts of the period. The course will include local field trips to important sites and exhibits. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor TBA
The goal of this course is to present a thorough historical survey of fifty years of television in Italy, with a special emphasis on the relation between television broadcasting and democratic politics. The course will be structured in four parts: the early days of television in Italy, characterized by the monopoly of RAI and the political influence of the Christian Democrats; the political conflicts and policy-making choices of the 70s; the so-called “far west” of commercial broadcasting and the birth of the duopoly during the 80s; the change of political landscape during the 90s and the years 2000, with the increasing competition between RAI and Mediaset, the conflicts of interest of Berlusconi and the advent of pay per view and digital terrestrial television. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor D. Barrett
Cross-listed with K20.9001, Gallatin

Examines themes of recent fiction (e.g., war, sex, violence) as aspects of one basic theme: the individual's struggle to retain humanity in the face of 20th-century dehumanizing forces. Attention to the invention of new fictional techniques made possible by the achievements of modernist precursors. Focuses on fiction written after World War II, including such authors as Borges, Calvino, Grass, Barth, Hawkes, and Robbe-Grillet. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor M. Sansone
Cross-listed with V71.9121 (Music)

The course covers the evolution of Italian opera from its beginnings in Florence to the early 20th century with special emphasis on Monteverdi, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini. The approach is multidisciplinary and aims at a comprehensive survey of the music theatre in the context of the Italian cultural heritage. Literary sources, musico-dramatic features, vocal styles are studied in connection with major works that best represent trends and genres in the Italian operatic tradition. Students are expected to master the distinctive characteristics of such genres as favola in musica, intermezzo, opera seria, opera buffa, grand opera, dramma lirico, and the basic elements of Italian versification. Students listen to and watch recorded operas and attend performances in Florence or other Italian cities. Conducted in English

Sample Syllabus

Professor TBA
H36.1103 (Cinema Studies, Tisch)
Co-requisite: Enrollment in a screening time.

This course covers Italian film from the beginnings of the neo-realist movement to 1960, concentrating both on the aesthetic, theoretical development of neorealism and on its political, economic, social, and cultural context. Directors studied in detail include Rossellini, Visconti, de Sica, and Antonioni. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor TBA
Cross-listed with H36.1103 (Cinema Studies, Tisch)
Co-requisite: Enrollment in Italian Cinema (Lecture)

Professor Vito Zagarrio
Cross-listed with V59.9173 (Italian)
Italian instruction will be offered for Italian Immersion students.
Students registering for this course must also register for a screening time.

The course focuses on the issue of fascism and anti fascism within the national Italian film. The class will investigate, first, the representation of both fascism and anti fascism in cinema; at the same time, it will also analyze the influence of the fascist and Resistance legacies on Italian films and film making overall (for example, an ideological re-reading of certain Italian genres such as the gangster or the western). The course will involve lectures, film viewing, in-class discussion, students presentations, and papers. The class will screen sequences of films, starting from the Fascist period and continuing to the present. The films will be discussed and contextualized within the different historical phases: the 1930's and 1940's, the 1960's and 1970's, the 1990's, and the last decade since 2000. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Vito Zagarrio
Cross-listed with V59.9173 (Italian)
Students registering for this course must also register for the Lecture.

Professor Ricchiuti
Prerequisites: Pre-calculus or equivalent level of mathematical training

Introduction to the American economy, elements of supply and demand, and basic macroeconomic principles. Includes national income and employment, money, banking, inflation, business fluctuations, monetary and fiscal policy, the balance of payments, and comparative economic systems. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Velucchi
Prerequisites: Pre-calculus or equivalent level of mathematical training

Focuses on individual economic decision makers—households, business firms, and government agencies—and how they are linked together. The emphasis is on decision making by households and firms and how these decisions shape our economic life. Explores the different environments in which businesses sell their products, hire workers, and raise funds to expand their operations; the economic effects of various government policies, such as minimum wage legislation, rent controls, antitrust laws, and more. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor G. Gallo
Prerequisite: V31.0001 (Economic Principals) or V31.0005 (Introduction to Economic Analysis).

Money supply; banking as an industry; banks as suppliers of money; the Federal Reserve System and monetary control; monetary theory; and contemporary monetary policy issues. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Giovannetti
Prerequisites: Intermediate Macroeconomics (V31.0012) and International Economics (V31.0238), or equivalents.

Specific topics, to be announced. General themes of the course include fiscal and monetary policy under alternative exchange rate regimes; international transmission mechanisms; barriers to capital mobility; international policy coordination; optimum currency areas, customs unions and free trade areas; multilateral trade; trade liberalization policies; and the role of the World Bank and of the I.M.F. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Velucchi
NOTE: NYU Economics Majors may not count this course toward major requirements.

This course offers students who spend a semester in Italy an overview of the issues that are currently debated in Italy from an economic perspective, allowing them to deepen their knowledge of the country. The challenges that lie ahead in the transition toward a European Monetary Union need to be understood, especially the Italian economic and social structures when compared with the overall objectives that the European Union has set for its member states. The necessary theoretical background will be provided and integrated with case studies and guest lecturers from the entrepreneurial world. Conducted in English.

Professor G. Gallo
Prerequisites: Intermediate Macroeconomics (V31.0012) and Statistics (V31.0018), or equivalents.

