Italian Studies at Berkeley is an interdisciplinary enterprise. You will find courses in Italian language, literature, history, cultural studies, film, and folklore offered by the department, both in Italian and in English. You will also discover that courses with significant Italian content are often taught in other departments and programs, including history of art, music, comparative literature, film studies, anthropology, political science, history, and Medieval studies which may be applied to major or minor requirements by advance consultation with the undergraduate adviser.
Declaring the Major
Students who are considering a major in Italian Studies should contact the undergraduate student services adviser as early as possible in their academic career in order to plan an individualized course of study. The earliest a student can declare the major is following the completion of one year of elementary Italian or the equivalent.
Once students are ready to declare the major — or if they still have some unsettled issues regarding their academic preparation — they should schedule an appointment with the undergraduate student services adviser for creation of a study list plan to help realize their goals to major, double major, or incorporate courses for major credit from UC study abroad programs in Italy.
Honors Program
To enter the honors program, in addition to having a minimum overall 3.3 grade point average (GPA), majors must have completed at least 20 upper division units in the major with a minimum GPA of 3.5. Candidates must enroll in ITALIAN H195 for one semester in their senior year during which they will carry out research and write an honors thesis under the guidance of a faculty member. Students who meet the GPA requirements must first consult with the undergraduate faculty adviser in order to pursue an honors thesis.
Minor Program
The Department of Italian offers two undergraduate minors: the minor in Italian Studies, emphasizing Italian language, literature, history, cultural studies, film, and folklore, and the minor in Transnational Italian Studies, focusing on Italy’s many dimensions of political thought, labor theory, migration, refugee, and race studies, fine arts, food, and poetry, in global contexts. For information regarding how to declare a minor, please contact the undergraduate student services adviser.
In addition to the University, campus, and college requirements, listed on the College Requirements tab, students must fulfill the below requirements specific to their major program.
General Guidelines
All courses taken to fulfill the major requirements below must be taken for graded credit, other than courses listed which are offered on a Pass/No Pass basis only. Other exceptions to this requirement are noted as applicable.
No more than one upper division course may be used to simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student's major and minor programs, with the exception of minors offered outside of the College of Letters & Science.
A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 must be maintained in both upper and lower division courses used to fulfill the major requirements.
For information regarding residence requirements and unit requirements, please see the College Requirements tab.
In addition, 20 units/five upper division courses selected from offerings in Italian Studies or interdisciplinary offerings in related departments are required to complete upper division requirements. Up to two courses may be taken in English.2
1
Students may apply a maximum of 12 units earned through education abroad programs toward upper division requirements.
2
Up to 8 units of coursework with primary readings and discussion in English may be counted toward the total major unit requirement. Such courses may be taken in other departments (e.g. history of art, history, music) with advance permission of the undergraduate adviser.
Minor Requirements
Students who have a strong interest in an area of study outside their major often decide to complete a minor program. These programs have set requirements.
The Department of Italian Studies offers two minor tracks: a minor in Italian Studies , and a minor in Transnational Italian Studies.
General Guidelines
All minors must be declared before the first day of classes in your Expected Graduation Term (EGT). For summer graduates, minors must be declared prior to the first day of Summer Session A.
All upper-division courses must be taken for a letter grade.
A minimum of three of the upper-division courses taken to fulfill the minor requirements must be completed at UC Berkeley.
A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 is required in the upper-division courses to fulfill the minor requirements.
Courses used to fulfill the minor requirements may be applied toward the Seven-Course Breadth requirement, for Letters & Science students.
No more than one upper division course may be used to simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student's major and minor programs.
All minor requirements must be completed prior to the last day of finals during the semester in which the student plans to graduate. If students cannot finish all courses required for the minor by that time, they should see a College of Letters & Science adviser.
All minor requirements must be completed within the unit ceiling. (For further information regarding the unit ceiling, please see the College Requirements tab.)
In addition, 12 units/3 courses in Italian literature, cultural studies, or film are required to complete upper division requirements. At least 8 units/2 courses must have the language of instruction in Italian. Students may apply a maximum of 8 units/2 courses earned through education abroad programs toward upper division requirements.2
Students may apply a maximum of 8 units / 2 courses earned through education abroad programs toward upper division requirements.
2
Up to 4 units of coursework with primary readings and discussion in English may be counted toward the total major unit requirement. Such courses may be taken in other departments (e.g. history of art, history, music) with advance permission of the undergraduate adviser.
