1. Academics
  2. Find Your Program
  3. Italian Studies

Italian Studies

Undergraduate

Learning Italian leads to unique educational and professional opportunities. The Italian major seeks to foster linguistic fluency and appreciation of Italian culture.

Program Overview

At 69¾«Æ·ÊÓƵ College, our Italian faculty are a small group of dedicated professors and scholars. Rather than simply teaching a language, we teach you a whole culture and support your professional growth through language programs and internships in Italy. We keep our courses small and create a warm, supportive community that welcomes all students interested in Italian language and culture. Italian is renowned as the language of the arts, music, and opera. In the third millennium, at the crossroads of Mediterranean culture, Italy is quickly becoming a multicultural nation, with one of the top ten economies in the world. It is a in design, fashion, food and wine as well as in engineering, aerospace and medicine. The ability to speak, read and understand Italian and to have first-hand experience in Italian culture is vital and relevant in today’s interconnected global economies.

A major in Italian can lead to a variety of national and international careers in foreign service, international banking and trade, fashion marketing, film, journalism, and teaching. Italian majors and minors can take advantage of the , a project that allows students to teach English in Lombardy after graduation. Valuable experience can be gained through the many study abroad options available to Italian majors in Florence, Bologna, Padova, and Ferrara, among others.

Community Voices

Spotlight on Italian students and alums

Sophia Spector

A passion for language learning and teaching.

Sophia Spector ’15, First-Grade Teacher

Virginia Guerra ’19

An American in Venice: Virginia Guerra ’19

Virginia Guerra ’19

Kathryn Higgins '12 lounging in a courtyard in Italy

An Unforgettable Experience

Kathryn Higgins '12:

EXPLORE MORE STORIES

Happening at 69¾«Æ·ÊÓƵ

News from Italian Studies

A student poses with presenters, including Morena Svaldi, at the awards ceremony at the Italian Consulate in Boston, 2024.

69¾«Æ·ÊÓƵ College team earns an honorable mention

At an awards ceremony held at the Italian Consulate in Boston, 69¾«Æ·ÊÓƵ College students from an intermediate Italian course were recognized for their work exploring the connection between Italian language and literature.

More News

Courses and Requirements

In addition to acquiring advanced oral and written proficiency in the Italian language, majors will have the opportunity to access Italy's rich literary and cultural heritage through a variety of venues, including short stories, novels, poetry, film, music, art, and contemporary newspapers.

Learning Goals

In connection with the College’s learning goals, the major in Italian at 69¾«Æ·ÊÓƵ prepares students to develop a comprehensive knowledge of Italian language and culture. It is the department’s mission to inspire and motivate students to learn about Italian culture in all of its multifaceted aspects through:

  • in-depth study of the Italian language in all of its components (speaking, writing, reading and listening), in order to achieve near-native proficiency. Through a communicative approach, students learn to express feelings, engage in discussion about any topic, develop complex ideas, and read and critically analyze original texts and films in Italian.
  • in-depth study of Italian culture and literature to develop a rich, diverse and layered knowledge of Italian thought, history, cultural habits, geography, culinary tradition, gender issues and politics.
  • in-depth study of the role of Italy and Italian culture in Mediterranean and world history through millennia of people’s shifts, diasporas and migrations.

The department aims for students to become global citizens, through study abroad programs in Italy and internships in Italy. Dedicated faculty members believe in creating a relaxed and positive atmosphere that is conducive to learning, beyond the traditional classroom experience. Classes take frequent advantage of campus resources (museums, libraries, residence halls, and the Italian Living-Learning Community) to organize events to continue teaching beyond the classroom in a consistent and constructive effort at community building.

Requirements for the Major

A minimum of 32 credits:

ITAL-201Preparation for Advanced Studies in Italian Language and Culture4
ITAL-209Italian Media and Culture4
ITAL-221Advanced Studies in Italian Culture and Literature4
ITAL-215Conversation in Italian 14
Three 300-level courses in Italian literature and culture to be approved by the department 212
4 additional credits in Italian4
Total Credits32
1

ITAL-215 is a 2-credit course to be taken twice for a total of 4 credits in conversation.

2

At least one 300-level course must be taken in the senior year.