The aim of this course is to offer a perspective on the international financial markets and the transactions which take place in exchanging goods, services and capitals across borders. The balance of payment and the foreign exchange markets will be examined in their interaction with the costs of goods (prices) and capitals (interest rates) in different countries. Current issues such as the recent birth of the new European common currency, the South-East Asian crisis, the Argentina devaluation and the impact of the trade deficit on the US economy will be discussed. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor TBA
Italian instruction will be offered for Italian Immersion students.
Cross-listed with V57.9168 (History) and V59.9868 (Italian Studies)

Politics and society, war and peace in modern Europe over a fifty-year period in the middle of the last century. The primary goal of this course is to consider how developments since the 1930s have influenced the lives and formed the outlook of today's Europeans. This course relies heavily on historically-based novels to explore the topics of particular concern: European fascism, the Second World War, the division of Europe and the Cold War, reconstruction and economic "miracle" in western Europe, de-colonization, eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, the 1960s, and the collapse of communist states in the 1980s. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor D. Barrett
Cross-listed with V29.9108, Comparitive Literature

Examines themes of recent fiction (e.g., war, sex, violence) as aspects of one basic theme: the individual's struggle to retain humanity in the face of 20th-century dehumanizing forces. Attention to the invention of new fictional techniques made possible by the achievements of modernist precursors. Focuses on fiction written after World War II, including such authors as Borges, Calvino, Grass, Barth, Hawkes, and Robbe-Grillet. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Cattiti
NOTE: Architectural Design meets in the center of Florence; students should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior/subsequent classes.

This course develops the students' skill in using graphical methods of representation as a language to explore and express architectural projects. Each student designs an installation for an artwork or small group of works, from any time period, in a historic building in Florence. This gives students the opportunity to address a range of issues, including the needs of different audiences, of the curator, and of setting, and of the works themselves. We explore the role of exhibition installations in the relationship between the exhibited works and space housing the show. We focus on contemporary spaces for exhibitions in Florence as the result of a well-established tradition in displaying works of art. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Palmer
This course will examine the genre of the travel narrative in two parts. The first section begins with the foundational stories that have shaped how voyages were conceived of and undertaken as expressions of historiography and collective identity. Beginning with early Hebrew and Greek ideas about mobility and destiny we can begin to reconstruct the logic and power of the idea of travel. The second section will examine more individualistic forms of imagined travel that originate from the minds of those whose bodies cannot move freely­exiles, slaves and prisoners. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor L. Tarabusi
Both English and Italian sections of this course will be offered.

Cross-listed with V59.9981 (Italian Studies)

 An in-depth experience of Italian language and culture through participation in a variety of community service organizations. Entails volunteer placements in agencies working with women, immigrants, and the poor and on issues of health care and the environment. Students are required to attend weekly two-hour seminars, where they may clarify cultural and language issues, share experiences, and participate in discussions with speakers from the various community organizations involved in the program. During the first week of this course, a learning contract will be discussed and then signed by each student in consultation with the professor. With this learning contract the student will commit to follow the requirements of the course in either English or Italian.

Sample Syllabus Italian Section

Sample Syllabus English Section

Professor Simoni
Cross-listed with V59.9400 (Italian)

This course focuses on the modern and contemporary history of Jews in Italy from the French Revolution to the present. A number of themes structure this understanding of the transformation of Italian Jewry: the interaction between Jews and non-Jews, the Mediterranean horizon of Italian Jews, the relationship between family, community and society, and the different ways in which Italian Jews have engaged in public life. An extensive section of this course is dedicated to the path that led from Fascism (and the Racial Laws of 1938) to the Shoa in Italy. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Mussolin
NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.
Cross-listed with: V90.9650 (Religious Studies), V43.9650 (Art History), and V59.9407 (Italian)

Prerequisite: Renaissance Art, or equivalent introductory Art History Course

The course will explore the unusually rich artistic and textual record of medieval holy people and places in Tuscany, and one site Umbria, Assisi. The goal of the course is to consider the intersection of popular religious expression, individual extraordinary lives, and the art and architecture produced by the society to celebrate its spiritual heroes. Students will be immersed in Italian medieval texts, art, and architecture as a means of understanding a vivid past which illuminates medieval civic pride and served as a springboard to the Italian Renaissance. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Duni
Cross-listed with V65.9123 (Medieval and Renaissance Studies) and V59.9409 (Italian)

The Renaissance began and reached maturity in Italy between 1350 and 1500. This course closely examines the political, economic, and social situations in Italy during this period, emphasizing the special conditions that produced Renaissance art and literature. The relationship between culture, society, and politics is studied in the case of Florence, in which the hegemony of the Medici house and its patronage brought the city to cultural leadership in the Western world. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Travis
Politics and society, war and peace in modern Europe over a fifty-year period in the middle of the last century. The primary goal of this course is to consider how developments since the 1930s have influenced the lives and formed the outlook of today's Europeans. This course relies heavily on historically-based novels to explore the topics of particular concern: European fascism, the Second World War, the division of Europe and the Cold War, reconstruction and economic "miracle" in western Europe, de-colonization, eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, the 1960s, and the collapse of communist states in the 1980s. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor TBA
Italian instruction will be offered for Italian Immersion students.
Cross-listed with V42.9163 (European Studies) and V59.9868 (Italian Studies)

