Italian
Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
College of Arts and Sciences
910 Clemens Hall
North Campus
Buffalo, NY 14260-4620
Phone: 716.645.2191
Fax: 716.645.5981
Email: rll-info@buffalo.edu
Web: rll.buffalo.edu/rll
Maureen Jameson
Chair
Emanuele Licastro
Director of Undergraduate Studies and Language Program Director
716.645.2191, ext. 1170
licastro@buffalo.edu
About the Program
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.
Students who study Italian at the advanced level acquire language proficiency, explore various aspects of Italian culture, and obtain knowledge of Italian literature.
Degree Options
The major program leads to a B.A. in Italian. 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.
Academic Requirements
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.
Opportunities for Undergraduate Research and Practical Experience
For study abroad options, see the Study Abroad section 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, 375 Baldy Hall.
Career Opportunities/Further Study
Some graduates with a degree in Italian have pursued doctorates and master of arts degrees in the humanities. Others have entered careers in community service, business, law, and government.
Italian - B.A.
Acceptance Criteria
Minimum GPA of 2.0 overall.
Minimum GPA of 2.5 in the prerequisite courses.
Advising Notes
ITA 152 or its equivalent is required for admission into the major.
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.
Prerequisite Courses
ITA 101 Elementary Italian 1st Semester*
ITA 102 Elementary Italian 2nd Semester*
ITA 151 Intermediate Italian 1st Semester*
ITA 152 Intermediate Italian 2nd Semester*
Required Courses
ITA 321 Italian Civilization and Conversation
ITA 322 Italian Civilization and Conversation
Six additional 400-level electives
Summary
Total required credit hours for the major...24
See Baccalaureate Degree Requirements for general education and remaining university requirements.
Recommended Sequence of Program Requirements
FIRST YEAR
Fall�ITA 101*
Spring�ITA 102*
SECOND YEAR
Fall�ITA 151*
Spring�ITA 152*
THIRD YEAR
Fall�ITA 321, one 400-level course
Spring�ITA 322, one 400-level course
FOURTH YEAR
Fall�Two 400-level courses
Spring�Two 400-level courses
*Appropriate level is based on placement and/or previous experience, unless exempted. For clarification, contact Professor Emanuele Licastro at (716) 645-2191, ext. 1170, or licastro@buffalo.edu.
Italian - Minor
Acceptance Criteria
Minimum GPA of 2.0 overall.
Minimum GPA of 2.5 in the prerequisite courses.
Prerequisite Courses
ITA 101 Elementary Italian 1st Semester*
ITA 102 Elementary Italian 2nd Semester*
ITA 151 Intermediate Italian 1st Semester*
ITA 152 Intermediate Italian 2nd Semester*
Required Courses
ITA 321 Italian Civilization and Conversation
ITA 322 Italian Civilization and Conversation
Two 400-level ITA courses
*Unless exempted. For clarification contact Professor Emanuele Licastro at(716) 645-2191, ext. 1170, or licastro@buffalo.edu.
Summary
Total required credit hours for the minor...12
Course Descriptions
ITA 101 Elementary Italian 1st semester
Credits: 5
Semester: F Sp Su
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
View Schedule
Involves work on basic structure and vocabulary emphasizing the language as spoken and heard, and developing skills of reading and writing.
ITA 102 Elementary Italian 2nd semester
Credits: 5
Semester: F Sp Su
Prerequisites: ITA 101 or permission of instructor
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
View Schedule
Involves work on basic structure and vocabulary emphasizing the language as spoken and heard, and developing skills of reading and writing.
ITA 106 Italian for Spanish Speakers
Credits: 5
Semester:
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
View Schedule
An innovative course that seeks to teach the Italian language to speakers of Spanish, a Romance language that shares with Italian similar grammatical and syntactical structures. Enables Spanish native speakers, or advanced students of Spanish, to acquire an intermediate-level mastery of the following four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Students who have completed ITA 101 and/or ITA 102 should not register for ITA 106 as no credit will be given for duplicate courses.
ITA 151 Intermediate Italian 1st semester
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: ITA 102, or three or more years of high school Italian, or by placement
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
View Schedule
Studies grammar and pronunciation centered on conversation, and works on vocabulary expansion through literary and nonliterary readings. Previously ITA 203.
ITA 152 Intermediate Italian 2nd semester
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: ITA 151 or permission of instructor
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
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For students who wish to enter the Italian major program. Involves intermediate-level Italian; emphasizes grammatical and critical readings. Previously ITA 206.
ITA 321 Italian Conversation and Civilization
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: ITA 152, or three or more years of high school Italian, or permission of instructor
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
View Schedule
Involves reading and discussion of excerpts from modern Italian writers, and introduces the main personalities and works representing Italian civilization.
ITA 322 Italian Conversation and Civilization
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: ITA 321 or permission of instructor
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
View Schedule
Involves reading and discussion of excerpts from modern Italian writers, and introduces the main personalities and works representing Italian civilization.
