Courses for Spring 2023 | Italian Studies Program

	Title	Instructors	Location	Time	Description	Cross listings	Fulfills	Syllabus URL
ITAL 0091-401	Contemporary Italy: Black Italy	Rossella Di Rosa	PSYL C41	TW 10:15 AM-11:44 AM	Topics vary. See the Department's website at https://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses for a description of current offerings.	CIMS0091401	Cross Cultural Analysis Society Sector	https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL0091401
ITAL 0100-301	Elementary Italian I	Stefania Rawson	WILL 302	MTWR 10:15 AM-11:14 AM	A first-semester elementary language course for students who have never studied Italian or who have had very little exposure to the language. Students who have previously studied Italian are required to take the placement test. Class work emphasizes the development of spontaneous discourse skills and interactional competence. Out-of-class homework required.			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL0100301
ITAL 0120-301	Accelerated Elementary Italian	Eilis Kierans	WILL 302	MTWR 1:45 PM-2:44 PM	An intensive two-credit course covering the first and second semester of the elementary year for students who have never studied Italian before but have already fulfilled the language requirement in another modern language, preferably a romance language. Students who have fulfilled the language requirement in a language other than a romance language will be considered on an individual basis. All students must have departmental permission to register. Class work emphasizes the development of spontaneous discourse skills and interactional competence. Out-of-class homework required.			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL0120301
ITAL 0200-301	Elementary Italian II	Alessandra Fumagalli	WILL 23	MTWR 10:15 AM-11:14 AM	This course is the continuation of the elementary-level sequence designed to develop functional competence in the four skills. Class work emphasizes the further development of spontaneous discourse skills and interactional competence. Out-of-class homework required.			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL0200301
ITAL 0200-302	Elementary Italian II	Julia Heim	WILL 204	MTWR 12:00 PM-12:59 PM	This course is the continuation of the elementary-level sequence designed to develop functional competence in the four skills. Class work emphasizes the further development of spontaneous discourse skills and interactional competence. Out-of-class homework required.			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL0200302
ITAL 0200-303	Elementary Italian II	Julia Heim	WILL 215	MTWR 1:45 PM-2:44 PM	This course is the continuation of the elementary-level sequence designed to develop functional competence in the four skills. Class work emphasizes the further development of spontaneous discourse skills and interactional competence. Out-of-class homework required.			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL0200303
ITAL 0200-304	Elementary Italian II			CANCELED	This course is the continuation of the elementary-level sequence designed to develop functional competence in the four skills. Class work emphasizes the further development of spontaneous discourse skills and interactional competence. Out-of-class homework required.			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL0200304
ITAL 0300-301	Intermediate Italian I			CANCELED	Italian 0300 is the first half of a two-semester intermediate sequence designed to help you attain a level of proficiency that will allow you to function comfortably in an Italian-speaking environment. The course will build on your existing skills in Italian, increase your confidence and your ability to read, write, speak and understand the language, and introduce you to more refined lexical items, more complex grammatical structures, and more challenging cultural material. You are expected to have already learned the most basic grammatical structures in elementary Italian and to review these. The course materials will allow you to explore culturally relevant topics and to develop cross-cultural skills through the exploration of similarities and differences between your native culture and the Italian world.			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL0300301
ITAL 0340-301	Accelerated Intermediate Italian	Lorella Prichett	DRLB 4C8	MWF 12:00 PM-12:59 PM	This course is the intensive and accelerated course that combines in one semester the intermediate sequence (0300 and 0400). It will build on your existing skills in Italian, increase your confidence and your ability to read, write, speak and understand the language, and introduce you to more refined lexical items, more complex grammatical structures, and more challenging cultural material. The course will allow you to explore culturally relevant topics and to develop cross-cultural skills through the exploration of similarities and differences between your native culture and the Italian world.			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL0340301
ITAL 0400-301	Intermediate Italian II	Lourdes Contreras	WILL 316	MWF 12:00 PM-12:59 PM	This course is the second half of a two-semester intermediate sequence designed to help you attain a level of proficiency that will allow you to function comfortably in an Italian-speaking environment. The course will build on your existing skills in Italian, increase your confidence and your ability to read, write, speak and understand the language, and introduce you to more refined lexical items, more complex grammatical structures, and more challenging cultural material. The course will allow you to explore culturally relevant topics and to develop cross-cultural skills through the exploration of analogies and differences between your native culture and the Italian world. The course will move beyond stereotypical presentations of Italy and its people to concentrate on specific social issues together with cultural topics.			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL0400301
