Skip to main content
Loading

Italian Language Courses 

Click here to see courses offered this semester

: This is an introductory course designed mainly for students who have not previously studied Italian. By the end of the first semester, you should be able to understand and respond appropriately to simple questions and statements in Italian. You should also be able to read and react to a variety of short Italian cultural texts. In addition, you should be able to talk and write about yourself, your likes, dislikes, and interests in Italian in the present, past, and future. We also hope that during the semester you will learn more about Italian culture, have fun with the language, and improve your learning strategies.

: Prerequisite: ITAL 101 or placement by instructor. The main goal of ITAL 102 is to help you improve your Italian at a high beginner level. We will focus on listening and reading comprehension, speaking, writing, and cultural literacy. By the end of the semester, you should be able to understand and respond to a variety of personal questions, talk about other people, read a wide range of beginner-level texts, express your opinions in writing at the basic level and be familiar with a number of Italian cultural themes.

: An accelerated basic Italian course that substitutes for ITAL 10100 and 10200. Strongly recommended for students wishing to minor in Italian or major in Italian studies. Knowledge of another foreign language is highly recommended; time management skills and stern studying discipline are required. This is an accelerated introductory course. As it substitutes two courses (ITAL 101 and ITAL 102) it is a fast-paced course that goes at double the speed of its non-accelerated counterparts. By the end of this course, you should be able to understand and respond to a variety of personal questions, talk about other people, read a wide range of beginner-level texts, express your opinions in writing at the basic level, and be familiar with a number of Italian cultural themes.

: Prerequisite: ITAL 102 or ITAL 105. The main goal of ITAL 201 is to build on your Italian knowledge at an intermediate-low level. We will focus on improving your speaking, writing, listening, and reading comprehension skills acquired at the beginner level. We will expand on the cultural aspects with slightly more challenging topics and texts. By the end of the semester, you should be able to understand and contribute to conversations on concrete and predictable topics related to personal information, like yourself and your family, daily activities, and personal preferences. However, you will also start to be familiar with more abstract topics related to social, cultural, or historical themes covered in the textbook. You will also be able to read a variety of texts at the intermediate-low level, and you will begin to express your opinions in writing with more complex sentence syntax and grammar.

Prerequisite: ITAL 201 
 The main goal of ITAL 202 is to build on your Italian knowledge at an intermediate-mid level. We will continue to focus on improving your speaking, writing, listening, and reading comprehension skills acquired at the beginner level. We will continue to expand on the cultural aspects with progressively more challenging topics and texts. The course is the last in a four-course program. By the end of the semester, you should be able to understand and contribute to conversations on concrete and predictable topics related to personal information, like yourself and your family, daily activities, and personal preferences. However, you will also become familiar with and discuss more abstract topics related to social, cultural, or historical themes covered in the textbook. You will also be able to read a variety of texts at the intermediate level, and you will express your opinions in writing with more complex sentences syntax, and grammar.

:  Prerequisite: ITAL 102 or ITAL 105.  Strongly recommended for students wishing to minor in Italian or major in Italian studies. Also recommended for students who have passed the AP Italian exam. Time management skills and stern studying discipline are required. This is an accelerated intermediate course. As it substitutes two courses (ITAL 201 and ITAL 202) it is a fast-paced course that goes at double the speed of its non-accelerated counterparts. By the end of the semester, you should be able to understand and contribute to conversations on concrete and predictable topics related to personal information, like yourself and your family, daily activities, and personal preferences. However, you will also become familiar with and discuss more abstract topics related to social, cultural, or historical themes covered in the textbook. You will also be able to read a variety of texts at the intermediate level, and you will express your opinions in writing with more complex sentences syntax, and grammar.

Other Italian Courses regularly offered

In addition to the Italian 101-102 and Italian 201-202 language series, we regularly offer the following courses.

: May be taken concurrently with ITAL 101 or ITAL 102 or ITAL 105. The course will cover topics covered in the beginning Italian textbook currently in use. As it is a conversation course, grammar explanations will be limited. Therefore should a student not be concurrently registered in an Italian 100-level course, they will be responsible for keeping up. We hope these students will then be motivated to choose an Italian language course.

: Prerequisite: ITAL 102 or ITAL 105. May be taken concurrently with ITAL 201 or ITAL 202 or ITAL 205. The focus of the course is the development of communicative competence through guided small-group conversation practice. The course will approach a wide variety of cultural topics and develop students’ abilities to communicate their views on them.

: Prerequisite: ITAL 201 or 205. The focus of the course is the further development of communicative competence through guided small-group conversation practice. The course will approach at an advanced level a wide variety of cultural topics and continue to develop student’s abilities to communicate their views on them at the advanced level so as to favor in conversing with natives.

