IT10510 - THE MAKING OF ITALY

Module Identifier	IT10510
Module Title	THE MAKING OF ITALY
Academic Year	2001/2002
Co-ordinator	Mr Adriano Vincentelli
Semester	Semester 1
Course delivery	Contact Hours	15 Hours
Assessment	Continuous assessment	One essay 1500-2000 words	30%
	Exam	2 Hours	70%

Brief description

Unity and fragmentation, vitality and stagnation, individualism and conformism, these are some of the forces that explain Italy's chequered history through the ages. The course will highlight the significant contribution of the regions, selected individuals and events to modern society and the cultural heritage of Italy. The course may be taken by both Beginners and Advanced students of Italian.

Learning outcomes

Successful students will have a knowledge of:

the dynamic forces that shaped Italy during the reconstruction years immediately after World War II, including the impact of regionalism in its widest sense;

the cultural context and main themes of Dante's Inferno and Machiavelli's The Prince and their contribution to the cultural heritage of Italy including these author's critique of factionalism and regionalism;

and be able to evaluate:

the relationships between the earlier fragmentation and divisions and their impact on contemporary Italy;

the basic principles behind Renaissance art 1300-1550, its humanist characteristics and the part visual culture played in the creation of regional identity.

Reading Lists

Books
** Essential Reading
R. Kirkpatrick. (1987) Dante: The Divine Comedy. CUP
Q. Skinner. (1981) Machiavelli. OUP (Past Masters)
Open University. Machiavelli (see Booklet A201 Unit 14).
** Recommended Text
Dante Alighieri (translated by Mark Musa). L'inferno. Penguin Classics
R. Jacoff. (1993) The Cambridge Companion to Dante. CUP
N. Machiavelli. Il Principe. NUE
P. Bondanella (ed.). The Prince. OUP
S. Anglo. Machiavelli, a dissection. Paladin
R. J. Hale. Machiavelli and Renaissance Italy. Penguin
** Recommended Consultation
Dante Alighieri. The Divine Comedy, vol. 1.
N. Machiavelli (trans. G. Bull). (1961) The Prince. Penguin
M Clark. Modern Italy 1871-1982. Longman
D. Sassoon. (1986) Contemporary Italy, a Modern History. Longman
F. Spotts & T. Wieser. Italy, a difficult democracy: a survey of Italian politics. C U P
D. Mack Smith. Italy: a Modern History. Michigan U P
Z. Baransky. Culture and Conflict in Post-war Italy. M & GSEIS
Hughes. The fall and rise of modern Italy.
L. Barzini. The Italians.
P. Ginsborg. A History of Contemporary Italy.
P. Ginsborg. Culture and Politics in Contemporary Italy (Chapter I in Baranski).
W. Ward. (1990) Getting it Right in Italy. A Manual for the 1990s. Bloomsbury