Italy, a major Euro-Mediterranean nation, often appears like a beautiful but bizarre country. It can only be better understood through an analysis of its past. This course will thus provide an overview of Italian history since its path towards unification, and will consequently highlight the most salient political, social and economic events since 1815. In the first half of the course we will look at the liberalism which characterised the pre-WWI period, the rise of Fascism and Italy during WWII including the role of the anti-fascist ‘partisans’. In the second part of the course we will examine post-war developments such as the country’s reconstruction, the birth of the neo-fascist right, mass emigration from the South, the so called ‘years of lead’ and the rise of Silvio Berlusconi and the transition to the so-called Second Republic. We shall also discover some of the dark shadows of contemporary Italian society such as the role of the different mafias and the succession of political scandals and corruption cases that continue to blight the nation. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor R.M. Comanducci
Cross-listed with V65.9270 (Medieval and Renaissance Studies) and V59.9408 (Italian)

Students in this course will examine the role and status of women in medieval and Renaissance Europe, exploring theological and medieval attitudes toward women as well as economic and social determinants for women's lives. The topics include the development of the institution of marriage; the ideal of romantic love; women's religious experience; and women's economic, literary, and artistic contributions to society. This course balances studying women as a group in history and examining individual women, when possible, through their own words. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Megan Metters
The first part of the course provides a general chronological overview of immigration history on both sides of the Atlantic from World War II to the present, including the legacy of World War II, the rise of the UN minority protection regime, the reform of discriminatory immigration law opening immigration to more diverse countries of origin, and the contribution of European decolonization and the US Civil Rights movement to transforming the political, juridical and cultural framework for immigration. The second part of the course the focus will shift away from macro-trends and meta-narratives to look more closely at the diverse mechanisms of integration of immigrant populations at the local level in selected US and European cities, investigating concrete examples of how the integration of immigrants took place in local education systems (inter cultural education curriculum, religious accommodation in the classroom) and the local labor market (specific attention to textile industry).

In addition to the Seminar, students will attend lectures in preparation for the conference, the conference itself and a special discussion/question and answer session with panelists. By the end of the semester students will have developed a better understanding of the historical factors that have contributed to the contemporary immigration debate and how the similarities and differences in the experience of and response to immigration in Europe and the United States has shaped the transatlantic dialogue on immigration.

Sample Syllabus

Professor TBA
This course is under development. Course description coming soon.

Professor TBA
Prerequisite: successful completion of V59.0030 Advanced Review of Modern Italian or permission of instructor.

Introductory-level literature course that, through a close reading of authors such as Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch, Machiavelli, and Ariosto, focuses on how to understand a literary text. Explores the history of Italian literature from its origins to the 16th century. Conducted in Italian.

Professor TBA
Introductory-level literature course that, through a close reading of authors such as Tasso, Alfieri, Foscolo, Leopardi, and Manzoni, focuses on how to understand a literary text. Explores the history of Italian literature from the 16th century to the modern period. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Vito Zagarrio
Cross-listed with V30.9173 (Dramatic Literature)
Italian instruction will be offered for Italian Immersion students.
Students registering for this course must also register for a screening time.

The course focuses on the issue of fascism and anti fascism within the national Italian film. The class will investigate, first, the representation of both fascism and anti fascism in cinema; at the same time, it will also analyze the influence of the fascist and Resistance legacies on Italian films and film making overall (for example, an ideological re-reading of certain Italian genres such as the gangster or the western). The course will involve lectures, film viewing, in-class discussion, students presentations, and papers. The class will screen sequences of films, starting from the Fascist period and continuing to the present. The films will be discussed and contextualized within the different historical phases: the 1930's and 1940's, the 1960's and 1970's, the 1990's, and the last decade since 2000. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Vito Zagarrio
Cross-listed with V30.9173 (Dramatic Literature)
Students registering for this course must also register for the Lecture.

Professor TBA
Italian instruction will be offered for Italian Immersion students.

This course analyzes Dante's poetry in iteself and as an object of translation and adaptation. The text of the Divine Comedy, a 14,000-line journey through the afterlife, will be studied in terms of its transmission and reception in contemporary culture. Emphasis will be put on Dante's infludence on literature, art, music, media and film. The text is read in translation with references to the original Italian facing text. Conducted in English.

Professor Chiaramonte
Italian instruction will be offered for Italian Immersion students.
Cross-listed with V53.9512, Politics

Presents a study of post-World War II Italian politics and society in comparative and historical perspective. Seeks explanations of Italian political development in specific historical factors such as the 19th century patterns of state formation and the experience of fascism. Comparative analysis seeks to show how the social structure, political culture, and party systems have shaped Italy's distinct development. Current and recurrent political issues include the problem of integrating the south into the national economy and state response to social movements, particularly terrorism. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor TBA
Italian instruction will be offered for Italian Immersion students.
Cross-listed with V57.9168 (History) and V42.9163 (European Studies)

Politics and society, war and peace in modern Europe over a fifty-year period in the middle of the last century. The primary goal of this course is to consider how developments since the 1930s have influenced the lives and formed the outlook of today's Europeans. This course relies heavily on historically-based novels to explore the topics of particular concern: European fascism, the Second World War, the division of Europe and the Cold War, reconstruction and economic "miracle" in western Europe, de-colonization, eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, the 1960s, and the collapse of communist states in the 1980s. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Borgioli
Prerequisite: successful completion of V59.0030 Advanced Review of Modern Italian.

