Italian Trends & Territories

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course traces the evolution of Italian identity through a journey across its most iconic literary landscapes—from the sun-drenched ruins of aristocratic Sicily to the industrial heart of Turin, the vibrant, gritty streets of modern Naples, and the multicultural reality of post-colonial Rome. By analyzing key cultural trends such as neo-realism, postmodernism, and the rise of post-colonial voices, students will examine how Italy transformed from a fragmented 19th-century kingdom into a complex, culturally diverse European nation. Six seminal authors anchor the course, mapping the shifting “territory” of the Italian soul across the 20th and 21st centuries. Through a carefully curated selection of complete works and substantial excerpts, students will trace a path from aristocratic decline to a multicultural future. Tomasi di Lampedusa’s The Leopard captures Sicily’s fatalistic transition during the Risorgimento, while Primo Levi’s If This Is a Man offers a harrowing, scientific testimony to the Holocaust—Italy’s moral “zero point.” Natalia Ginzburg’s Lessico famigliare preserves the intimate, domestic language of anti-fascist resistance in Turin. The course then pivots to the conceptual and social transformations of the late century: Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities abstracts the modern urban experience into a postmodern kaleidoscope; Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels ground the 21st century in the raw socioeconomic and gendered struggles of Naples; and Igiaba Scego’s La mia casa è dove sono redefines contemporary italianità, mapping a postcolonial Rome that embraces migrant and diasporic identities. Readings from these literary works will be complemented by a selection of musical, artistic, and cinematic materials that deepen our understanding of modern Italy’s evolving cultural landscape. Taught in Italian