: Prerequisite: ITAL 202 
or ITAL 205. This course is the first course of a two-course sequence designed to build on the fundamental skills learned in ITAL 101-205 in order to begin preparing students for subsequent 300- or 400-level coursework in Italian language, literature, and culture. It entails advanced work on the development of Italian speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills with particular emphasis on composition and conversation. A wide variety of topics will be explored in depth through the use of more complex texts spanning from articles, literary excerpts, other multi-media, and even short full-length contemporary and current literary texts. This course counts towards the Certificate of Achievement in Italian and is a prerequisite for the minor in Italian and the major in Italian studies.

: Prerequisite: ITAL 301 
 This course is the second course of a two-course sequence designed to build on the fundamental skills learned in ITAL 101-205 in order to prepare students for subsequent 300- or 400-level course work in Italian language, literature, and culture. It entails advanced work on the development of Italian speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills with particular emphasis on composition and conversation. A wide variety of topics will be explored in depth through the use of more complex texts spanning from articles, literary excerpts, other multi-media, and even short full-length contemporary and current literary texts. This course counts towards the Certificate of Achievement in Italian and is a prerequisite for the minor in Italian and the major in Italian studies.


Italian Literature and Culture Courses

ITAL 231: Dante's Divine Comedy 
Reading and discussion of Dante's Divine Comedy. The major critical approaches to Dante's masterpiece will be reviewed. All readings, papers, and examinations will be in English.


The work of early Italian humanists and Renaissance writers and artists is essential to understand the development of Western civilization.  This course focuses on their accomplishments in the arts and sciences and shows the profound influence that the culture of the Italian Renaissance had in forging a new worldview not only in Italy but also beyond the Alps and across the ages. A study of the Italian Renaissance will reveal that many perspectives of the modern world were formed at that time. The course will begin by exploring the historical, political, geographic, and economic elements that made the major cities of the Italian peninsula the perfect site for the development of the Renaissance. We will then examine the writings of the major figures of the Italian Renaissance in art, literature, and the sciences to show the novelty of the ideas that developed in Italy during this period. Particular emphasis will be given to the intersections of art, culture, and science in the engineering works of Leonardo and Brunelleschi, and in the anatomical studies of Andreas Vesalius, Leonardo, and Michelangelo.  We will conclude our course with  Galileo’s discoveries, and we will focus on their cultural, religious, and scientific aftermath.  

The course fulfills the Western Heritage category of the CLA CORE.

ITAL 330: The Italian Cinema
The development and evolution of Italian cinema after World War II. The class will center on the viewing and discussion of films and will survey a broad spectrum of directors and styles. Knowledge of Italian is not required.


This course explores various types of Italian comedy, focusing on theater and cinema. Particular emphasis will be given to Renaissance theater, commedia dell'arte, Goldoni, Pirandello, Dario Fo, and to the new generation of Italian comedians. Conducted in English.

ITAL 335: Italian-American Cinema
This course offers an overview of the major filmmakers associated with the representation of Italian Americans in the United States film world. Students will view and discuss major filmmakers and their films and will write critical essays on film topics. Conducted in English. This course offers an overview of the major filmmakers associated with the representation of Italian Americans in the United States film world. Students will view and discuss major filmmakers and their films and will write critical essays on film topics. Conducted in English.

ITAL 341: Italian Literature I: From the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment
Prerequisite: ITAL 241 or ITAL 302
This is the first course of a two-semester sequence presenting an overview of Italian literature. Students will read and discuss major authors and texts and will write critical essays on literary topics. Readings, discussions, and papers in Italian.

ITAL 342: Italian Literature II: From Romanticism to the Present
Prerequisite: ITAL 241 or ITAL 302
This is the second course of a two-semester sequence presenting an overview of Italian literature. Students will read and discuss major authors and texts and will write critical essays on literary topics. Readings, discussions, and papers in Italian.

ITAL 380: Italian Culture and Civilization
The course focuses on salient aspects of Italian culture and civilization from the Middle Ages to the present. Conducted in English.

ITAL 393: Italian Women Writers in Translation
Cross-listed with LC 239/CMPL 230/ENGL 393)  In this course we will examine fictional texts written by women in the XX and XXI centuries and will pay particular attention to the ways in which women writers participated and reflected on issues of gender, politics, and society in the past and current century. We will read works from the early feminist Sibilla Aleramo to the recent novellas of Elena Ferrante who has been hailed in the New York Review of Books as  “the most powerful and enigmatic writer to emerge from contemporary Italy.” This course fulfills the Gender Issues category of the CLA CORE.

ITAL 493: Advanced Topics in Italian Literature or Cinema
This course will analyze in depth particular aspects of Italian literature, cinema, and culture. No knowledge of Italian is necessary. This course may be repeated for up to 9 credits.

ITAL 590: Directed Reading in Italian
Prerequisite: consent of the chairperson for Italian courses. May be repeated for credit.

ITAL 594: Special Topics in Italian Literature
May be repeated for credit. Instructor approval is required.

