ITAL-4386 Made in Italy: Fashion & Food 

Course Description

For the last decades, the “Made in Italy” brand has connoted the uniqueness of the Italian merchandise in the domains of fashion, food, furniture, and industrial design. The meeting point of centuries-long artisanal tradition and innovative production techniques, Italian goods are recognized worldwide as the embodiment of creativity, elegance, and high quality. This course delves into two of the most influential areas of the “Made in Italy,” namely, Fashion and Food, offering a cultural history of their respective productions and their establishment on international markets. Adopting an interdisciplinary and comparative approach, it examines the centrality of garments and nourishment in the shaping of individual and collective identities, political norms, and moral values at pivotal moments of the Italian nation-building process, from the development of the bourgeoisie to the contemporary phenomena of migration and globalization. As it approaches the present, the course devotes particular attention to sustainability, counterfeit clothing, and the slow food movement. The course will also include guest lectures by renowned specialists, and field trips to places and events related to the issues raised during the semester. For the wide-ranging topics it addresses, “Made in Italy: Fashion and Food” welcomes students with very diverse interests, from international business and economics, to anthropology, history, literatures (Italian and beyond), arts, and humanities at large. The course is taught in English.