The Italian major takes an integrative approach to prepare students to explore connections and understand the continuum from past to present. From the Gateway course to the Senior Seminar, all courses are designed to introduce students to Italian culture in all its manifestations. Students develop their critical and analytical skills through intellectual dialogue in small class settings while the program’s integrated overseas experience gives students new perspectives and approaches to world issues.
Italian majors at Georgetown are required to complete 10 to 12 courses depending on the results of the student’s placement exam (12 if they begin in Intensive Basic, 11 if they begin in Intensive Intermediate, and 10 if they begin in Intensive Advanced). One course toward the major may be taught in English. Italian Majors are also required to spend a semester or an academic year in Italy studying at an Italian university.
Requirements for the A.B. in Italian
10 Courses in the Italian Department (unless initial placement requires additional language study), one of which may be taught in English.
Students who are already fluent in Spanish or another Romance Language may take ITAL 009 Italian for Speakers of Spanish or Other Romance Languages instead of ITAL-011 Intensive Italian Language and Culture: Beginner. Students interested in ITAL 009 should contact the professor teaching it before they register.
Upon successful completion of ITAL 009, students may enroll in ITAL 010 or ITAL 111 depending on the recommendation of the professor.
Upon successful completion of ITAL 010, students may enroll in a 200 level class depending on the recommendation of the professor. Students who wish to enroll in a 200 level class are required to take the placement test before enrolling.
Students may also take three 1 credit courses instead of one of the 200 level courses to fulfill their course requirements
Note: all courses with an asterisk (*) can be used to fulfill either group requirement based on the student’s final paper. Courses followed by “(E)” are taught in English.
A. Foundations
ITA-335 Sacred and Secular Poetry
ITAL-338 Medici, Patriarch of the Renaissance: A Dynasty
ITAL-347 Theater, Politics, and Art in the Italian Renaissance
ITAL-350 Italian Renaissance Women: Writing and Art
ITAL-355 Bella Ciao! Women in Italian Culture*
ITAL-361 Monster and Monstrosity in Medieval Italy
ITAL-368 Politics, Society, and Culture in Renaissance Italy
ITAL-372 Dante and Medieval Mind
ITAL-373 Italian Actors and Actresses (E)
ITAL-374 Theater, Politics, and Art: Italian Renaissance
ITAL-375 Boccaccio: The Intervention of Storytelling
ITAL-383 Dante’s Afterlife in Popular Culture (E)
ITAL-385 Madness in Italian Literature and Theater*
ITAL-387 Love and Friendship in Medieval Italy
ITAL-392 The Theater in Power: Dynasties, Politics, and Theater (AD 1500-1800)
ITAL-395 The Dark Prince (E)
ITAL-460 Dante—The Divine Comedy
B. Becoming Italy
ITAL-321 Poetics of Lightness: Italo Calvino and Post-War Italian Culture
ITAL-337 Italian Cinema
ITAL-358 Literature of United Italy
ITAL-359 Women’s Identity in Twentieth-Century Italy
ITAL-360 Giallo! Italian Detective Fiction
ITAL-366 Primo Levi and the Holocaust (E)
ITAL-386 Made in Italy: Fashion and Food (E)
ITAL-388 Italian Songs: Cantautori to Rap
ITAL-389 Italian Mysteries from Dante to Terrorism
ITAL-380 Identity and Resistance in Fascist Italy
ITAL-390 Mafia: Reality and Fiction
ITAL-393 Contemporary Italy and its Regional Varieties