Other courses that may be taken to satisfy the Italian Studies Major:

A&D 227: History of Art Since 1400
Review of painting, sculpture, and architecture from 1400 to the present.

A&D 359: Medieval European Art
A comprehensive study of the varied art forms in Western Europe from the decline of the Roman Empire until the beginnings of the Italian Renaissance: 500 A.D. to 1500 A.D.

A&D 451: Italian Renaissance Art
A study of the development of the major and minor themes and forms in Italy from 1300 A.D. until 1525 A.D., emphasizing the achievements of masters and analyzing the theories of contemporaries.

CLCS 331: Survey of Latin Literature
Introduction to Classical Latin literature, Golden and Silver, based on the ancient canons. Some sense of the Greek literary legacy will be sought. Typically Roman literary genres will be highlighted. Readings in English translation. The contour of the syllabus will be broadly historical.

CLCS 335: Introduction to Classical Mythology
This course will survey the cosmogony and theogony of ancient Greece and Rome as viewed through ancient sources. Emphasis will be on the Olympians and minor deities, the role of the hero, and major and minor myths.

FLL 230: Introduction to Comparative Literature
Foundations for comparison of works in different languages, thematic (philosophical, sociological, psychological) and structural (genre, composition, use of linguistic devices); parallel interrelation of theme and structure in works of different literatures. The importance of literary norms and systems of genres. Examination of crosscurrents in different literatures during successive periods of development.

FLL 261: Introduction to the Linguistic Study of Foreign Languages
Overview of linguistics and the role of language in society; fundamental concepts of linguistic analysis. The course focuses on linguistic phenomena found in French, German, Russian, and Spanish, with material, examples, and assignments drawn primarily from those languages whenever appropriate. May also take SLHS/ENGL 227. Credit will not be awarded for both FLL 261 and SLHS/ENGL 227.

FLL 331: Comparative Literature in Translation
A course in the study of a special topic related to works in several foreign literatures, directed by an instructor whose particular field of specialization will be highlighted. This course may be repeated for credit.

FLL 570: Introduction to Semiotics
(ANTH 519, AUSL 589, COM 507, ENGL 570) The study of languages, literature, and other systems of human communication. Includes a wide range of phenomena that can be brought together by means of a general theory of signs. The course deals with three fundamental areas: 1) verbal communication, 2) nonverbal communication (iconic systems, gestures, body language, etc. ), and 3) communication through art forms.

Overview of Italian language and etiquette used in situations related to various sectors of commerce, such as business, economy, advertising, and the workplace in general. This will include spoken language and commercial correspondence. The course will also provide a broad cultural introduction to the general structure of Italian commerce and major Italian companies.  Pre-requisite:  ITAL 102 or ITAL 105.

HIST 402: Europe in the Renaissance: From Dante to Machiavelli
Prerequisite: First Semester Sophomore Standing or higher. Authorized equivalent courses or consent of the instructor may be used in satisfying course pre- and co-requisites.
Primarily a survey of Renaissance Italy, 1300 to 1530. Attention is focused on Italian humanism as an intellectual and social movement, on the struggle of republicanism against despotism in Italian city life, and finally on the impact of humanism north of the Alps in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.

HIST 406: Rebels and Romantics: Europe 1815-1870
Prerequisite: First Semester Sophomore Standing or higher. Authorized equivalent courses or consent of the instructor may be used in satisfying course pre- and co-requisites.
Examines the dramatic social, cultural, and political developments in Europe following the defeat of Napolean through various rebellious and romantic personalities, as well as figures who supported conservative or reformist solutions to the upheavals of industrialization, revolution, and nationalism.

HIST 407: Road to World War I: Europe 1870-1919
First Semester Sophomore Standing or higher. Authorized equivalent courses or consent of the instructor may be used in satisfying course pre- and co-requisites.
Studies the increase in Europe's wealth and power through conquest, industrialization, and nation-state rivalries, along with the social stress and cultural anxiety that culminated in World War I; examine the war from the perspectives of both combatants and civilians.

HIST 408: Dictatorship and Democracy: Europe 1919-1945
Prerequisite: First Semester Sophomore Standing or higher. Authorized equivalent courses or consent of the instructor may be used in satisfying course pre- and co-requisites.
This course examines the fleeting triumph of democracy across Europe. Followed by the rise of fascism, communism, and Nazism. Emphasis will be placed on broad economic, social, and cultural transformations as well as individual choices to resist or conform.

MARS 220: Introduction to Medieval Studies
An introduction to interdisciplinary medieval studies, emphasizing the nature and methodology of medieval studies, source materials for medieval studies, and the disciplines that comprise medieval studies. May be repeated for credit.

MARS 420: Medieval Studies Seminar
Prerequisite: IDIS 220
An interdisciplinary seminar in some aspects of medieval studies. Instructor approval is required. May be repeated for up to 6 credits.