Additional Specifications

  • Courses lower than ITAL-201 cannot be counted toward the major.
  • Independent Study (ITAL-395) may not be used as part of the minimum major requirements.
  • Students thinking about a major in Italian or studying abroad should contact Professor Frau or Senior Lecturer Svaldi.

Requirements for the Minor

A minimum of 18 credits

ITAL-201Preparation for Advanced Studies in Italian Language and Culture4
ITAL-209Italian Media and Culture4
ITAL-221Advanced Studies in Italian Culture and Literature4
ITAL-215Conversation in Italian2
At least one course in Italian literature and culture at the 300 level4
Total Credits18

Additional Specifications

  • Courses lower than ITAL-201 cannot be counted toward the minor.
  • Independent Study (ITAL-395) may not be used as part of the minimum minor requirements.
  • Students thinking about a minor in Italian or studying abroad should contact Professor Frau or Senior Lecturer Svaldi.

Course Advice

Guidelines for New Students

All courses satisfy distribution requirements unless otherwise indicated.

Students with no previous training in Italian should elect ITAL-101–ITAL-102.

Students with two years of high school study should elect ITAL-201. Students whose proficiency in the Italian language is superior and who wish to study literature should elect ITAL-221 in the fall semester. Students who are unsure about their level should contact Professor Frau for a proficiency test.

Students contemplating a junior year in Italy should elect an Italian course in the first semester of their first year.

Course Offerings

ITAL-101 Introduction to Italian Language and Culture I

Fall and Spring. Credits: 4

A foundational course tailored for beginners, focusing on the study of vocabulary and grammar within the context of contemporary Italian culture. The curriculum features interactive class activities and discussions, enriched by daily speaking exercises, online activities and projects. By the end of the semester, students will achieve a novice-to-high level of proficiency in understanding, speaking, and writing the Italian language and culture through active engagement.

Applies to requirement(s): Humanities; Language
Notes: Successful completion of both ITAL-101 and ITAL-102 will give students a full grammatical knowledge of basic Italian and it is highly recommended.

ITAL-102 Introduction to Italian Language and Culture I

Fall. Credits: 4

A course tailored for beginners who are familiar with ITAL-101 materials, focusing on deepening their knowledge of vocabulary and grammar within the context of contemporary Italian culture. The course curriculum features interactive class activities and discussions, enriched by daily speaking exercises, online activities and projects. By the end of the semester, students will achieve a novice-high level of proficiency in understanding, speaking, and writing the Italian language and culture through active engagement.

Applies to requirement(s): Humanities; Language
Prereq: ITAL-101.

ITAL-115 Conversation in Italian I

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 2

This 2-credit course will improve your conversational skills and your confidence and will help you communicate more effectively in Italian. The course will cover a range of topics, from college life, to culture, fashion, social media, the home, and family. Materials include podcasts, short readings, and videos.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Prereq: ITAL-101 or ITAL-102.
Notes: Taught in Italian.

ITAL-201 Preparation for Advanced Studies in Italian Language and Culture

Fall. Credits: 4

Preparation for Advanced Studies in Italian Language and Culture is designed to improve communicative proficiency in both the Italian language and culture. The course focuses on five skills progressing from intermediate low to intermediate high: speaking, listening, reading, writing, and cultural understanding and comparison. Through non-stereotypical cultural topics, interactive teaching methods, multimedia resources, and engaging projects students will consolidate their linguistic and cultural knowledge to progress for advanced studies in Italian.

Applies to requirement(s): Humanities; Language
Prereq: ITAL-102.

ITAL-209 Italian Media and Culture

Spring. Credits: 4

Italian Media and Culture is a course tailored for intermediate students. In this course, we focus on deepening our knowledge of contemporary Italian culture through original readings, media (podcasts and pop music), and current news. By the end of the semester students will have a high-intermediate/advanced knowledge of Italian.

Applies to requirement(s): Humanities; Language
Prereq: ITAL-201.

ITAL-215 Conversation in Italian

Fall and Spring. Credits: 2

This two-credit course will improve students' conversational skills and confidence and will help students communicate more effectively at an intermediate level in Italian. The course will cover a range of topics, from politics, to the professional world, to the environment, to college life, social media, and the arts. Materials include podcasts, short readings, and videos.

Applies to requirement(s): Meets No Distribution Requirement
Prereq: ITAL-101 or above.
Notes: Taught in Italian. Repeatable.