Transnational Italian Studies Minor
The Minor in Transnational Italian Studies focuses on Italy’s many dimensions of political thought, labor theory, migration, refugee, and race studies, the fine arts, opera, food, and poetry, in global contexts. It consists of five upper-division courses in the Department of Italian Studies. Courses or seminars taught by Italian Studies faculty in other departments are also acceptable, with the approval of the Undergraduate Faculty Advisor.
5 upper-division courses in Italian Studies, including those taught by Italian Studies faculty in other departments. Most are repeatable for credit when the topic changes. Up to 2 can be taken outside the Department. Students may apply a maximum of 2 courses/8 units earned through education abroad programs toward upper division requirements.
Courses or seminars taught by Italian Studies faculty in other departments are also acceptable, with the approval of the Undergraduate Faculty Advisor.
College Requirements
Undergraduate students must fulfill the following requirements in addition to those required by their major program.
For a detailed lists of L&S requirements, please see Overview tab to the right in this guide or visit the L&S Degree Requirements webpage. For College advising appointments, please visit the L&S Advising Pages.
All students who will enter the University of California as freshmen must demonstrate their command of the English language by fulfilling the Entry Level Writing requirement. Fulfillment of this requirement is also a prerequisite to enrollment in all reading and composition courses at UC Berkeley and must be taken for a letter grade.
The American History and American Institutions requirements are based on the principle that all U.S. residents who have graduated from an American university should have an understanding of the history and governmental institutions of the United States.
All undergraduate students at Cal need to take and pass this campus requirement course in order to graduate. The requirement offers an exciting intellectual environment centered on the study of race, ethnicity and culture of the United States. AC courses are plentiful and offer students opportunities to be part of research-led, highly accomplished teaching environments, grappling with the complexity of American Culture.
College of Letters & Science Essential Skills Requirements
The Quantitative Reasoning requirement is designed to ensure that students graduate with basic understanding and competency in math, statistics, or computer/data science. The requirement may be satisfied by exam or by taking an approved course taken for a letter grade.
The Foreign Language requirement may be satisfied by demonstrating proficiency in reading comprehension, writing, and conversation in a foreign language equivalent to the second semester college level, either by passing an exam or by completing approved course work taken for a letter grade.
In order to provide a solid foundation in reading, writing, and critical thinking the College of Letters and Science requires two semesters of lower division work in composition in sequence. Students must complete parts A & B reading and composition courses in sequential order by the end of their fourth semester for a letter grade.
College of Letters & Science 7 Course Breadth Requirements
The undergraduate breadth requirements provide Berkeley students with a rich and varied educational experience outside of their major program. As the foundation of a liberal arts education, breadth courses give students a view into the intellectual life of the University while introducing them to a multitude of perspectives and approaches to research and scholarship. Engaging students in new disciplines and with peers from other majors, the breadth experience strengthens interdisciplinary connections and context that prepares Berkeley graduates to understand and solve the complex issues of their day.
Unit Requirements
120 total units
Of the 120 units, 36 must be upper division units
Of the 36 upper division units, 6 must be taken in courses offered outside your major department
Residence Requirements
For units to be considered in "residence," you must be registered in courses on the Berkeley campus as a student in the College of Letters & Science. Most students automatically fulfill the residence requirement by attending classes at Cal for four years, or two years for transfer students. In general, there is no need to be concerned about this requirement, unless you graduate early, go abroad for a semester or year, or want to take courses at another institution or through UC Extension during your senior year. In these cases, you should make an appointment to meet an L&S College adviser to determine how you can meet the Senior Residence Requirement.
Note: Courses taken through UC Extension do not count toward residence.
Senior Residence Requirement
After you become a senior (with 90 semester units earned toward your B.A. degree), you must complete at least 24 of the remaining 30 units in residence in at least two semesters. To count as residence, a semester must consist of at least 6 passed units. Intercampus Visitor, EAP, and UC Berkeley-Washington Program (UCDC) units are excluded.
You may use a Berkeley Summer Session to satisfy one semester of the Senior Residence requirement, provided that you successfully complete 6 units of course work in the Summer Session and that you have been enrolled previously in the college.