ITAL 0400-302	Intermediate Italian II	Stefania Baita	WILL 307	MWF 1:45 PM-2:44 PM	This course is the second half of a two-semester intermediate sequence designed to help you attain a level of proficiency that will allow you to function comfortably in an Italian-speaking environment. The course will build on your existing skills in Italian, increase your confidence and your ability to read, write, speak and understand the language, and introduce you to more refined lexical items, more complex grammatical structures, and more challenging cultural material. The course will allow you to explore culturally relevant topics and to develop cross-cultural skills through the exploration of analogies and differences between your native culture and the Italian world. The course will move beyond stereotypical presentations of Italy and its people to concentrate on specific social issues together with cultural topics.			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL0400302
ITAL 0400-303	Intermediate Italian II	Massimiliano Lorenzon	WILL 4	MWR 3:30 PM-4:29 PM	This course is the second half of a two-semester intermediate sequence designed to help you attain a level of proficiency that will allow you to function comfortably in an Italian-speaking environment. The course will build on your existing skills in Italian, increase your confidence and your ability to read, write, speak and understand the language, and introduce you to more refined lexical items, more complex grammatical structures, and more challenging cultural material. The course will allow you to explore culturally relevant topics and to develop cross-cultural skills through the exploration of analogies and differences between your native culture and the Italian world. The course will move beyond stereotypical presentations of Italy and its people to concentrate on specific social issues together with cultural topics.			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL0400303
ITAL 0800-301	Italian Conversation	Eilis Kierans	WILL 307	R 5:15 PM-7:14 PM	The course materials and nature of assignments and projects complement the Italian Studies curriculum by supporting the cultural content, linguistic functions, and types of assignments students may have already been exposed to in other Italian courses. This course will serve not only as a gateway to inspire students to take Italian Studies courses in the future, but will also accompany classes they may be taking simultaneously. The learning objectives of the works studied in this course will mirror and support the goals of the Italian Studies Curriculum while paying particular attention to oral expression, communication, and fostering a community of students of Italian both inside and outside the classroom.			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL0800301
ITAL 1200-301	Advanced Italian II	Stefania Rawson	WILL 316	TR 12:00 PM-1:29 PM	In this course, students will strengthen their communication skills, while continuing to explore significant aspects of contemporary Italian culture and history. Students will take further steps towards being able to understand in depth and to contextualize authentic Italian documents. Films, songs, and a variety of readings, will be used as windows on particular historical periods, cultural movements, political issues, and social customs. They will serve as a tool to investigate the many facets of Italian identity and, at the same time, as a way to prepare those students who will continue their study of Italian literature and culture in higher-level courses. Students are expected to participate in conversations and all other class activities in order to improve their oral and written ability to narrate, express opinion, hypothesize, and discuss a variety of topics, using rich, appropriate vocabulary and grammar, and organizing well-structured discourses, be they oral presentations, weekly compositions or the final essay. To reach these goals, speaking, listening, reading and writing activities -- role plays, discussions, oral presentations, journals, grammar reviews -- will be based on audio-visual material and written texts and/or proposed by the students themselves, based on their independent explorations and research.			https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL1200301
ITAL 1322-401	Composers: Mozart/DaPonte	Jamuna S Samuel	LERN 210	TR 12:00 PM-1:29 PM	This course will center on the biography, works, and cultural context of a specific composer or group of composers. As well as introducing students to the musical works of the composer(s), the course will examine issues such as reception history, the canon, mechanisms of cult formation, authorship and attribution, identity, historical and social contexts, and nationalism and patriotism. Fulfills Arts and Letters Requirement. Mozart’s meeting with Lorenzo Da Ponte in Vienna in 1783 sparked one of the most successful collaborations in opera history between a poet and a composer, generating three works that are frequently staged in today’s theatres worldwide, The Marriage of Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787), and Così fan tutte (1790). We will study the literary sources of these operas, the poetic and operatic conventions of the time, and the issues (such as love, power, and gender) that these works raise, by also comparing different versions on video. The course is intended for non-majors, but music majors are welcome.	MUSC1322401	Arts & Letters Sector
