Civilizations of Italy in the Golden Age : from the Middle Ages to the Baroque [ LROM1544 ]

Students should have basic Italian.

The course is designed as a literary and artistic sequence on the main cultural families in Italy from the 15th to the 16th century, particularly the towns and princely courts of Florence, Ferrara, Urbino, Mantua, Rome, Naples, Milan and Venice.

The course enables students to acquire and strengthen skills  - including at the lexical level ' in iconographic and literary analysis. They will be able to develop and give, in Italian, an appreciation of a work of art or literature, focussing on the context in which it was produced.

Students submit a ten-page paper written in Italian dealing with one of the topics seen in class or a closely related subject.

Lectures with a variety of teaching material.

The sessions are in two parts. The first provides a historical framework as well as an introduction to the main artistic and literary events in the town in question ; the second part is the analysis of an author ' a writer, historian or artist ' who is particularly representative of his milieu. There will be special emphasis on the links that develop between intellectuals and the political world, as well as the role of patrons played by princes and the ruling classes. Each student is required to select an author and a topic for in-depth study for a written assignment of about 10 pages which is the equivalent of a final examination.

The bibliography will be available on iCampus. Each student may request additional bibliographic details for their individual written assignment.

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