Modified Senior Residence Requirement
Participants in the UC Education Abroad Program (EAP), Berkeley Summer Abroad, or the UC Berkeley Washington Program (UCDC) may meet a Modified Senior Residence requirement by completing 24 (excluding EAP) of their final 60 semester units in residence. At least 12 of these 24 units must be completed after you have completed 90 units.
Upper Division Residence Requirement
You must complete in residence a minimum of 18 units of upper division courses (excluding UCEAP units), 12 of which must satisfy the requirements for your major.
Student Learning Goals
Learning Goals for the Major
Develop proficiency, approximating to that of an educated native speaker, in speaking, reading, writing, and comprehending Italian.
Be broadly familiar with the historical development of Italian culture from the Middle Ages to the present day.
Acquire detailed familiarity, through intensive and focused study, with a chronologically and generically disparate selection of cultural phenomena connected with Italy and the history of their critical and social reception.
Develop advanced skills in the critical analysis of literary texts and other cultural materials (e.g. films, paintings, musical compositions, historical documents, critical theories, social practices).
Have awareness and experience of a variety of approaches to the study of Italian culture, as practiced in both the humanities and the social sciences and of the ways in which these may intersect to generate interdisciplinary study.
Learn to conduct research (i.e., to gather and evaluate evidence relating to a hypothesis and construct an argument using it).
Learn to assess the validity of evidence-based argumentation conducted by others.
Be aware of, and scrupulously practice, ethics-based protocols of citation etc., in academic research and writing.
Write clearly, accurately, and persuasively in both Italian and English.
Where practically possible, encounter contemporary Italian culture directly through study or travel in Italy. In this respect, study abroad might well constitute a capstone experience.
Develop a sense of the study of Italian culture not merely as an end in itself but as an integral part of a potentially unbounded set of processes and relationships through the exploration of which thinking human beings engage with the world they inhabit.
Major Map
Major maps are experience maps that help undergraduates plan their Berkeley journey based on intended major or field of interest. Featuring student opportunities and resources from your college and department as well as across campus, each map includes curated suggestions for planning your studies, engaging outside the classroom, and pursuing your career goals in a timeline format.
Use the major map below to explore potential paths and design your own unique undergraduate experience:
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Fall 2023
An intensive Italian language course designed for native or advanced speakers of Romance languages (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan). In one semester, we will cover materials usually taught in two semesters in Elementary Italian 1 and 2. Students who successfully complete the course will be able to enroll in Italian 3 (Intermediate Italian). Regular attendance is mandatory. Intensive Italian for Romance Languages Speakers: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Level 4 or higher of a Romance Language (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian or Catalan) or departmental consent on a case by case basis
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 5 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016
An intensive Italian language course designed for native or advanced speakers of Romance languages (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan). In one semester, we will cover materials usually taught in two semesters in Elementary Italian 1 and 2. Students who successfully complete the course will be able to enroll in Italian 3 (Intermediate Italian). Regular and continued attendance of both classes is mandatory. Intensive Italian for Romance Languages Speakers: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Level 4 or higher of a Romance Language (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian or Catalan) or departmental consent on a case by case basis
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 5 hours of lecture and 2 hours of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2019
Elementary Italian W1 is for beginners and focuses on developing basic language skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) in Italian. Italian will be spoken in class at all times; students will be exposed to authentic Italian material from films, songs, websites, and will have the opportunity to practice their listening and speaking skills daily. This is a hybrid course, including both a face-to-face and a hybrid component to be completed online: attendance to both class components is mandatory.
At the end of the semester, students will be able to use Italian to talk about themselves, their family, friends, and interests, and to describe present and past events in Italian and to converse with peers about their everyday life. Elementary Italian (Hybrid): Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 2 hours of web-based lecture per week
Online: This is an online course.
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required, with common exam group.
Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2019
Elementary Italian W2 is for students who already have some knowledge of basic structures and vocabulary of Italian. Students will expand their knowledge and mastery of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation; improve speaking, listening, reading and writing skills and learn about Italian culture and society. Italian will be spoken in class at all times; students will be exposed to authentic Italian material and will practice listening and speaking daily. This is a hybrid course, including both a face-to-face and a hybrid component to be completed online. At the end of the semester, students will use Italian to talk about themselves, family, friends, and interests, and to describe present and past events -- the same learning goals as Italian 2. Elementary Italian (Hybrid): Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Italian 1 at UC Berkeley, or department placement exam
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 2 hours of web-based lecture per week
Online: This is an online course.