ITAL 1900-401	Italian History on Screen: How Movies Tell the Story of Italy	Deion Dresser Carla Locatelli	BENN 138	TR 3:30 PM-4:59 PM	How has our image of Italy arrived to us? Where does the story begin and who has recounted, rewritten, and rearranged it over the centuries? In this course, we will study Italy's rich and complex past and present. We will carefully read literary and historical texts and thoughtfully watch films in order to attain an understanding of Italy that is as varied and multifacted as the country itself. Group work, discussions and readings will allow us to examine the problems and trends in the political, cultural and social history from ancient Rome to today. We will focus on: the Roman Empire, Middle Ages, Renaissance, Unification, Turn of the Century, Fascist era, World War II, post-war and contemporary Italy. Lectures and readings are in English.	CIMS1900401	Cross Cultural Analysis Arts & Letters Sector	https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL1900401
ITAL 2204-401	Food and Diet in Early Europe: Farm to Table in the Renaissance	Ann Elizabeth Moyer	COHN 237	TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM	What did medieval and Renaissance Europeans choose to eat? What did they have to eat? Before the age of mass transportation, was all food locally sourced? In an era when most medicines were plant based, what did it mean to eat a balanced diet? “Feed a cold, starve a fever.” Why? In this course we will examine food, foodways, and diet in European culture, thought, and society with a focus on the later Middle Ages and Renaissance, and with a mix of primary sources and modern scholarship on food, cuisine, religion, and diet.	HIST2204401	Cross Cultural Analysis
ITAL 2520-401	Contemporary Italy: Pop Culture, Politics, and Peninsular Identity	Julia Heim	WILL 23	MW 3:30 PM-4:59 PM	Is the land of good food, beautiful landscapes, and la bella vita really how it looks in the movies? Where do our ideas about Italy come from and how do they compare to the realities of its cultural production and its contemporary day-to-day life? This cultural survey course on contemporary Italy will investigate the similarities and divergences of these perceptions by researching current social, political, and media trends and putting them face to face with our preconceived notions. The course will cover major cultural trends from fashion and food trends, to eco-Italy, criminality and the Anthropocene, to immigration, to Black and LGBTQ Italia, to contemporary transfeminism, to Berlusconismo and Populism, to Netflix Italia and Social media culture. Through written assignments both in and outside the classroom, oral presentations, and multimedia projects we will critically reflect on these contemporary issues and gain a stronger understanding of the socio-cultural specificity of the Italian cultural landscape and its relationship to contemporary global socio-political trends and identities.	COML2520401		https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL2520401
ITAL 2600-401	Italian Theatre: The Stages of Italian Theatre	Eilis Kierans	BENN 222	MW 12:00 PM-1:29 PM	Please check the website for a current course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses	CIMS2600401		https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL2600401
ITAL 3300-401	Orpheus Uncovered: Italian Baroque Opera from Monteverdi to Gluck	Mauro P Calcagno	OTHR IP	T 1:45 PM-4:44 PM	Classes under this number offer a more in-depth look at historical eras and topics or repertories associated with a specific period of music history. Classes will focus on one historical epoch (Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque). The purpose of this course is to give students the opportunity to engage deeply with musical objects, both historically and analytically, as well as to expose them to a range of methodologies with which to study music. Topics include: the Italian and English Renaissance madrigal; Baroque Opera 1600-1750.	MUSC3300401
ITAL 3506-401	Italian Visual Studies: Through Modern Eyes: Adapting the Italian Renaissance	Juliette C Bellacosa	MEYH B6	TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM	Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses	CIMS3506401	Cross Cultural Analysis	https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL3506401
ITAL 3520-301	ITALIAN HISTORIES: DANTE	Mario Sassi	VANP 626	MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM	Taught in Italian. Topics vary. Please check the department's website for a course description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/courses		Cross Cultural Analysis	https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL3520301
ITAL 3830-401	French & Italian Modern Horror	Philippe Charles Met	WILL 205	MT 3:30 PM-4:59 PM	This course will consider the horror genre within the specific context of two national cinemas: France and Italy. For France, the focus will be almost exclusively on the contemporary period which has been witnessing an unprecedented revival in horror. For Italy, there will be a marked emphasis on the 1960s-1970s, i.e. the Golden Age of Gothic horror and the giallo craze initiated by the likes of Mario Bava and Dario Argento. Various subgenres will be examined: supernatural horror, ghost story, slasher, zombie film, body horror, cannibalism, etc. Issues of ethics, gender, sexuality, violence, spectatorship will be examined through a variety of critical lenses (psychoanalysis, socio-historical and cultural context, aesthetics, politics, gender, etc.).	CIMS3830401, COML3830401, FREN3830401
ITAL 4000-001	Honors Thesis				Honors thesis in Italian Studies. This course is open to undergraduate
ITAL 4999-001	Independent Study				Independent research under the supervision of a department faculty member. Research topic is determined in consultation with the supervising faculty member.