Obiettivo principale del corso, condotto interamente in lingua italiana, è lo studio dei rapporti tra letteratura e politica nell’Italia del XX secolo con particolare attenzione alla lettura e all’analisi di alcune opere che rappresentano nel panorama letterario italiano un valido strumento di critica sociale.Il corso illustrerà alcuni periodi della storia d’Italia (il fascismo, la guerra, la Resistenza, il ’68 e gli anni di piombo), metterà in luce alcune problematiche del paese (la questione meridionale, la mafia, ecc.) delineando i principali mutamenti sociali dell’Italia del XX secolo.

Study of works that reflect the conditions and problems of 20th century Italy. Emphasis is on the various ways in which novelists fulfill their role as literary artists and social critics. The course will address the effects on literature, and of literature, on such areas as fascism, the resistance, the southern "question," and the evolution of social structures.Conducted in Italian.

Sample Syllabus

Professor L. Tarabusi
Both English and Italian sections of this course will be offered.

Cross-listed with K50.9001 (Gallatin)

An in-depth experience of Italian language and culture through participation in a variety of community service organizations. Entails volunteer placements in agencies working with women, immigrants, and the poor and on issues of health care and the environment. Students are required to attend weekly two-hour seminars, where they may clarify cultural and language issues, share experiences, and participate in discussions with speakers from the various community organizations involved in the program. During the first week of this course, a learning contract will be discussed and then signed by each student in consultation with the professor. With this learning contract the student will commit to follow the requirements of the course in either English or Italian.

Sample Syllabus Italian Section

Sample Syllabus English Section

Professor Simoni
Cross-listed with V78.9800 (Hebrew and Judaic Studies)

This course focuses on the modern and contemporary history of Jews in Italy from the French Revolution to the present. A number of themes structure this understanding of the transformation of Italian Jewry: the interaction between Jews and non-Jews, the Mediterranean horizon of Italian Jews, the relationship between family, community and society, and the different ways in which Italian Jews have engaged in public life. An extensive section of this course is dedicated to the path that led from Fascism (and the Racial Laws of 1938) to the Shoa in Italy. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor N. Leszczynski
Cross-listed with V43.9653 (Art History)

NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

The city of Florence has long been admired for its combination of buildings and gardens. This course emphasizes the art of garden and landscape design, with tours to sites around the city and the surrounding areas. The starting point of the course is the 57 acres of historically significant landscape surrounding NYU's Villa La Pietra, with Renaissance-style gardens, rolling hills, and olive groves, all located within the city limits of Florence. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor C. Menchi
Cross-listed with V43.9450 (Art History)

NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

Students trace the birth, evolution, decline, revival, and most recent developments of Italian fashion from the Late Gothic Age to the present "made in Italy" design. Italian fashion styles are decoded in relation to art history in an international, social and economic context. Fashion and its connections with culture, subculture, gender and communication are emphasized. On-site visits also illustrate the dominating role of Florence in fashion from its origin until now. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Lombardo
Cross-listed with V18.9620 (Metropolitan Studies)

Urban culture is complex, fantastic, frightening, and a part of daily life, encompassing everything from the opera to street musicians, the public library to the piazza, the theater to local cafes and social clubs. This course, where cities are considered to be sources of cultural invention, explores through literature, history, social science and student experience, the evolution of high and popular culture, both modernist and post-modern. Emphasis will be placed on how cultures create bonds between specific interest groups, and how culture becomes the arena for acting out or resolving group conflict. This course will focus on Italian cities, including Florence. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor G. Gobbi-Sica
Cross-listed with V43.9308 (Art History)

NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

Starting from Villa La Pietra, this course explores the connection between the history of the Italian villa and the economy, architecture, art, and landscape. Historical and economic reasons have contributed to the unique typology of the Florentine landscape and the relationship between the villa, the farmer house and the "podere." The course examines the original development of the villa and the ideology of country life in Florentine culture and society. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor C. Ewell
Cross-listed with V27.9295 (Classics) and V43.9150 (Art History)

This course provides students with an awareness of and appreciation for the cultures and civilization of ancient Italy from 1000 B.C. to 200 A.D. The lectures will examine significant examples of sculpture, painting, architecture, city-planning and the minor arts of the period. The course will include local field trips to important sites and exhibits. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Mussolin
NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.
Cross-listed with: V57.9091 (History), V43.9650 (Art History), and V90.9650 (Religious Studies)

Prerequisite: Renaissance Art, or equivalent introductory Art History Course

The course will explore the unusually rich artistic and textual record of medieval holy people and places in Tuscany, and one site Umbria, Assisi. The goal of the course is to consider the intersection of popular religious expression, individual extraordinary lives, and the art and architecture produced by the society to celebrate its spiritual heroes. Students will be immersed in Italian medieval texts, art, and architecture as a means of understanding a vivid past which illuminates medieval civic pride and served as a springboard to the Italian Renaissance. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Duni
Cross-listed with V57.9123 (History) and V65.9123 (Medieval and Renaissance Studies)

The Renaissance began and reached maturity in Italy between 1350 and 1500. This course closely examines the political, economic, and social situations in Italy during this period, emphasizing the special conditions that produced Renaissance art and literature. The relationship between culture, society, and politics is studied in the case of Florence, in which the hegemony of the Medici house and its patronage brought the city to cultural leadership in the Western world. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor R.M. Comanducci
Cross-listed with V57.9270 (History) and V65.9270 (Medieval and Renaissance Studies)

Students in this course will examine the role and status of women in medieval and Renaissance Europe, exploring theological and medieval attitudes toward women as well as economic and social determinants for women's lives. The topics include the development of the institution of marriage; the ideal of romantic love; women's religious experience; and women's economic, literary, and artistic contributions to society. This course balances studying women as a group in history and examining individual women, when possible, through their own words. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor B. Edelstein
Cross-listed with V43.9656 (Art History)

NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

Prerequisite: V43.0002, History of Western Art II & V43.0300 or permission of the instructor

When speaking of great contemporary patrons of the arts, we often hear someone called “a modern Medici.” What exactly does this phrase mean and how did the family name of the principal banking house of Renaissance Florence become synonymous with the sponsorship of cultural endeavors? This upper level seminar attempts to answer these questions and others by examining the development of Medici patronage from the emergence of the family as a political force at the dawn of the Renaissance to the establishment of the grand ducal dynasty that reigned for almost two centuries in Florence. The commissions of Cosimo the Elder, Piero the Gouty, Lorenzo the Magnificent, the two Medici Popes (Leo X and Clement VII) and the first three Medici Grand Dukes (Cosimo I, Francesco I and Ferdinando I) are given particular emphasis. The works of artists such as Brunelleschi, Michelozzo, Donatello, Fra Angelico, Michelangelo, Bandinelli, Vasari and Buontalenti, all of whom produced significant numbers of works under the aegis of the Medici, are therefore the main focus of the lectures, class discussions and site visits. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor T. Kirk
The primary goal of this course is to analyze the exchanges between the Moslem and Christian worlds during the fifteenth, sixteenth centuries, not only through a general chronological overview of the most important events of that period, but also through an examination of the various points of peaceful contact and exchange between the two cultures: Chios, Majorca, Tabarka and later Livorno. The final important element to be studied is the reciprocal influence that the two Mediterranean worlds had on one another during a period of momentous change throughout Europe and the Levant, in political, social, cultural and economic terms. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Duni
Cross-listed with V57.9123 (History) and V59.9409 (Italian)

The Renaissance began and reached maturity in Italy between 1350 and 1500. This course closely examines the political, economic, and social situations in Italy during this period, emphasizing the special conditions that produced Renaissance art and literature. The relationship between culture, society, and politics is studied in the case of Florence, in which the hegemony of the Medici house and its patronage brought the city to cultural leadership in the Western world. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor R.M. Comanducci
Cross-listed with V57.9270 (History) and V59.9408 (Italian)

Students in this course will examine the role and status of women in medieval and Renaissance Europe, exploring theological and medieval attitudes toward women as well as economic and social determinants for women's lives. The topics include the development of the institution of marriage; the ideal of romantic love; women's religious experience; and women's economic, literary, and artistic contributions to society. This course balances studying women as a group in history and examining individual women, when possible, through their own words. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor R.M. Comanducci
NOTE: Course meets in the center of Florence. Students should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

Art History students: This course counts for Advanced Renaissance/Baroque credit.

While we are accustomed to appreciate Renaissance art only at an aesthetic level, in the Renaissance -- just like today -- art and artistic production was also a business. Behind the ethereal Madonnas, sweet angels or seductive Venuses that we admire in art galleries worldwide, there were well-organized business strategies enacted by entrepreneurial masters and shrewd merchants. This course unveils the 'backstage' of Renaissance art, revealing the dynamic world of workshop production and organization. Guild control and creative initiatives from masters; rivalry and collaboration; loyal apprentices and rebellious assistants; commissions from wealthy patrons and serial production for an expanding market; the rising status of the artist -- these will be just some of the issues explored in this course. Besides direct appreciation of art objects from local Florentine collections, students will engage in the world of artistic production through a series of unique site visits to Florentine and Tuscan art workshops, where the traditional techniques of the Renaissance are still practiced. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor M. Duni
Cross-listed with V90.9671, Religious Studies

Popular cultural themes and theology in the Middle Ages will be explored. We will study the shaping of the concept of witchcraft from the Canon episcopi to the bull "Super illius specula". We will go on to the Inquisition: from the repression of Catholicism to the attack of the "sect of Diana," the bull "Magnis desiderantes" (1484) and the Malleus maleficarum (1486). The foundations of the witch hunt of the 16th Century will be explored, as well as the exercise of political virtues and the divine mission of the individual. We will conclude with the decadence of religious life and of civic liberties in the second half of the century. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Lombardo
Cross-listed with V59.9403 (Italian)

Urban culture is complex, fantastic, frightening, and a part of daily life, encompassing everything from the opera to street musicians, the public library to the piazza, the theater to local cafes and social clubs. This course, where cities are considered to be sources of cultural invention, explores through literature, history, social science and student experience, the evolution of high and popular culture, both modernist and post-modern. Emphasis will be placed on how cultures create bonds between specific interest groups, and how culture becomes the arena for acting out or resolving group conflict. This course will focus on Italian cities, including Florence. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor M. Sansone
Cross-listed with V30.9121 (Dramatic Literature)

The course covers the evolution of Italian opera from its beginnings in Florence to the early 20th century with special emphasis on Monteverdi, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini. The approach is multidisciplinary and aims at a comprehensive survey of the music theatre in the context of the Italian cultural heritage. Literary sources, musico-dramatic features, vocal styles are studied in connection with major works that best represent trends and genres in the Italian operatic tradition. Students are expected to master the distinctive characteristics of such genres as favola in musica, intermezzo, opera seria, opera buffa, grand opera, dramma lirico, and the basic elements of Italian versification. Students listen to and watch recorded operas and attend performances in Florence or other Italian cities. Conducted in English

Sample Syllabus

Professor Fedi
For students specializing in classical voice.