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required, with common exam group.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
Selected readings in modern Italian prose; a review of the essentials of grammar; written and oral compositions. Intermediate Italian: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: 3
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Summer: 5 weeks - 12 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Not yet offered
The purpose of this class is to further develop the student’s proficiency in Italian language and culture. Exploration of fascinating aspects of Italian culture including elements of literature, contemporary and historical events, and pop-culture. The class will also follow students’ interests. To be taken instead of Italian 3 or Italian 4. Language lectures conducted in person in Italian, three times per week. Common lecture conducted online on Zoom in both English and Italian. Combined Intermediate Italian: Read More [+]
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
Reading and composition course based on works by Italians and foreigners about Italy and its culture and by Italians about their distinctive experiences of other cultures as tourists and emigrants. Works studied will be primarily chosen from among fiction and non fiction narratives, both originally in English and translated into it. R5A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition Requirement and R5B satisfies the second half. Reading and Composition: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing Requirement
Requirements this course satisfies: Satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition requirement
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Summer: 6 weeks - 8 hours of lecture per week 8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Final exam not required.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Summer 2024 8 Week Session
Reading and composition course based on works by Italians and foreigners about Italy and its culture and by Italians about their distinctive experiences of other cultures as tourists and emigrants. Works studied will be primarily chosen from among fiction and non fiction narratives, both originally in English and translated into it. R5A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition Requirement and R5B satisfies the second half. Reading and Composition: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Previously passed an R_A course with a letter grade of C- or better. Previously passed an articulated R_A course with a letter grade of C- or better. Score a 4 on the Advanced Placement Exam in English Literature. Score a 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement Exam in English Language and Composition. Score of 5, 6, or 7 on the International Baccalaureate Higher Level Examination in English
Requirements this course satisfies: Satisfies the second half of the Reading and Composition requirement
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Summer: 6 weeks - 7.5 hours of lecture per week 8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Final exam not required.
Terms offered: Summer 2019 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2018 First 6 Week Session
The aim of this course is to develop and enhance oral communication skills in students who have already learned the basics of Italian grammar in Italian 1 and Italian 2. Through this course students will enrich their listening and speaking skills through the acquisition of new vocabulary, conversational practice, oral reports, discussions, and collaborative projects. Italian Conversation I: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Italian 2
Hours & Format
Summer: 5 weeks - 10 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam not required.
Terms offered: Summer 2019 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2018 First 6 Week Session, Spring 2016
The course is designed to develop and enhance oral communication skills at an advanced level, by means of conversational practice, discussion of readings, student presentation or original material, and use of audio-visual materials and realia. Advanced Conversational Italian: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: 3 or equivalent, or consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Summer: 8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
This course is designed to develop and enhance oral communication skills at an advance level, by means of conversational practice, discussion of readings, student presentation on original material, and use of audio-visual materials and realia. Italian Conversation II: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Italian 3
Hours & Format
Summer: 5 weeks - 10 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Terms offered: Spring 2018, Fall 2017, Spring 2017
The Berkeley Seminar Program has been designed to provide new students with the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member in a small-seminar setting. Berkeley Seminars are offered in all campus departments, and topics vary from department to department and semester to semester. Freshman Seminars: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1 hour of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: The grading option will be decided by the instructor when the class is offered. Final Exam To be decided by the instructor when the class is offered.
Terms offered: Spring 2018
This course serves as an introduction to Italian Studies in a comparative and interdisciplinary context. In each iteration of the course, students will learn about major intellectual debates in Italian culture and society, viewed in relation to their global context. Topics will vary with instructor. Critical Issues in Interdisciplinary Italian Studies: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
The dissemination of Romance languages across the world tells stories of nation-building, colonization, immigration, and assimilation, with written records that trace back to a common linguistic ancestor, Latin. Taught in English, this course introduces students to Romance linguistics through a socio-historical perspective, requiring that students understand how the evolution of Romance varieties has been shaped by European and global history. After a brief introduction to core fields in linguistics (phonetics/phonology/ morphology/syntax/pragmatics), students will apply these concepts through various analytic approaches to understanding language, including but not limited to historical, variationist, and anthropological. Introduction to Romance Languages and Linguistics: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: intermediate knowledge (>3rd semester or equivalent) of one or more Romance language varieties
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
An introduction to Dante's works in the cultural and historical context of the European Middle Ages. Dante (in English): Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
An introduction to Dante's works in the cultural and historical context of the European Middle Ages. Dante (in English): Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Summer: 6 weeks - 7.5 hours of lecture per week 8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2009, Spring 2007
Freshman and sophomore seminars offer lower division students the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member and a group of peers in a small-seminar setting. These seminars are offered in all campus departments; topics vary from department to department and from semester to semester. Freshman/Sophomore Seminar: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Priority given to freshmen and sophomores
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1.5-4 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: The grading option will be decided by the instructor when the class is offered. Final Exam To be decided by the instructor when the class is offered.
