Study abroad in Italy - Study abroad program - Study abroad in Florence - Study abroad in Rome

The instruction of the Italian language, backed up by specialized teaching experience, makes use of innovative methods that make the learning lively and effective. Students are placed in different study groups, according to their level of knowledge.

The course begins from the most elementary communicative needs, that is from salutations and personal identification. Questions and answers on information relative to the world in which each student finds him/herself, and thus indispensable for every primary need.

This work is backed up by in depth study of grammar to provide the student with a morpho-syntactical basis. Exercises will include reading of newspapers, games, texts, situational studies, instruments through which the student has the possibility to use the grammatical structures and the vocabulary acquired up until that moment.
Audio-visuals are used such as films and video clips to simulate typical situations and to stimulate conversation
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Continuation of ITLN 101 Italian language.
Intermediate course in Italian language, grammar, vocabulary and conversation backed up by video presentation of topical situations for conversation and increasing comprehension.
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Continuation of ITLN 102 Italian language.
Advanced course in Italian language Advanced composition skills and conversation backed up by video presentation of topical situations for conversation and increasing comprehension. close

The course explores womens lives and voices, and the constructions of gender in classical culture. Drawing on the evidence of myths, epic and lyric poetry, documents, and the historians, and a wide range of visual materials, the course considers figures ranging from goddesses and legendary mortals to women of imperial Roman families, as well as the Barbarian, the market-woman, and the outcast. They include Pandora, Hecuba, Lucretia, and Cleopatra.

Through these lives, exemplary or forgotten, real or projected, the student gains awareness of gender roles and definitions within the broader cultures and value systems of the ancient world. Special attention is given to the many opportunities and resources afforded by the city of Rome.
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The course deals with the study of Mediterranean archaeology.
The Mediterranean is shown as a crucible of different peoples and cultures during a long history. Important civilisations developed in the long span of time from the prehistoric societies to the rise and the flourishing of the Greek colonies, and they found a meeting point on the shore of the Mediterranean: Egyptians, Palestinians, Phoenicians, Minoans, Cypriots, Myceneans, Carthaginians, Greeks. Migrations, trade, cultural and religious influences are studied.

New archaeological data are now changing consolidated ideas about the past: the course is abreast of the most recent developments.
A focal point will be the history and the products of the material culture of each civilisation.

Students will learn to have a basic knowledge of each civilisation and its archaeological remains. Special emphasis will be given to the relations between the Aegean and the peoples of Italy, Sicily, Sardinia and Malta from the Bronze Age until Greek colonisation. Guided visits to museums and archaeological excavations will provide the students with practical bases to recognise different styles and historical contexts.
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This introductory course will analyse ancient Mediterranean mythology, especially Greek and Roman mythology and their inter-relationship.

Key points will be mythology’s roots, function and its protagonists. Students will learn about some of the most important gods, such as Zeus, Hera, Venus, Diana and Mars, all of whom were popular not only in antiquity, but also deeply influenced Renaissance art and literature.
Discussion on the role of myths, their religious and political roles and how they were seen and represented in ancient art, especially Greek vases will be analysed.

Further interest will be dedicated to the three most famous epics, the Greek Iliad and Odyssey and the Roman Aeneid.
Lectures will discuss their historical, cultural and literal backgrounds.
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Introductory lessons will focus on the historical and artistic influences for the purpose of then analysing a number of the masterpieces found in Vatican city. Various guided visits will be an integral component of the course. close

The course will focus on the artistic periods, that of the “Renaissance” and “Baroque”, with particular emphasis on the study of the monuments and works of art present in Rome.

During the course, a visit will be made to Florence for the purpose of studying on hand the Renaissance masterpieces.
Various guided museum visits in Rome will also be organised. “Renaissance Art” is a term universally adopted to define a particular historical and cultural period in European history dating from the fourteenth century to the second half of the sixteenth century (the exact historical time limits are even today subject to study and discussion).
Instead “Baroque Art” defines a particular artistic movement that flourished after the Renaissance period in Italy, other European countries and Latin America during the period between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The course will deal specifically with the development of Baroque art in Rome starting from the early decades of the 1600’s, including architectural styles, painting and sculpture. The course will deal with these two artistic periods and their interrelationship to the social, cultural, political and economic environment of the period.
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In this course the cultural role of cinema will be discussed and analysed. Students will be introduced to different aspects of the cinematic code (shots, continuity, editing, narrative, mis-en-scene, film sound), to specific genres and theories of cinema.
Additionally, the questions of ideology transmitted through cinema will be addressed.

A book uses words to convey a message. A painting will combine colours and forms, while music will use notes and tones. Cinema will incorporate in its language a multitude of symbols, some of them visual, some of them audible.
In this course the language, the script, the composition of the frame and the lighting, the acting, the sound score, the editing time will all be analysed.

The objective is to understand what is the method that conveys the message from the director/writer to the viewer.
The main analytical tool that will be used to achieve this objective will be that of a frame-by frame “dissection “ of various film fragments, followed by dialogs and debates regarding their significance.
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To provide a clear vision of the political situation in Italy through an analysis of the most important national events, also seen in relation to international politics, from the end of the second world war to the present.
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To give the student an historical, theoretical and cross-disciplinary understanding of the European Union and its activities.

The student will have an appreciation of the key policies in place within the European Union as well as the major controversies surrounding these policies. This course will focus on the history, institutions and policies of the European Union from a multidisciplinary perspective.

The emergence of the European Union is one the most significant political changes destined to shape the 21st century. It has already had an impact on legislation, transatlantic trade relations, agriculture, health and consumer protection, market consolidation and other aspects of life. Analysis of the roles and of the competencies of the most important European institutions: the European Parliament and its various headquarters (Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Brussels).
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This introductory course covers the period from the beginnings of the Roman Empire (Augustus, first century B.C.) to the end of the Western Empire (fifth century A.D.), which was equivalent to the end of Rome as the capital of the ancient world.

Reference will be made to Augustus, Nero or Constantin and their wives – Livia, Poppaea and Messalina – and the importance of their political and/or historical backgrounds. The course will introduce students to the development of the Roman Empire, its political, cultural and religious importance for the ancient world.

Focus will be centred on the more important rulers making reference to literature sources. Part of the lessons will also be dedicated to the artistic expression of imperial power, mainly official architecture, thus relating politics, history and art – one of the fundamental rules on which Rome built its grandeur.

Guided excursions to monuments and /or places related to the ancient emperors will make this historical course more vivid.
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To develop in the student an understanding of the cultural and economic issues facing the European Union and the various aspects of the European economic systems.

The European Union has become one of the most important intergovernmental organizations within the economic and political realms. Examining the cultural, social, political and economic forces that have encouraged the process of European integration over the latter half of the 20th century, this course investigates the move toward the harmonization of monetary, regulatory, market and foreign policies within the European Union.

The course will analyze cultural and economic diversities among the major countries that are a part of the European Union.
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