ITAL-221 Advanced Studies in Italian Culture and Literature

ITAL-221DM Advanced Studies in Italian Culture and Literature: 'Dante's Inferno Between Myth and History'

Spring. Credits: 4

Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy is one of world literature's foundational works. In his 700-hundred years old masterpiece, Dante poses and confronts universal questions that are still at the core of our daily existence: God, love, ethics, gender relationships, politics, social harmony, literature, the afterlife, and the relations between human and nonhuman forms of life. In this course, we will read, analyze, discuss, and enjoy Dante's great poem by focusing on the first of its three parts, the Inferno. In particular, we will be covering Dante's take on mythology and history.

Crosslisted as: CLAS-250DM, ENGL-214DM
Applies to requirement(s): Humanities
Notes: Taught in English.

ITAL-221FC Advanced Studies in Italian Culture and Literature: 'Italian Food Culture'

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

This course explores food culture in Italian family and society. Food is essential for Italian culture, and the food industry is an important part of the Italian economy. We are going to explore and analyze the strong relationship between food, culture and business in modern Italian society, with examples ranging from Carlo Petrini's Slow Food movement, Eataly, food in ancient Roman times, food as autobiography, food in art, and the coffee revolution. We will read and discuss literary and historical texts, films, and cookbooks.

Applies to requirement(s): Humanities
Other Attribute(s): Speaking-Intensive, Writing-Intensive
Notes: This course is primarily taught in English. Students who are interested in taking the course in Italian will have a weekly separate meeting. Please, reach out to ofrau@mtholyoke.edu with any questions.

ITAL-295 Independent Study

Fall and Spring. Credits: 1 - 4

Restrictions: Contact instructor for independent study declaration form and signatures.
Instructor permission required.

ITAL-306 All in the Family

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

Starting with Ancient Rome, familial ties always played a strong role in Italian society. This course examines the concept of family through the centuries and through cultural, literary and historical changes. We will cover the Roman family, the idea of family in the Risorgimento, the Fascist family, the modern and post-modern family, Michela Murgia's idea of queer family, and more. Authors and directors include Murgia, Boccaccio, Goldoni, Manzoni, De Filippo, Franchi, Sfinge, Saraceno, Visconti, Scola.

Applies to requirement(s): Humanities
Prereq: Take ITAL-201 or intermediate knowledge of Italian.
Notes: Taught in Italian.

ITAL-311 Advanced Topics in Italian

ITAL-311FA Advanced Topics in Italian: 'Fascism'

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

This course explores aspects of twentieth and twenty-first century culture in relation to Benito Mussolini's Fascist dictatorship. From Italian Futurism and imperialism, to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's historic political victory, we will follow the development of fascism and neo-fascism and discuss literary trends, architecture, activism and visual arts with some of the authors who lived through it.

Applies to requirement(s): Humanities
Prereq: 8 credits from Italian, Architectural Studies, Art Studio, Art History, Classical Studies, Classics, History, Music, Film/Media/Theater, Politics, International Relations, or Religion.
Notes: This course is primarily taught in English. Professor Frau organizes separate meetings with students who are interested in obtaining Italian credit. Please, reach out to ofrau@mtholyoke.edu with any questions.

ITAL-311MA Advanced Topics in Italian: 'The Era of Machiavelli: Politics, Anxiety, and Dissimulation in the Italian Renaissance'

Fall. Credits: 4

Often described as spaces that offered a safe harbor for generations of poets, artists, and intellectuals, Italian Renaissance courts were also a space of uncertainty and dissimulation, a political environment dominated by rules, a reality in which instability and manipulation were commonplace. Through the reading of works by Machiavelli, Ariosto, and Castiglione, three protagonists in the history of Italian literature between the end of the 15th and the first quarter of the 16th centuries, we will consider and analyze the Italian Renaissance not only as the cradle of extraordinary artistic, poetic, social, intellectual, economic, and geographic achievements, but also as a time in which the relationship between literature and structures of power reaches a crucial inflection point.

Applies to requirement(s): Humanities
Prereq: 8 credits from the Humanities.
Notes: Taught in English.

