Course image 23-24 IT2600/IT3600: Fake News, Gossip, and the Pursuit of Truth: from Renaissance Newsletters to Blogs
Italian
The history of journalism has its roots in the Renaissance: in their workshops, copyists would spend hours gathering, selecting, and handwriting pieces of information arriving from all over the world. The tradition and practice of early manuscript newsletters were at the foundation of the first Italian printed newspapers and literary magazines - such as the Nazione and the Giornale de’ letterati d’Italia - which ultimately evolved in today’s online journalism. Throughout the course, particular emphasis will be given to the earliest forms of fake news, of gossip, and to the manipulation of information that shaped Italian and European history as we know it. This course will use digital tools, but no pre-existing knowledge of any software is required.
Course image 23-24 IT1230: Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio and their Heritage
Italian
The course aims to introduce students to the life and works of the Tre Corone – Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio, known as the Three Crowns – the three major writers of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance in Italy. The works of these three writers have inspired many subsequent writers, artists, dramatists and film makers, and their influence from the start has extended outside Italy, across Europe and beyond. Students will also be introduced to some of the fundamental ideas about literature in the Middle Ages.
Course image 23-24 IT2340: Postwar Italian Cinema
Italian
This course provides an introduction to Italian cinema. It offers a general exploration of the context of cinema, the role of the state in the film industry and of the main trends and movements in film production. The first part of the course consists of a closer examination of the most important movement in Italian film-making: Neorealism. This current roughly lasted from 1945 to 1952, and it gave rise to some of the most distinctive and influential Italian films which shocked for their unusual and raw examination of war and reconstruction. The second part of the course explores the evolution and decline of Neorealism, and the emergence of a new cinematic realism and of a new modernist cinema. Here attention will be paid to the potentialities of modernist films with particular reference to technical device and practicalities on the one hand, and to the juxtaposition of fantasy and reality on the other.
Course image 23-24 IT2400/IT3400: Art And Literature In Renaissance Florence
Italian
Meeting times/week:
Online lecture (live on Teams): Mondays 10-11am
In person seminar (Windsor Building): Thursdays 12-1pm
Florence in the 15th century was one of the most vibrant and innovative artistic and cultural centres in Italy and Europe. The cultural, philosophical and artistic life of Renaissance Florence is the focus of this course which combines the analysis of Renaissance painting, mural decoration and sculpture with that of writings on art from the time. We look in detail at a number of works of world famous Italian Renaissance artists such a Masaccio, Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo. We also take a close look at texts discussing the role of the arts and artists, and the comparison between the arts by Renaissance theorists such as Leon Battista Alberti, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti and Giorgio Vasari.
Online lecture (live on Teams): Mondays 10-11am
In person seminar (Windsor Building): Thursdays 12-1pm
Florence in the 15th century was one of the most vibrant and innovative artistic and cultural centres in Italy and Europe. The cultural, philosophical and artistic life of Renaissance Florence is the focus of this course which combines the analysis of Renaissance painting, mural decoration and sculpture with that of writings on art from the time. We look in detail at a number of works of world famous Italian Renaissance artists such a Masaccio, Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo. We also take a close look at texts discussing the role of the arts and artists, and the comparison between the arts by Renaissance theorists such as Leon Battista Alberti, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti and Giorgio Vasari.