Italian is a primary language for research in art history, music, philosophy, literary studies, and archaeology. Italian literature, and more recently Italian cinema, is widely admired. The strong position of contemporary Italy in the area of design and fashion makes Italian language ability vital to those engaged in business and trade Students completing the International Engineering Program, the International Business Program, or the B.S. in Textiles, Fashion Merchandising, and Design as well as the B.A. with a major in Italian simultaneously may use three credits of Italian literature toward the Literature Basic Liberal Studies requirement. In addition, students in these programs are exempt from the one-course-per-discipline rule in Letters, Social Science, and Natural Science.

The Italian program at URI is one of the largest programs in the U.S. in terms of number of majors. Knowledge of the Italian language gives you access to one of the West’s richest cultural traditions as well as to one of Europe’s most vital contemporary societies. Italian is a primary language for research in art history, music, philosophy, literary studies, and archaeology. Italian literature, and more recently Italian cinema, is widely admired. The strong position of contemporary Italy in the area of design and fashion makes Italian language ability vital to those engaged in business and trade.