ITT 3501 Modern Italian Culture: From the Unification to the Present – Dr. Mark Pietralunga

This course will examine the cultural developments and socio-political changes in modern Italy: from the Risorgimento to the formation of a nation and the question of national identity; Fascism’s influence on the national culture; the importance of the “language question” in Italian culture and society; World War II; the Italian miracle of the post-war period; the North/South divide; the Mafia; American influence on Italy; Catholicism and the role of the Church; the “Made in Italy” label in fashion and design; and the social phenomenon of immigration into Italy of people coming from Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia.

ITW 3101 Survey of Italian Literature: From Romanticism to the Present – Dr. Mark Pietralunga

This course is intended to provide a chronological survey of Italian literature from the nineteenth century to the present. The course will explore the development of modern and contemporary Italy through the study of narrative, poetry, theatre, and cinema. Particular emphasis will be given to the literary and artistic life of the twentieth century. Lectures and class discussion will consider the works within a cultural, social, and historical context.

ITA 3440 - Business Italian - Dr. Victor Carrabino

The objective of ITA 3440 is to help prepare students to work and successfully do business in Italy and other Italian-speaking parts of Europe (Switzerland, the Republic of San Marino, Malta). Students have the opportunity to experience and examine a business culture that greatly influences international and EU business practices. In fact, Italy's impact on economics, business and politics extends worldwide beyond the European community. The Italian instruction in this course emphasizes realistic current contemporary communication and intercultural interaction in four language skill areas: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. ITA 3440 covers finance, marketing, operations management and other relevant topics. Students of this course are encouraged to explore opportunities for an internship in Italy or elsewhere in Europe through the University of South Carolina's International MBA program in Milan and Rome, Italy.

ITT 3523 Italian Cinema – Dr. Irene Zanini-Cordi

Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso and its success with the international public could be taken as a double metaphor for Italian people’s love affair with the movies and for the admiration Italian films and directors have inspired abroad. In this course we will follow the development of Italian cinema from its first steps in the Silent Era before World War I, through the Fascist Period, the Neorealism of post World War II with Rossellini and De Sica, the Commedia all’italiana of the 1960s, the new film narratives of Visconti, Antonioni and Fellini, and the Spaghetti Western of Sergio Leone. We will continue the journey with the ideologically and politically charged productions of the 1970s which produced the masterpieces of, among others, Pasolini, Bertolucci, Moretti and Wertmüller. In the last decade well established directors like Benigni and Tornatore, and newcomers like Muccino and Ozpetek have renewed international interest for Italian cinema. We will view a number of exemplary films covering the history of Italian cinema and discuss their artistic, political and social significance by focusing on the technical and visual aspects of filmmaking and the way in which they construct cinematographic narrative. At the end of this course students not only will have acquired an appreciation for Italian cinema and expanded their knowledge of Italian culture, but they also will have honed their skills at film analysis and acquired a vocabulary appropriate for the task. An Italian film festival featuring recent blockbusters such as Gomorrah and Il Divo will be integral part of the course.

ITA 4410 – Advanced Italian Conversation – Dr. W. Leparulo

The goal of this course is to help students achieve fluency in conversation skills at the fourth level by means of extensive vocabulary building and practice. The fluency desired is in the spontaneous use of correct colloquial Italian using prompts focusing on films, Italian Television, narration or story-telling, group discussion or short dialogues with native speakers. A certain amount of oral-written assignments will be required as well. One of the more enjoyable and challenging highlights of this course is that students will be participating in a murder mystery conducted via e-mail and the internet, requiring frequent e-mail contact in Italian with classmates followed by small group discussions in class. Students are asked to help monitor class progress by participating in periodic surveys for which they will receive points. There will be a final oral or written project relating to the murder mystery solved during the course of the semester.

ITA 5060 - Graduate Reading Knowledge - Dr. Ray Fleming

Italian 5060 is intended to prepare students to read Italian texts from newspapers, magazines, and from literary, cultural, and contemporary texts. The course will seek to assist students to attain a precise understanding of much of the basic and essential vocabulary, structures, and grammatical principles of the Italian language. This course aims to have students able to translate a wide range of Italian texts into coherent and grammatically correct English that is a reflection of a clear understanding of written Italian. Students will also be expected to master the pronunciation of the Italian that they will encounter in the assignments. Students who wish addition pronunciation practice will find related tapes available in the language laboratory in 130 Diffenbaugh. Additional grammar textbooks to consult will be available for ITA 5069 students in 130 Diffenbaugh.

ITA 4440 - ITA 5445 People or Not. Or, How to Read a Novel with Character(s) – Dr. Silvia Valisa

Questo corso è concepito intorno alla lettura ed analisi di alcune opere italiane del diciottesimo e diciannovesimo secolo (Alfieri, Diodata di Saluzzo, Foscolo, de Amicis, Neera -con l’aggiunta di un testo francese di Madame de Stael), testi non-canonici, nella maggior parte dei casi. Ogni testo ci offrirà l’opportunità di esplorare diverse scelte tematiche e formali, diversi generei letterari, e di interrogarci sulla forma narrativa come mezzo di espressione artistica, culturale, economica e politica, nonchè sulla loro ricezione e trasmissione. Il nostro approccio sarà guidato da un’attenzione particolare ai personaggi, che considereremo nella loro natura di (finte) persone e di elemento costitutivo della dimensione ideologica e strutturale della narrativa. L’altro orientamento fondamentale della nostra ricerca sarà dato dagli studi di genere (gender studies), quindi da un’esplorazione di come il “genere” sia un concetto che va ben al di là della definizione di un soggetto: esso organizza il modo in cui pensiamo e scriviamo.

ITW 4400 – ITW 5415 – Renaissance Literature - Dr. Reinier Leushuis