Terms offered: Fall 2012, Fall 2008
Freshman and sophomore seminars offer lower division students the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member and a group of peers in a small-seminar setting. These seminars are offered in all campus departments; topics vary from department to department and from semester to semester. Freshman/Sophomore Seminar: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Priority given to freshmen and sophomores
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1.5-4 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: The grading option will be decided by the instructor when the class is offered. Final Exam To be decided by the instructor when the class is offered.
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Introduction to Italian studies through selected topics and themes integral to the history, literature, and arts of Italy from Dante to Fellini. Italian Culture (in English): Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2015, Fall 2014, Fall 2013
Interdisciplinary introduction to the Italian Renaissance through selected topics integral to the history, literature, and arts of Italy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Italian Renaissance: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Using a few selected examples drawn from Florence, Rome, Milan, and Venice, this course will introduce most types of art and architecture produced in the Italian Renaissance--including city squares, churches, palaces and libraries, and their painted and sculptural decoration. Special attention will be paid to various approaches used in interpreting works of art.
Terms offered: Spring 2016, Summer 2015 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2014 Second 6 Week Session
This course is a brief introduction to the history of Italian cinema. No prior knowledge of Italian cinema or film theory is necessary. We will study major auteurs and genres of Italian cinema in the context of Italian culture and history from 1895 to the present. The course is structured chronologically: we will begin with silent cinema, work our way through the 20th century, and end with contemporary cinema. All students must attend weekly screenings. Films and film clips will also be shown during lectures. Italian Cinema: History, Directors, Genres, Introduction to Italian Cinema: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of lecture, 1 hour of discussion, and 2 hours of laboratory per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2025
Explores how a particular film style (Italian neorealism) traveled across the Atlantic and became a powerful means of narrating the lives and experiences of diverse individuals and communities that are often left out of Hollywood's depictions of everyday life in the US. Focus on how neorealist technique (non-professional actors, location shooting, durational shots, “everyday” characters and speech, etc.) is used to bring to the center the vibrant contours, sounds, and textures of lives lived at the margins. Films and topics may vary from semester to semester, but will always focus on histories, experiences, and representations of and by minoritized identities.
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
This course is a brief introduction to the history of Italian cinema. No prior knowledge of Italian cinema or film theory is necessary. We will study major auteurs and genres of Italian cinema in the context of Italian culture and history from 1895 to the present. The course is structured chronologically: we will begin with silent cinema, work our way through the 20th century, and end with contemporary cinema. All students must attend weekly screenings. Films and film clips will also be shown during lectures. Italian Cinema: History, Directors, Genres, Introduction to Italian Cinema: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
Hours & Format
Summer: 6 weeks - 7.5 hours of lecture and 3 hours of laboratory per week 8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture and 3 hours of laboratory per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2023, Fall 2022
Supervised field programs involving experiences in schools and school-related activities. Weekly participation commitment, regular individual meetings with faculty supervisor and written reports required. Field Studies: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit with instructor consent.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2-3 hours of fieldwork per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Offered for pass/not pass grade only. Final exam not required.
Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
Group study of selected topics not covered by regularly scheduled courses. Directed Group Study: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-4 hours of directed group study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Offered for pass/not pass grade only. Final exam not required.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
A writing-intensive course that aims to strengthen writing skills though varied genres, including literary analysis, journalism, and biography, and through multiple revisions. The course is a prerequisite for all upper division courses. Advanced Writing Workshop: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Italian 4
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
This course aims to develop advanced oral and aural skills through discussion, debate, performance, and role-play about the arts in Italy, including cinema, theater, the figurative arts, and music. The thematic content of this course changes every semester.