ITAL 5710-401	Literature and Multilingualism	Inge Arteel	WILL 301	M 3:30 PM-5:29 PM	Since several years, the societal and cultural reality of multilingualism has become an important research field in linguistics and literary studies, as in cultural studies more generally. This graduate course will investigate how multilingual poetics challenge and resist paradigms and ideologies of innate monolingualism, linguistic mastery, absolute translatability and monocultural nationalism. To begin with, the course will introduce central aspects of scholarship on literature and multilingualism, covering concepts such as heteroglossia, code switching, translingualism and macaronic language, and debates such as those on world literature, global English, foreignization, (un)translatability and non-translation, including their political and ethical importance. After a brief historical overview, glancing at western literary multilingualism in the Middle Ages, Romanticism and the avantgarde, the course will mainly focus on literature of the late 20th and 21st centuries taken from Germanic and Romance linguistic contexts. Using an exemplary selection, the course will cover prose, poetry and drama, and include excerpts of texts by authors such as Andrea Camilleri, Gino Chiellino, Fikry El Azzouzi, Ernst Jandl, Jackie Kay, Çağlar Köseoğlu, Monique Mojica, Melinda Nadj Abonji, Emine Sevgi Özdamar, Olivier Rolin, Yoko Tawada, Nicoline van Harskamp, and others. Reading these texts, we will try to determine how multilingualism manifests itself (linguistically, discursively, rhetorically, thematically, contextually etc.) and how the texts engage with linguistic, cultural and social pluralities. The course will conclude with a focus on the translator as a central character in fictional prose and movies. Classes will take place in an interactive format that stimulates discussion and exchange. Students will get the respective excerpts – both in the original version and in English translation – one week at a time so that they can prepare themselves each week for the discussion. Theoretical and contextual information will be provided via Power Point presentations.	COML5710401, DTCH5710401, FREN5710401, GRMN5710401
ITAL 5810-401	Modern/Contemporary Italian Culture	Carla Locatelli	DRLB 4C4	W 10:15 AM-1:14 PM	Please see department website for current description at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/italians/graduate/courses	COML5811401, JWST5810401		https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202310&c=ITAL5810401
ITAL 5850-401	Italian Thought: What is Italian Philosophy?	Eva Del Soldato Filippo Trentin	BENN 16	T 1:45 PM-3:44 PM	What is Italian philosophy? Does Italian philosophy have a peculiar character? Can we speak of "Italian philosophy" if Italy became a unified country only recently, and its history is complex and fragmented? Yet “Italian Thought” and its genealogy are central to today’s theoretical debates on concepts such as biopolitics, reproductive labor and “empire” among others. This course will offer a diachronic review of the most important Italian thinkers, highlighting the political vocation of Italian philosophy, and its engagement with history and science, while discussing the modern supporters and opponents of the “Italian Thought” category. Readings might include Dante, Machiavelli, Bruno, Vico, Beccaria, Gramsci, Cavarero and Agamben among others.	CIMS5850401, COML5850401
ITAL 7320-401	Opera as Theatre, Object, and Script	Mauro P Calcagno	LERN CONF	F 1:45 PM-4:44 PM	Seminar on selected topics in the music of the Baroque period. The seminar explores musical genres (madrigal, opera, cantata, etc.) using poetic texts in Italian (primarily), French, and German, which circulated mainly in Europe in both private and public settings during the 17th and early 18th centuries. Issues of reception and performance/staging during the 20th and 21st centuries are also investigated. Each instance of the seminar has a focus, e.g.: Monteverdi’s madrigals, opera in seventeenth-century Venice and Paris, Guarini and Marino in music, histories of the madrigal, Petrarchism and music, the ”Baroque” in theory and practice, Handel’s operas, staging Baroque opera today, historically informed performance practice, etc. Please see department website https://music.sas.upenn.edu/course-list/ for current term course descriptions.	MUSC7320401
ITAL 8000-001	Exam Preparation	Eva Del Soldato			PhD Exam Preparation
ITAL 9950-001	Dissertation	Eva Del Soldato			Preparation for the dissertation
ITAL 9950-011	Dissertation	Eva Del Soldato			Preparation for the dissertation
ITAL 9999-011	Independent Study	Eva Del Soldato			Independent research under the supervision of a department faculty member. Research topic is determined in consultation with the supervising faculty member.
ITAL 9999-012	Independent Study	Rossella Di Rosa			Independent research under the supervision of a department faculty member. Research topic is determined in consultation with the supervising faculty member.
ITAL 9999-015	Digital Humanities and Premodern Studies: An Introduction	Eva Del Soldato			Independent research under the supervision of a department faculty member. Research topic is determined in consultation with the supervising faculty member.
ITAL 9999-022	Independent Study	Eva Del Soldato			Independent research under the supervision of a department faculty member. Research topic is determined in consultation with the supervising faculty member.