Professor TBA
Prerequisite: E85.1077, Music History III, or success in placement exam
Evolution of contemporary compositional techniques traced from impressionism to the latest avant-garde experiments.

Professor TBA
Prerequisite: E85.0008, Aural Comprehension III, or success in placement exam
Continued training in intermediate musicianship skills.

Professor TBA
Prerequisite: Music Theory III, or success in placement exam
Introduction to the materials and organizing principles of 20th-century music, including extended chromaticism, modes, atonality, and jazz.

Professor TBA
Prerequisite: Keyboard Harmony and Improvisation III, or success in placement exam
Course description will be added shortly.

Professor TBA
Prerequisite: Music History I, or success in placement exam
The history of musical styles in the baroque and classical periods.

Professor TBA
No prerequisite.
One hour per week. (Includes all woodwind, brass and percussion instruments, classical and jazz styles).

Professor TBA
No prerequisite.
One hour per week. (Includes all string orchestral instruments and guitar, classical and jazz styles).

Professor TBA
No prerequisite.
One hour per week. (Includes classical and jazz styles).

Professor TBA
No prerequisite.
One hour per week. (Includes classical, music theatre and jazz styles).

Professor TBA
No prerequisite.
One hour per week. (Includes traditional, music theatre, film scoring and jazz).

Professor TBA
Open to Steinhardt Music students only.

Professor TBA
Open to Steinhardt Music students only.

Professor TBA
For Music Business students or by permission of the department. Contact Shirley Washington, saw3@nyu.edu.

Professor Di Loreto
Students registering for this course must also register for Photography I (Lab).

NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

A basic black-and-white photography course, designed for those with little or no experience in photography. Emphasis is on the application of techniques in terms of personal expression and through the selection and composition of subject matter. Class size is limited, providing for a greater degree of individual critiques and classroom participation. The course consists of technical lectures, laboratory demonstrations, slide presentation of historic and contemporary photography, and critiques of students. Upon completion of the course, a student can expect to have a thorough understanding of the basics of black-and-white photography. This includes proper and consistent exposure, development, and printing. Basic materials are provided. Students are required to have a 35 mm camera with meter and manual exposure control. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Diloreto
Students registering for this course must also register for Photography I (Lecture).

NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

Professor A. Capodacqua
Prerequisite: Photo I or equivalent. An analog or a digital camera with manual settings is required. Students registering for this course must also register for Directed Projects Lab.

NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

This course extends the student's experience beyond the fundamentals. Students are expected to already have a firm grasp of topics such as correct exposure and composition, and technical issues in both analog and digital photography. Directed Projects on Photography is a project-structured course, with lectures, technical demonstrations, project assignments, critiques, and discussions in order to develop one's own vision in a different environment. Surveys on historical and contemporary photography, with a special focus on Italian and European artists, are presented, so students can continue to "find their voice" as an artist/photographer. With the help of the instructors, the students will be able to determine some of the recurring themes in their work and to produce a coherent body of work. They will learn to choose the best means for communicating their ideas through their photographs.

Sample Syllabus

Professor A. Capodacqua
Students registering for this course must also register for Photography: Directed Projects (Lecture).

NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

Professor A. Capodacqua
Prerequisite: Basic understanding, experience and knowledge of a point-and-shoot digital camera. A digital camera with manual settings is required. Students registering for this course must also register for Digital Tools (Lab).

NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

This course will explore the basic tools of digital imaging, introducing the digital photographic equipment as well as two main Adobe products for creative imaging – Photoshop® and Lightroom®. Using their own digital cameras, students will learn camera operation and composition, image enhancement, manipulation techniques, and creative expression. Students will learn to scan flat artwork as well as slides and negatives. Through a series of assignments given every other week and during class time students will explore Adobe Photoshop® for both image editing and manipulation, and Adobe Lightroom® for automating repetitive tasks. Output devices like ink-jet printers will be covered, allowing for a basic knowledge of digital printing techniques, both of color and black & white images. Upon completion, students should be able to successfully expose, digitally manipulate, and print a well-conceived composition.

Sample Syllabus

Professor A. Capodacqua
Students registering for this course must also register for Digital Tools (Lecture).

NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.

Professor D'alimonte
The European Union is a unique and strange entity. It has 27 states and 500 million people. Its GNP is more or less equal to that of the USA. Many of its members share a common currency and a common monetary policy. Yet it is a union without a state. Its spectacular progress in the area of economic integration has not been matched by the creation of a common government and a common identity. The economic giant is still a political dwarf. But so far this strange entity has been working. The course will analyze in an interdisciplinary fashion the making of the Union, its institutions, its policies and its prospects in the very challenging environment of today. Probably more so than in any other period in its history the survival of the Union as we have known it so far will be tested by the impact of the most serious economic and financial crisis of the post-war period. Particular attention will be given to the actions the Union will take to respond to this challenge and how these actions will affect its evolution. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Wagemann
Comparative study of the main features of Western European political systems, with a special attention to current politics. Analyzes both political institutions and societal groups, referring to the social and political history of the single countries. Presents challenges and changes in today’s Western European democracies. Attempts to introduce the basic concepts and categories of comparative political analysis. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Chiaramonte
Italian instruction will be offered for Italian Immersion students.
Cross-listed with V59.9512.001, Italian Literature/Italian Studies

