Course content and class availability are subject to change. Most courses are 4 points. Intensive language courses are normally 6 points. All participants in NYU in Florence are required to register for an Italian language course. Language courses are offered every semester.
Regular hours of class time are 9am-7:15pm
For a list of courses that are part of the Italian Immersion program please
click here.
You should consult the NYU Registrar's web site for the scheduled class times and days.
Italian Language
Staff
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.
Prof. 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.
Prof. M. Reale
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.
Prof. Carloni
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.
Classics
Prof. C. Ewell
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.
Communication Studies
Prof. G.Consentino
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.
Comparative Literature
Prof. D. Barrett
Identical to K20.1164.001, 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.
Economics
Prof. Velucchi
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.
Staff
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.
Staff
Prerequisite: V31.0001 (Economic Principals) or V31.0005 (Introduction to
Economic Analysts).
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.
Staff
Prerequisites:Intermediate Microeconomics or equivalent.
This course focuses on international trade in goods, services, and
capital. It serves as an introduction to international economic issues
and as preparation for the department’s more advanced course in
V31.0324. The issues discussed include gains from trade and their
distribution; analysis of protectionism; strategic trade barriers; the
trade deficit; exchange rate determination and government intervention
in foreign exchange markets.
Staff
Prerequisites: Intermediate Macroeconomics and International Economics, 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.
Prof. G. Gallo
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.
Prof. G. Gallo
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.
English Literature
Prof. John Maynard
Introduction to the interpretation of literary texts. Teaches the student to talk and write about literature. Through study of the various forms of poetry, the short story, the novel, and the drama, students develop a critical language and approach appropriate to the experience of each work.
Prof. John Maynard
The seminar course focuses on the writing of two of England's major poets
as they worked in and responded to the experience of nineteenth-century
Italy. The seminar focuses on their lives and works in their many years
together in Florence. Issues covered through focus on appropriate poems
will include Victorian multiculturalism, economic imperialism, poetic form,
and national culture, politics and poetry, Victorian gender and poetry,
patriarchy and feminism, Victorian and Italian nineteenth-century
sexuality, aesthetics and modernity. Classes will focus on interpreting
individual poems and locating the poems in a cultural world. Excursions
will connect the matter of the poems or lives of the poets to the world of
Florence and Italy.
European Studies
TBA
Identical to V57.9168.001 (History) and V59.9868.001 (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.
Fine Arts (Art History)
NOTE: Fine Arts courses meet in the center of Florence; students should allow for 30 minutes commute time between Fine Arts classes and their prior/subsequent classes.
Prof. B. Edelstein
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.
Prof. B. Edelstein
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
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.
Prof. B. Edelstein
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
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.
Prof. Massimo Agus
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.
Prof. G. Gobbi-Sica
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.
Staff
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.
Staff
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, 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.
Prof. Zaloga
Class 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 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.
Prof. N. Leszczynski
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.
Prof. P. Lombardi
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 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.
Prof. A. Pascuzzi
Class meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.
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.
Gallatin School of Individualized Study
NOTE: The Architectural Design course meets in the center of Florence; students should allow for 30 minutes commute time between
this class and their prior/subsequent classes.
Prof. D. Barrett
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.
Prof. 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.
Prof. 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.
Prof. L. Tarabusi
.001 Conducted in English.002 Conducted in Italian
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.
Hebrew and Judaic Studies
Prof. M. Simoni
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.
History
Staff
Identical to V65.9123.001 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.
Prof. 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.
TBA
Identical to V42.9163.001 (European Studies) and V59.9868.001 (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.
Prof. R.M. Comanducci
Identical to 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.
Italian Literature/Italian Studies
Professor Chiamenti
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 English.
Prof. Vito Zagarrio
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.
Section .001 Conducted in Italian Prof. M. Chiamenti
Prerequisite: V59.0030, Advanced Review of Modern Italian, or permission of instructor
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 Italian.
Professor Ferrari
Prerequisite: V59.0030, Advanced Review of Modern Italian, or permission of instructor
Covers the development of the Italian novel in the context of larger social, political, and cultural developments in Italian society. Particular attention is paid to the relations between narrative and shifts in national
identity following the 1870 unification of Italy and at important historical moments of the 20th century. Texts include works by D'Annunzio, Aleramo, Svevo, Vittorini, C. Levi, Pratolini, Calvino. Taught in Italian.
Professor Chiamenti
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.
Course description coming soon.
TBA
Identical to V57.9168.001 (History) and V42.9163.001 (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.
Prof. L. Tarabusi
.001 Conducted in English.002 Conducted in Italian
Cross-listed with K50.9001.001, .002
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.
Marketing
Prof. T. Kirk
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
Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Prof. 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.
Staff
Indentical with V57.9123.001 - History
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.
Prof. R.M. Comanducci
Identical to V57.9270, History
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.
Prof. 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.
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.
Metropolitan Studies
Prof. Lombardo
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.