Terms offered: Fall 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015
Introduction to basic works of Italian literature (fiction, poetry, drama) with an emphasis on techniques of reading. Reading Italian Literature: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2021
Introduction to the historical development of Italian culture from the Middle Ages to the present, with an emphasis on critical analysis of literary and visual texts in relation to the politics and societies of the Italian peninsula, and an ultimate goal of advancing student’s critical and linguistic skills. History of Italian Culture: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Italian 4 or consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Terms offered: Spring 2023, Fall 2016, Spring 2016
Emphasis on the literature and culture of the 13th and 14th centuries. Literature will emphasize the "Stil Novo" and Dante's minor works as well as Boccaccio's and Petrarch's . Literature and Culture of the 13th and 14th Centuries: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2023, Spring 2023
Three hours of lectures, readings, and discussion per week on major authors, themes, and movements in Italian literature. Topics in Italian Studies: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Summer: 8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
Explores the myth of Christopher Columbus in the US across poetry, popular culture (TV, music), and material culture (statues, monuments), with a focus on Columbus as a key site of ethnic and racial identity formation in the US. Black diasporic and Indigenous perspectives are placed in conversation with those of Italian Americans--a group that has historically been a limit-case for the equation of Europeanness with whiteness. Students will deepen their understandings of the multiplicity and contested nature of ethnic and racial identities, as they emerge from and contribute to foundational myths and their meanings over time. Deaths and Afterlives of Columbus: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternate method of final assessment during regularly scheduled final exam group (e.g., presentation, final project, etc.).
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
An introduction to Dante's Inferno in the context of his other works. Taught in English. Dante's Inferno (in English): Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam not required.
Terms offered: Spring 2015, Spring 2008, Spring 2005
A close introductory reading of Dante's Purgatorio and Paradiso. Prior completion of Italian 130A Inferno is recommended. Taught in English. Dante's Purgatorio and Paradiso (in English): Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam not required.
Terms offered: Spring 2024
This course will center around Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron, a collection of stories written in the wake of the plague that devastated Florence in 1348. We’ll consider the connection between storytelling and survival, whether in the wake of devastating disease or political crisis, as we move across the medieval world through Indian, Persian, and Arab traditions of storytelling. And we’ll make our way to global contemporary reflections of this impulse to tell stories in a time of plague, with authors such as Salman Rushdie, Uzodinma Iweala, and Margaret Atwood. Taught in English with readings in English. Boccaccio's Decameron: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2018, Spring 2018
This course will ask students to think critically about work and labor in various U.S. contexts, while introducing them to key concepts in late twentieth-century Italian social theory.
Topics may vary from semester to semester, but the course will always take substantial account of the experiences and histories of representations of different ethnic groups.
Terms offered: Summer 2019 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2018 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2002 10 Week Session
The course will study Italian culture from the perspective of social and historical forces, as articulated by a broad variety of cultural, ideological, and institutional discourses. Taught in English or Italian. Studies in the History, Society, and Politics of the Italian Peninsula: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
Hours & Format
Summer: 5 weeks - 9 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2022, Spring 2019, Spring 2012
The course will study Italian culture from the perspective of literary discourse in its responses to a broad spectrum of cultural, ideological, and institutional forces. Taught in English or Italian. Special Topics in Italian Literature: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
An analysis of Italian cinema as seen in the development of specific film genres such as neorealism, comedy, self-reflexive cinema. Occasionally the course will concentrate on a specific director and study their individuality through style, theme, and personal development. When offered cross-listed with Film 145 Global Media, this course counts toward Film & Media upper-division major requirements. The Italian Cinema: History, Genres, Authors: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3-3 hours of lecture and 0-3 hours of laboratory per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2015, Spring 2014, Spring 2013
The interaction of film style with literary and poetic structure studied through film theories, film novels, and the work of outstanding Italian film directors. Literature shaped by film experience and films dealing with the essence of cinematic form will be analyzed. This course may fulfill the film major requirement in theory. Film and Literature (in English): Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 2 hours of laboratory per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
Supervised field programs involving experiences in schools and school-related activities. Weekly participation commitment, regular individual meetings with faculty supervisor and written reports required. Field Studies: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit with instructor consent.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2-3 hours of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Offered for pass/not pass grade only. Final exam not required.
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Supervised group study of selected topics not covered by regularly scheduled courses. Directed Group Study: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Students must have completed 60 units and have a minimum GPA of 2.0
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-4 hours of directed group study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Italian Studies/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Offered for pass/not pass grade only. Final exam not required.
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