Presents a study of post-World War II Italian politics and society in comparative and historical perspective. Seeks explanations of Italian political development in specific historical factors such as the 19th century patterns of state formation and the experience of fascism. Comparative analysis seeks to show how the social structure, political culture, and party systems have shaped Italy's distinct development. Current and recurrent political issues include the problem of integrating the south into the national economy and state response to social movements, particularly terrorism. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor TBA
Explores the norms that govern European states in their legal relations and the current development of law among these nations, based on cases and other legal materials relating to the nature and function of the law; recognition of states and governments; continuity of states and state succession; jurisdiction over persons, land, sea, air, and outer space; international responsibility and the law of space; diplomatic privileges and immunities; treaties; regulation of the use of force; and the challenges posed by new states to the established legal order. The course is divided into three parts: sources, natures, and the making of European Community (EC) law; different areas of EC law (single market, social policy and EC citizenship, competition policy, economic and monetary union, and European Union extended relations); and implementation and enforcement of EC law. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor R. D'Alimonte
This course explores the role of the US in Europe from the end of World War II to the present with a particular emphasis on understanding the sources of cooperation and conflict. The topics covered in the first part will include the US vision of the new international order, the end of the old European balance of power, the Cold War and the division of Europe, the building of the Western alliance, the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. The second part of the course will concentrate on contemporary issues ranging from the evolution of NATO to trade relations and the role of the dollar and the euro in the international monetary system. Particular attention will also be given to the challenges posed by the ‘war on terror’, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Pei
How do we construct a description of physical reality based on visual sensory information? Survey of basic facts, theories, and methods of studying sensation and perception. The major emphasis is on vision and audition, although other modalities may be covered. Representative topics include receptor function and physiology; color; motion; depth; psychophysics of detection, discrimination, and appearance; perceptual constancies; adaptation, pattern recognition, and the interaction of knowledge and perception. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor S. Baldassi
Introduction to theories and research in some major areas of cognitive psychology, including human memory, attention, language production and comprehension, thinking, and reasoning. Conducted in English.

Professor Keisner
Introduction and overview of theoretical issues and selected research in developmental psychology. Focus on infancy through adolescence. Lectures interweave theory, methods, and findings about how we develop as perceiving, thinking, and feeling beings. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor M. Duni
Cross-listed with V65.9995.001, Medieval and Renaissance Studies

Popular cultural themes and theology in the Middle Ages will be explored. We will study the shaping of the concept of witchcraft from the Canon episcopi to the bull "Super illius specula". We will go on to the Inquisition: from the repression of Catholicism to the attack of the "sect of Diana," the bull "Magnis desiderantes" (1484) and the Malleus maleficarum (1486). The foundations of the witch hunt of the 16th Century will be explored, as well as the exercise of political virtues and the divine mission of the individual. We will conclude with the decadence of religious life and of civic liberties in the second half of the century. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Mussolin
NOTE: This course meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.
Cross-listed with: V57.9091 (History), V43.9650 (Art History), and V59.9407 (Italian)

Prerequisite: Renaissance Art, or equivalent introductory Art History Course

The course will explore the unusually rich artistic and textual record of medieval holy people and places in Tuscany, and one site Umbria, Assisi. The goal of the course is to consider the intersection of popular religious expression, individual extraordinary lives, and the art and architecture produced by the society to celebrate its spiritual heroes. Students will be immersed in Italian medieval texts, art, and architecture as a means of understanding a vivid past which illuminates medieval civic pride and served as a springboard to the Italian Renaissance. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Lombardo
Cross-listed with V59.9403 (Italian)

Urban culture is complex, fantastic, frightening, and a part of daily life, encompassing everything from the opera to street musicians, the public library to the piazza, the theater to local cafes and social clubs. This course, where cities are considered to be sources of cultural invention, explores through literature, history, social science and student experience, the evolution of high and popular culture, both modernist and post-modern. Emphasis will be placed on how cultures create bonds between specific interest groups, and how culture becomes the arena for acting out or resolving group conflict. This course will focus on Italian cities, including Florence. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor M. Ciacci
This course explores the development of capitalism and consumer culture in Western Europe from World War II to the present. Popular trends (e.g., fashion, cuisine, use of leisure time, travel, etc.) and their impact on lifestyles, behaviors, and values are examined from a sociological perspective. This course will also focus on how American culture has influenced and shaped the development of European capitalism and consumerism as well as contributed to the pace of modernization and the unification of Europe. The sociological phenomenon of consumption and consumer culture in Western European countries is studied in the context of their social, political, and economic development. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor M. Ciacci
One of the aims of the course is to try and understand the accomplishments that Western civilization considers literary and artistic (plastic, visual) products from the vantage point of modern sociology. Each historical period has developed its own "ways of seeing." Attention will be devoted to specific instances in the 19th and 20th centuries. This should allow us to discuss and evaluate the processes involved, in a) the production and dissemination of literary and artistic products, and in b) the consumption patterns affecting those same products in contemporary societies. The purpose is to discover the creative strategies by which such works are generated, the social and economic contexts in which they are produced, and the different ways in which they have been circulated and received. This will allow us to account for changes in taste and social priorities. The city of Florence, viewed in itself as a cultural product, will provide various opportunities (with its museums, libraries, temporary exhibits, etc.) for testing such theoretical statements. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor TBA
An introduction to seeing and using drawing as a medium of expression. The problems surveyed in the studio show how the draftsperson attains knowledge of the visible world through observation, formulation, and articulation in selected drawing media. Individual independent work supports experimentation and imagination. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Lombardi
This course is a hands-on introduction to the translation of visual experience into painting. The interpretative, formal, expressive, and technical aspects of painting are explored through a series of studio situations. Discussions, slide lectures, and gallery visits highlight individual work. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Caracciolo
This course uses the model to focus on problems in drawing. Students are encouraged to explore a wide range of materials and attitudes. Issues of representation and the historic use of the figure as art are covered through slides and discussions. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor L. Tarabusi
Both English and Italian sections of this course will be offered.

