Italian

Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
College of Arts and Sciences
910 Clemens Hall
North Campus
Buffalo, NY 14260-4620
(716) 645-2191
Fax: (716) 645-5981
Web: Modern Languages and Literatures
Rosemary G. Feal, Chair
Emanuele Licastro, Director of Undergraduate Studies and Director of Language Program
(716) 645-6000, ext. 1170
E-mail: licastro@acsu.buffalo.edu

Introduction
Italian is spoken by more than 60 million people, mainly in Italy but also in Switzerland where it is one of the four official languages (Canton Ticino). Italian is also spoken by the large Italian communities in the United States, Canada, Germany, Australia, and South America (specifically in Argentina and in the south of Brazil where almost half of the population is of Italian origin). Our program develops an appreciation of world cultures through the study of language, literature, and film.

The Program
Students who study Italian at the advanced level acquire language proficiency, explore various aspects of Italian culture, and obtain knowledge of Italian literature. Students who choose to major in Italian take eight courses at the 300-400 level.

The department strongly encourages Italian majors to study art history, music, history, English, classics, and women's studies. The Italian program also offers a four-course minor.

Students frequently combine a program in Italian with concentrations in other humanities programs, such as another language, or history. Others concentrate in unrelated fields, such as management or science. Requirements for Italian as part of a joint major include acceptance as an Italian major and completion of five courses at the 300-400 level.

For study abroad options, see the Study Abroad section on page 260 or contact the Study Abroad Programs Office at (716) 645-3912.

Students wishing to satisfy the requirements for teacher certification should plan their programs with particular care in order to accommodate the required semester of the professional sequence during their senior year. For certification requirements, students should contact the Teacher Education Institute, Graduate School of Education, 379 Baldy Hall.

Career Opportunities
Some graduates with a degree in Italian have pursued doctorates and master of arts degrees in the humanities. Others have followed careers in community service, business, law, and government.

Italian (ITA)

Note: Not all courses are offered every semester. Check with the department for listings and course descriptions.

101-102 Elementary Italian 1st-2nd semester (5-5)
ITA101 prerequisite: none
ITA102 prerequisite: ITA101 or permission of instructor
Basic structure and vocabulary emphasizing the language as spoken and heard, and developing skills of reading and writing. LEC

203 Intermediate Italian (3)
Prerequisite: ITA102, or three or more years of high school Italian, or by placement
Grammar and pronunciation centered on conversation, vocabulary expansion through literary and nonliterary readings. LEC

206 Intermediate Italian and Practice in Readings (3)
Prerequisite: ITA203 or permission of instructor
For students who wish to enter the Italian major program; intermediate-level Italian; grammatical and critical readings. LEC

321-322 Italian Conversation and Civilization (3-3)
ITA321 prerequisite: ITA206, or three or more years of high school Italian, or permission of instructor
ITA322 prerequisite: ITA321 or permission of instructor
Reading and discussion of excerpts from modern Italian writers; introduces the main personalities and works representing Italian civilization. LEC

382 Introduction to Second Language Acquisition Theory (3)
Prerequisite: none; basic linguistics courses and/or language courses helpful
Explores the factors that affect learning a second language (e.g., age, native language, environment, goals, and learner strategies), as well as outlines the succession of theories about how people acquire a second language. LEC

401-402 Directed Reading (var)
Prerequisite: permission of instructor
TUT

403-404 The Works of Dante (3-3)
ITA403 prerequisite: ITA206, or three or more years of high school Italian
ITA404 prerequisite: ITA403 or permission of instructor
Medieval literature in Provence and France; works of Dante, beginning with Vita Nuova through the Divine Comedy; main personalities and works representing Italian civilization. LEC

405 Twentieth-Century Italian Literature (3)
Studies modern literature of Italy starting with such nineteenth-century forerunners as Verga, Pascoli, D'Annunzio, with particular attention to the fascist regime, its rise and fall, World War II, and the neocapitalistic society of the last two decades. LEC

411 Petrarch and Boccaccio (3)
Selected readings of the masterworks of Giovanni Boccaccio and Francesco Petrarca, with attention to the authors who influenced their work and authors who were subsequently influenced by these two crowns of Italian literature. SEM

412 Literature of the Trecento and Renaissance (3)
Selected readings and analyses, from Petrarch and early Italian poets, from Boccaccio and early Italian novelists. The spirit of the Renaissance: poetry, epic, prose, and pastoral romance versus the social writings of Machiavelli, Castiglione, and Guicciardini. LEC

413 Italian Theatre (3)
History of Italian theatre: Machiavelli, Commedia dell' Arte, Goldoni, Alfieri, D'Annunzio, Pirandello, others. LEC

