This course explores some of the outstanding contributions that the Italian peninsula has made to western culture, and the central place that Italy occupies in our understanding of western civilization. We will explore selected examples of cultural innovation in Italy, and their impact:

— Pre-historic Italy and Mediterranean culture

— art and architecture of Roman antiquity

— Humanism and Christianity

— writing and art of the Italian Renaissance

— travel, exploration and migration

— Italian opera and its echoes in other arts

— Italian Risorgimento in novel and cinema

— Fascism and World War II

— Italian Neorealism in cinema

— Italian landscape today

— New Italian identities and the Mediterranean

We will look at various art forms, such as painting, architecture, and sculpture. We will also be reading different kinds of writing, including history, art history, political science, film, fiction, poetry, scholarly articles, and other kinds of writing on Italy and the Italians. Because of the variety of topics, we'll hear lectures by a number of guest experts from our campus and beyond. The topics and readings you enjoy will suggest majors/minors to explore or to avoid.

In addition to learning about the cultural legacies of Italy, you will develop skills in preparing a research paper. You will develop an annotated bibliography on an Italian-related topic of choice, such as food, music, fashion and design, advertising, etc..

In reading and writing for this course you will also develop your critical skills in evaluating the sources you read: are they reliable? What assumptions or values are implicit in these sources? What kind of information should you not count on getting from a particular source? You'll learn how to locate articles in scholarly journals and books, reference sources, and general nonfiction —and you'll become able to appreciate the different usefulness of these various sources.

Please note: We will be viewing 4 films outside of class this quarter: Rome Open City (1945) by Roberto Rossellini, La dolce vita (1960) by Federico Fellini, The Leopard (1963) by Luchino Visconti, and One Hundreds Steps by Marco Tullio Giordana (2000).