ITAL-341 Italian Topics Taught in English

ITAL-341ST Italian Topics Taught in English: 'The Italian Stage: Commedia dell'Arte, Social Mobility, Politics'

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

This course explores Italian theatre from the Commedia dell'Arte to Pirandello with particular attention to social mobility, politics, and class conflict. Authors include classics such as Isabella Andreini, Carlo Goldoni and Luigi Pirandello.

Crosslisted as: FMT-330ST
Applies to requirement(s): Humanities
Prereq: 8 credits in Italian.
Notes: Taught in English. Italian students can elect to add ITAL-215 to this course.

ITAL-361 Seminar in Romance Languages and Cultures

This interdisciplinary seminar will focus on a comparative study of Romance languages or literatures. Topics will vary from semester to semester. Seminar discussions will be conducted in English, but students wishing to obtain language credit are expected to read works in at least one original language. Papers will be written in either English or the Romance language of the student's choice.

ITAL-361AV Seminar in Romance Languages and Cultures: 'About Vanguards and Revolutionary Ideas'

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

This course addresses cultural relations between Latin America and Romance languages and cultures through the concept of vanguard: the Latin American poetic vanguardias of the early twentieth century and controversies with the Italian and Spanish vanguardias; the influence of the Négritude anti-colonial movement in Latin American decolonial thinking and the political avant-garde movements and guerrillas of the '60s and '70s; the intersections between French surrealism and Latin American magic realism; and the emergence of the Cinema Novo and New/Third Cinema (the vanguard of political cinema in Latin America) in the context of Italian neo-realism and the French nouvelle vague.

Crosslisted as: ROMLG-375AV, FREN-321AV, SPAN-360AV
Applies to requirement(s): Humanities; Language; Multicultural Perspectives
Prereq: 8 credits at the 200 level in language or literature.
Notes: Taught in English. Students wishing to obtain 300-level credit in French, Italian, or Spanish must read texts and write papers in the Romance language for which they wish to receive credit.

ITAL-361LT Seminar in Romance Languages and Cultures: 'Romance Languages Translate'

Spring. Credits: 4

This seminar explores Romance languages, literatures and cultures through the prism of translation. By comparing translations from Spanish, Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian between each other and into English, we will map out the boundaries, intersections and middle grounds of this language family. Students will engage with the different traditions of translation studies in these languages and critically analyze translators' paratexts. Selecting an individual translation project in a Romance language of their choice, through a process of revision and collaboration, each student will produce both a polished translation and a commentary explaining challenges and choices.

Crosslisted as: ROMLG-375LT, FREN-321LT, SPAN-360LT
Applies to requirement(s): Humanities; Language
Restrictions: This course is open to juniors and seniors
Advisory: Two courses in culture and literature at the 200 level.
Notes: Students wishing to obtain 300-level credit in French, Italian, or Spanish must read texts and write papers in the Romance language for which they wish to receive credit.

ITAL-361MT Seminar in Romance Languages and Cultures: 'The Mind of the Traveler: Journeys, Expeditions, Tours'

Not Scheduled for This Year. Credits: 4

Travel literature has always been a precious source for the study of culture, politics, arts, and last but not least, people. From Tacitus to Marco Polo, from Stendhal to Camilo Jose Cela, we will read and discuss authors who traveled for political, personal, and recreational reasons. We will also pay special attention to tales of emigration and immigration in the third millennium.

Crosslisted as: SPAN-360MT, FREN-321MT, ROMLG-375MT
Applies to requirement(s): Humanities; Language
Restrictions: This course is open to juniors and seniors
Advisory: For language majors; two courses in culture and literature at the 200 level.
Notes: Note: Students wishing to obtain 300-level credit in French, Italian, or Spanish must read texts and write papers in the Romance language for which they wish to receive credit.

ITAL-395 Independent Study

Fall and Spring. Credits: 1 - 8

Restrictions: Contact instructor for independent study declaration form and signatures.
Instructor permission required.

Contact us

Department of Classics and Italian

The Department of Classics and Italian oversees programs in ancient studies, classics, Italian, Greek and Latin.

Denise Falk

Denise Falk

  • Academic Department Coordinator

Next Steps

Apply to 69¾«Æ·ÊÓƵ

69¾«Æ·ÊÓƵ seeks intellectually curious applicants who understand the value of a liberal arts education and are driven by a love of learning. As a women's college that is gender diverse, we welcome applications from female, trans and non-binary students.

Start Your Application