The Italian Culture Course has three available sections: Siena in Italian History, Italian Literature, and Italy and Its Regions. Students will have the opportunity to take two of these three sections, one in the first half of the semester and one in the second. While the Culture Course for the first half of the semester will be assigned to the student based on the Italian Language Placement test given at the beginning of the program, in the second half, students have the opportunity to choose one of the two culture sections they did not take in the first part. The choice of the Culture Course in the second part of the semester is not in any way based on the student’s level of Italian language; to facilitate active class participation, we’ll encourage enrollment of at most ten people in each section. Course priority will be given the first ten who sign up for the course on the lists posted during the midterm week. At the end of the semester, they will receive a grade on their transcript that is comprehensive of both culture classes, counted as one course made up of two sections, the final grade being an average of the grades of both sections.
Course in Italian: Siena in Italian History
The class is for intermediate and advanced students. It is taught in Italian but English is allowed (especially at the beginning). The class introduces students to Italian medieval and modern history. Through an in depth analysis of the economic and social structures of SIena and of its everyday life, students can form their own idea of the way people lived and thought in a ‘typical’ Italian town. Visiting several areas of Siena, where real people dwelt, produced, prayed, played etc. is a core part of the class.
Course in Italian: Late 20th Century Italian Literature
The subject of this course is late 20th century Italian literature. The objectives are to introduce the students to the Italian literary tradition by reading some of its most significant texts. The aim is to give the students the skills to go deeply into a text by recognizing the literary genre, style, and structure of the text itself. Texts by Benni, Buzzati, Rodari and Baricco, and others will be presented to the students in class. Additional subjects and authors can be discussed with the teacher in order to satisfy students specific interests. The course is taught in Italian and it will consist of a general introduction by the teacher, readings of selected texts, collective discussion, and a personal or small group research project to be presented to the class throughout the semester.
Course in Italian: Italy and Its Regions
The aim of the course is to discover Italy by its regions. For each region, we will observe its geographic characteristics, typical food, the cities and artistic attractions and monuments, events, fashion brands, the writers and singers who come from the region, as well as anything else that may interest the students. The class, indeed, is not conceived as a passage of knowledge from the teacher to the student but as personal research which will involve the whole class. The final result will be a personalized guide book which will take into account the particular curiosities of the students. The teacher will lead them into this process of discovery and the class will be a place where students can compare their results and pick up new ideas. The course will be taught in Italian. Every week, the first lesson will consist of oral presentations prepared by the students about the topic previously discussed with the others and the teacher. During the second lesson these presentations will be converted into a small written text that we will use for the final ‘class guide book’. Thus, the students will develop three different skills: searching for material (on the internet or from a written guide or text), presenting a subject, and writing in Italian. We will also watch a series of movies that will provide further insight into some essential aspects of some of the regions' culture (e.g. while working on Emilia Romagna, we will watch "La Strada" by Federico Fellini).