Music
Prof. M. Sansone
Identical to V59.9170, Italian Department
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
Prof. Biagi
In this course participants will learn about cultural, linguistic, and historic differences in Italy’s regions through the study of folk music and dance. The case studies will include: ritual music and dance forms, traditions of storytelling, emigration songs, women’s work songs, tarantella and tammuriata dance forms, and the use of folk music and dance in Italian movies and theatre. Conducted in English
Music and Performing Arts (The Steinhardt School)
Staff
Prerequisite: E85.1077, Music History III, or success in placement exam
The history of musical styles in the twentieth century.
Staff
Prerequisite: E85.0008, Aural Comprehension III, or success in placement exam
Course description will be added shortly.
Staff
Prerequisite: Music Theory III, or success in placement exam
Course description will be added shortly.
Prof.
Prerequisite: Keyboard Harmony and Improvisation III, or success in placement exam
Course description will be added shortly.
Staff
Prerequisite: Music History I, or success in placement exam
Course description will be added shortly.
Staff
No prerequisite.
One hour per week. (Includes all woodwind, brass and percussion instruments,
classical and jazz styles).
Staff
No prerequisite.
One hour per week. (Includes all string orchestral instruments and guitar,
classical and jazz styles).
Staff
No prerequisite.
One hour per week. (Includes classical and jazz styles).
Staff
No prerequisite.
One hour per week. (Includes classical, music theatre and jazz styles).
Staff
No prerequisite.
One hour per week. (Includes traditional, music theatre, film scoring and jazz).
Staff
Placement audition required.
Staff
Placement audition required.
Staff
Permission of Steinhardt music faculty required.
Staff
Permission of Steinhardt music faculty required.
Staff
Permission of Steinhardt music faculty required.
Politics
Prof. D'alimonte
This course has three main objectives. The first is to analyze the nature of the EU political system, how it evolved and how it works today. The focus will be on the interaction between the Union, member states, organized interests and public opinion. The second is to examine the major policies of the EU, both those that affect business directly such as competition or cohesion policies and those who shape the European and national business environments (market de-regulation). The third objective is to study the consequences of the monetary union and of the planned expansion eastwards. Both developments are bound to change significantly in the medium term the nature of the Union and its policies. Overall students will come out of this course with a useful framework for understanding the relationship between political developments and economic change in the context of a unique historical process of regional integration which carries a significant lesson for other parts of the world. Conducted in English.
Prof. 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.
Staff
This course will focus on the central question of political
philosophy: how should we differentiate legitimate from
illegitimate uses of state power, that is, authority or
sovereignty from tyranny or criminality? Starting with
Machiavelli and Marx we will first address the skeptical view
that this differentiation can not and should not be made, that
ultimately there is no difference between legitimate and
illegitimate uses of state power, there is only power; with the
only problem being how to get that power in the case of
Machiavelli and how to get rid of that power in the case of
Marx. With the skeptical position addressed and critically
evaluated, we will then turn to the two schools of thought who
claim we can and should make the differentiation between the
legitimate and illegitimate uses of state power: paternalism and
liberalism. Tackling paternalism first, in the form of Plato and
Mussolini who agree that state power should be wielded by an
elite for the good of all only disagreeing over who should
constitute that elite, we will take on in the remainder of the
semester the liberal view that has come to dominate the world
and form the dialectic opponent of paternalism. Represented by
Locke and Mill who argue that the only legitimate use of state
power is that consented to by the individual for protection from
harm, we will challenge this view by asking the deceptively
simple question: what constitutes harm? With that, we will come
up to more contemporary thought on this very question in the
work of Rawls, Nozick, Fish and others, testing various views on
the more general question of the nature of harm against specific
political issues such as free speech vs. hate speech, social
welfare vs. individual property rights and affirmative action
vs. meritocracy.
Prof. Chiaramonte
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.
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.
Prof. R. D'Alimonte
The course aims at exploring the role of the US in Europe from the end of WW II and the beginning of the cold war to the fall of communist regimes and after the attack of September 11, 2001. The topics covered will include: the collapse of the old European power balance, the emergence of the division of Europe, and the building of the Western alliance as well as the strains within the alliance both on military and economic issues. The course will also examine the evolution and process of European integration, the changing role of NATO, the development of the European Monetary Union, Terrorism and its impact on future US-EU relations. Conducted in English.
Psychology
This course has been canceled.
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.
Prof. 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.
Prof. B. Shinn
This course will explore alternative policy approaches to social issues in Europe and
the United States, and evaluate their relationship to individual welfare, based
on theory and research from psychology and other social science disciplines.
The class will consider two topics together. The first will be child care and
other policies related to children in the preschool years. The second will be
poverty and homelessness. Students will select a third area to research
individually or in small groups and present their findings to the class.
(Counts as an advanced elective for NYU Psychology majors.)
Sociology
Prof. 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.
Prof. 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.
Cinema Studies & Photography (Tisch School of the Arts)
Staff
.001 Lecture
.002 Lab
.003 Lecture
.004 Lab
Class 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.
Staff
.001 Lecture
.002 Lab
.003 Lecture
.004 Lab
.005 Lab
Class meets in the center of Florence. Student should allow for 30 minutes commute time between this class and their prior or subsequent class.
Staff
.001 Lecture
.002 Lab
Class meets in the center of Florence. Student shoul
