Courses
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Spring 2025 Course Listings
All schedule information is tentative. Please see the Registrar's site for the latest information.
For a video introduction to the Italian Studies program, visit our ROMS Course Videos page.
Italian Studies Courses
For more information about ITAL 10-106 placement/enrollment, please see our Language Programs Placement page. If you have any questions, please contact Prof. Harder.
(1) M,W 2:30 –3:50 PM; Th 5:30 - 6:20 PM, Monteleone
(2) M,W,Th 1:20–2:10 PM; T 12:45–1:35 PM, Servino
Prerequisite: For students with some previous study of Italian. A grade of C- or higher in ITAL 10a or the equivalent. Students enrolling for the first time in an Italian Studies course at Brandeis should refer to our Language Programs Placement page.
Continuing dynamic presentation of basic grammar and vocabulary within the context of Italian culture and practice of the five language skills. Special attention to reading and writing skills, as well as (guided) conversation, presentations, and video skit productions.
T,Th 2:20 - 3:40 PM, Monteleone
Prerequisite: ITAL 30a or the equivalent. Students enrolling for the first time in an Italian Studies course at Brandeis should refer to our Language Programs Placement page.
This course is designed for students interested in continuing the study of the Italian language, culture, and literature beyond the intermediate level. The development of oral and written proficiency is emphasized through the expansion of vocabulary and activities aimed to improve analytical, interpretive, and presentational skills. The course uses the UN Sustainable Developments Goals to frame important aspects of contemporary Italy. Through a series of activities that practice listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Italian, students reflect on the social impact of our environmental behavior, the importance of art and music in translating experiences, changing opinions, and instilling values, the social impact of the internet in raising voices, creating awareness and calling for social change, how activism ensure inclusion and equality.
(1) ) M,W 4:05 – 5:25 PM, Servino
Prerequisite: ITAL 105a or 106a or permission of the instructor.
Focuses on Italian masterpiece literature from the twentieth century to the present, including writers such as Lampedusa, as well as contemporary writers, such as Baricco, Ammaniti, and Ferrante with emphasis on the theme of historical, individual, and familial identity within the context of socio-economic upheaval and transformative cultural events. Several films based on these works will also be examined, with emphasis on an analysis of cinematic innovation.
Italian Studies Electives
(1) T,Th 2:20 PM–3:40 PM, Alexandra Ratzlaff
Provides a comprehensive examination of the Roman army, tracing its evolution from a citizen militia to a highly organized professional force responsible for safeguarding a vast empire. We will analyze archaeological and literary evidence to understand the army's equipment, tactics, and the lived experiences of soldiers in battle. As one of the first professional standing armies in history, the Roman army has been the object of much admiration and study. This course will cover the changing organization and role of the army and its fighting techniques from the mid-Republic to the later Imperial period, the lives of the soldiers who served in the various branches of the army, and its effectiveness as a fighting force. Particular attention will be paid to using archaeological and literary evidence in conjunction, and to local resources and evidence for studying the Roman army.
(1) M,W 2:30 PM– 3:50 PM, Eoin O'Donoghue
Surveys the art and architecture of the ancient Romans from the eighth century BCE to the end of the empire in Sicily, mainland Italy (with focus on Rome, Ostia, Pompeii, and Herculaneum), and in the Roman provinces.
(1) T,Th 3:55 PM– 5:15 PM, Jonathan Unglaub
Examines the major works of art produced in Italy in the sixteenth century. It focuses on the principal centers of Florence, Rome, and Venice. The foremost artists of the age, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian, receive in-depth coverage. The course also considers the social institutions, ecclesiastical, courtly and civic, that furnished the patronage opportunities and promoted the ideas that occasioned, even demanded, new artistic forms of grace and harmony, energy and torsion.