Students will master Italian language skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) needed for all purposes of daily life and gain diverse perspectives on Italian culture though courses focusing on literature, history, visual arts, film, media, and business. The program promotes an understanding of the role of the Italian literary and cultural tradition within today's global society. As the birthplace of Dante, Boccaccio, Michelangelo, and Da Vinci, Italy was the cradle of the Renaissance. Italy continues to project a powerful, formative influence into our own day through the work of contemporary writers like, Elena Ferrante, Dacia Maraini, Primo Levi, Italo Calvino, and Umberto Eco; composers like Gioachino Rossini, Giacomo Puccini and Giuseppe Verdi; philosophers and critics like Benedetto Croce, Antonio Gramsci, Fanco Cassano, and Giorgio Agamben; educators like Maria Montessori; and filmmakers like Federico Fellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Roberto Benigni. Thus, in addition to supplying the necessary background for advanced professional study and specialization, the Italian major introduces students to a rich literary, artistic and intellectual history at the roots of the modern world.

For courses in other departments with an Italian emphasis (e.g., classics, humanities, art and art history, history, honors, etc.) see those sections.?