An in-depth experience of Italian language and culture through participation in a variety of community service organizations. Entails volunteer placements in agencies working with women, immigrants, and the poor and on issues of health care and the environment. Students are required to attend weekly two-hour seminars, where they may clarify cultural and language issues, share experiences, and participate in discussions with speakers from the various community organizations involved in the program. During the first week of this course, a learning contract will be discussed and then signed by each student in consultation with the professor. With this learning contract the student will commit to follow the requirements of the course in either English or Italian.

Sample Syllabus Italian Section

Professor TBA
Prerequisites: V59.0030, Advanced Review of Modern Italian

Students entering the course should have mastered the fundamental structure of Italian. The course is designed to help students gain confidence and increase their effectiveness in speaking present-day Italian. Through discussions, oral reports, and readings, students develop vocabulary in a variety of topics, improve pronunciation, and learn an extensive range of idiomatic expressions. Conducted in Italian.

Sample Syllabus

Professor TBA
Prerequisites: V59.0030, Advanced Review of Modern Italian

Aims to improve Italian comprehension and writing skills through an analysis of the language of cinema. The focus is on detailed readings of selected films and their scripts. Emphasis on colloquial and contemporary Italian. Conducted in Italian.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Borgioli
Prerequisite: successful completion of V59.0030 Advanced Review of Modern Italian.

Obiettivo principale del corso, condotto interamente in lingua italiana, è lo studio dei rapporti tra letteratura e politica nell’Italia del XX secolo con particolare attenzione alla lettura e all’analisi di alcune opere che rappresentano nel panorama letterario italiano un valido strumento di critica sociale.Il corso illustrerà alcuni periodi della storia d’Italia (il fascismo, la guerra, la Resistenza, il ’68 e gli anni di piombo), metterà in luce alcune problematiche del paese (la questione meridionale, la mafia, ecc.) delineando i principali mutamenti sociali dell’Italia del XX secolo.

Study of works that reflect the conditions and problems of 20th century Italy. Emphasis is on the various ways in which novelists fulfill their role as literary artists and social critics. The course will address the effects on literature, and of literature, on such areas as fascism, the resistance, the southern "question," and the evolution of social structures. Conducted in Italian.

Sample Syllabus

Professor TBA
Prerequisite: successful completion of V59.0030 Advanced Review of Modern Italian or permission of instructor.

Introductory-level literature course that, through a close reading of authors such as Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch, Machiavelli, and Ariosto, focuses on how to understand a literary text. Explores the history of Italian literature from its origins to the 16th century. Conducted in Italian.

Professor TBA
Italian instruction will be offered for Italian Immersion students.

This course analyzes Dante's poetry in iteself and as an object of translation and adaptation. The text of the Divine Comedy, a 14,000-line journey through the afterlife, will be studied in terms of its transmission and reception in contemporary culture. Emphasis will be put on Dante's infludence on literature, art, music, media and film. The text is read in translation with references to the original Italian facing text. Conducted in English.

Professor Vito Zagarrio
Cross-listed with V30.9103 (Dramatic Literature)
Italian instruction will be offered for Italian Immersion students.
Students registering for this course must also register for a screening time.

The course focuses on the issue of fascism and anti fascism within the national Italian film. The class will investigate, first, the representation of both fascism and anti fascism in cinema; at the same time, it will also analyze the influence of the fascist and Resistance legacies on Italian films and film making overall (for example, an ideological re-reading of certain Italian genres such as the gangster or the western). The course will involve lectures, film viewing, in-class discussion, students presentations, and papers. The class will screen sequences of films, starting from the Fascist period and continuing to the present. The films will be discussed and contextualized within the different historical phases: the 1930's and 1940's, the 1960's and 1970's, the 1990's, and the last decade since 2000. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor Vito Zagarrio
Cross-listed with V30.9103 (Dramatic Literature)
Students registering for this course must also register for the Lecture.

Professor Chiaramonte
Italian instruction will be offered for Italian Immersion students.
Cross-listed with V53.9512, Politics

Presents a study of post-World War II Italian politics and society in comparative and historical perspective. Seeks explanations of Italian political development in specific historical factors such as the 19th century patterns of state formation and the experience of fascism. Comparative analysis seeks to show how the social structure, political culture, and party systems have shaped Italy's distinct development. Current and recurrent political issues include the problem of integrating the south into the national economy and state response to social movements, particularly terrorism. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus

Professor TBA
Italian instruction will be offered for Italian Immersion students.
Cross-listed with V57.9168 (History) and V42.9163 (European Studies)

Politics and society, war and peace in modern Europe over a fifty-year period in the middle of the last century. The primary goal of this course is to consider how developments since the 1930s have influenced the lives and formed the outlook of today's Europeans. This course relies heavily on historically-based novels to explore the topics of particular concern: European fascism, the Second World War, the division of Europe and the Cold War, reconstruction and economic "miracle" in western Europe, de-colonization, eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, the 1960s, and the collapse of communist states in the 1980s. Conducted in English.

Sample Syllabus