415 Modern Novel from Manzoni to the Present (3)
A study of Manzoni's masterpiece and subsequent monuments of Italian fiction. Surveys famous novels dealing with industrialization, alienation, and experimentalism. LEC

417 Twentieth-Century Italian Poets (3)
Italy's poets from the turn of the century through two world wars. LEC

418 The Works of Pirandello (3)
Pirandello's short stories, two novels, and six plays: analyzes their social, psychological, and metaphysical questions. LEC

422 Modern Italian Literature (3)
Prerequisite: ITA206 or permission of instructor
Surveys poetry, prose fiction and theatre from Leopardi and Manzoni to the present. LEC

423 Dante and the Middle Ages (3)
Works of Dante in terms of cultural, philosophical, and political upheavals of the thirteenth and early-fourteenth centuries. Taught in English. LEC

424 Twentieth-Century Italian Theatre (3)
Twentieth-century Italian theatre, from Pirandello to the present, with special attention given to dramatic theories by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Antonin Artaud, Bertolt Brecht, Luigi Pirandello, and others. SEM

425 Italian Novella (3)
Short story through seven centuries; representative examples from Boccaccio to the present. LEC

426 Masterpieces of Early Italian Literature (3)
Provincial and early Italian lyric poetry: Guinizelli, Cavalcanti, Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, as well as on Italian prose selections of the same period. LEC

427 Masterpieces of Modern Italian Literature (3)
Italian literature from Ariosto to Calvino. LEC

429 Italian Cinema I (3/1)
Contemporary Italian society mirrored in the movies; Italian film from the 1930s, or fascist era, to the present. LEC/LAB

430 Italian Cinema II: Directors (3/1)
Study of postwar Italian film; focus on directors, such as Fellini, Antonioni, Rossellini, Visconti, Bertolucci, and Pasolini. LEC/LAB

444 Italian Renaissance Drama (3)
Explores the social, political, and aesthetic role played by the theatre of the Italian Renaissance with attention to the role of comedy, the influence of Humanism, the development of secular drama, the reawakening of classic texts, and the ways in which drama reflected and influenced Renaissance society. Studies the influence of the Italian Renaissance drama on world theatre, with particular at tention to the roots of Italian theatre within the evolution of the works of William Shakespeare. SEM

492 The Literatures of the Italian American Experience (3)
History, folklore, sociology, politics, and artistic achievements as expressed by its most representative writers; in English; no previous knowledge of Italian necessary. LEC

Italian - B.A.

Acceptance Criteria
Minimum GPA of 2.0 overall
Minimum GPA of 2.5 in the following prerequisite courses: ITA101-102, ITA203, ITA206

Advising Notes
Students are advised to learn a second foreign language and to take electives in such relevant fields as art, history, music, and philosophy. Electives may also be used to arrange joint- or double-major programs.

Required Courses
ITA101-102 Elementary Italian 1st-2nd Semester*
ITA203 Intermediate Italian*
ITA206 Intermediate Italian and Practice in Readings*
ITA321 Italian Conversation and Civilization
ITA322 Italian Conversation and Civilization
Four 300/400-level courses

See Baccalaureate Degree Requirements (page 254) for general education and remaining university requirements.

Recommended Sequence of Major Requirements

First Year
Fall-ITA101*
Spring-ITA102*

Second Year
Fall-ITA203*
Spring-ITA206*

Third Year
Fall-ITA321
Spring-ITA322

Fourth Year
Fall-Two 300/400-level courses
Spring-Two 300/400-level courses

*Appropriate level is based on placement and/or previous experience, unless exempted. For clarification contact Professor Emanuele Licastro, 645-2191, ext. 1170 or email: licastro@acsu.buffalo.edu.

Total required credit hours in Italian - 24

Italian - Minor

Acceptance Criteria
Minimum GPA of 2.0 overall
Minimum GPA of 2.5 in the following prerequisite courses:
   ITA101-102*, ITA203*, ITA206*

Requirements
ITA101-102 Elementary Italian 1st-2nd Semester*
ITA203 Intermediate Italian*
ITA206 Intermediate Italian and Practice in Readings*
ITA321-322 Italian Civilization and Conversation (3-3)
Two 400-level ITA courses (excluding ITA423, 426, 427, 429, 430)

*Unless exempted. For clarification contact Professor Emanuele Licastro (645-2191, ext. 1170) or email: licastro@acsu.buffalo.edu

Total required credit hours in Italian - 12

Academic Affairs

Phone: (716) 645-6003

Fax: (716) 645-2549

Last updated: Thursday, 09-Dec-2004 15:21:18 EST