ITA 382 Introduction to Second Language Acquisition Theory
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: none; basic linguistics courses and/or language courses helpful
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
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Explores the factors that affect learning a second language (e.g., age, native language, environment, goals, and learner strategies, and outlines the succession of theories about how people acquire a second language.
ITA 401 Directed Reading
Credits: 3 - 6
Semester: F
Prerequisites: permission of instructor
Corequisites: None
Type: TUT
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The content of this course is variable and therefore it is repeatable for credit. The University Grade Repeat Policy does not apply.
The student chooses several literary works he or she is interested in and studies them under the guidance of the professor.
ITA 402 Directed Reading
Credits: 3 - 6
Semester: Sp
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Type: TUT
View Schedule
The content of this course is variable and therefore it is repeatable for credit. The University Grade Repeat Policy does not apply.
The student chooses several literary works he or she is interested in and studies them under the guidance of the professor.
ITA 403 The Works of Dante
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: ITA 206, or three or more years of high school Italian
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
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Considers medieval literature in Provence and France, including the works of Dante, beginning with Vita Nuova through the Divine Comedy. Explores the main personalities and works representing Italian civilization.
ITA 404 The Works of Dante
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: ITA 403 or permission of instructor
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
View Schedule
Considers medieval literature in Provence and France, including the works of Dante, beginning with Vita Nuova through the Divine Comedy. Explores the main personalities and works representing Italian civilization.
ITA 405 Twentieth-Century Italian Literature
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
View Schedule
Examines modern literature of Italy starting with such nineteenth-century forerunners as Verga, Pascoli, D�Annunzio. Pays particular attention to the fascist regime, its rise and fall, World War II, and the neocapitalist society of the last two decades.
ITA 411 Petrarch and Boccaccio
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Type: SEM
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Presents 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.
ITA 412 Literature of the Trecento and Renaissance
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
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Presents selected readings and analyses, from Petrarch and early Italian poets, as well as Boccaccio and early Italian novelists. Investigates the spirit of the Renaissance; including its poetry, epic prose, and pastoral romance versus the social writings of Machiavelli, Castiglione, and Guicciardini.
ITA 413 Italian Theatre
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
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Studies the history of Italian theatre; including Machiavelli, Commedia dell� Arte, Goldoni, Alfieri, D�Annunzio, Pirandello, and others.
ITA 415 Modern Novel from Manzoni to the Present
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
View Schedule
Involves a study of Manzoni�s masterpiece and subsequent monuments of Italian fiction. Surveys famous novels dealing with industrialization, alienation, and experimentalism.
ITA 417 Twentieth-Century Italian Poets
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
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Studies Italy�s poets from the turn of the century through two world wars.
ITA 418 The Works of Pirandello
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
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Examines Pirandello�s short stories, two novels, and six plays, and analyzes their social, psychological, and metaphysical questions.
ITA 422 Modern Italian Literature
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: ITA 206 or permission of instructor
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
View Schedule
Surveys poetry, prose fiction, and theatre from Leopardi and Manzoni to the present.
ITA 423 Dante and the Middle Ages
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
View Schedule
Considers the works of Dante in terms of cultural, philosophical, and political upheavals of the thirteenth and early-fourteenth centuries. Taught in English.
ITA 424 Twentieth-Century Italian Theatre
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Type: SEM
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Investigates 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.
ITA 425 Italian Novella
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
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Considers the short story through seven centuries; presents representative examples from Boccaccio to the present.
ITA 426 Masterpieces of Early Italian Literature
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
View Schedule
Studies provincial and early Italian lyric poetry, including Guinizelli, Cavalcanti, Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, as well as Italian prose selections of the same period.
ITA 427 Masterpieces of Modern Italian Literature
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
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Studies Italian literature from Ariosto to Calvino.
ITA 429 Italian Cinema I
Credits: 3 \ 1
Semester:
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC/LAB
View Schedule
Examines contemporary Italian society mirrored in the movies, especially Italian film from the 1930s, or fascist era, to the present.
ITA 430 Italian Directors
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC/LAB
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Involves the study of postwar Italian film. Focuses on directors such as Fellini, Antonioni, Rossellini, Visconti, Bertolucci, and Pasolini.
ITA 444 Italian Renaissance Drama
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Type: SEM
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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 Italian Renaissance drama on world theatre, with particular attention to the roots of Italian theatre within the evolution of William Shakespeare's works.
ITA 492 The Literatures of the Italian American Experience
Credits: 3
Semester:
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Type: LEC
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Examines history, folklore, sociology, politics, and artistic achievements as expressed by its most representative writers. Taught in English; no previous knowledge of Italian necessary.
ITA 496 Internship/Practicum
Credits: 1 - 6
Semester:
Prerequisites: Permission of Instructor
Corequisites: None
Type: TUT
View Schedule
The content of this course is variable and therefore it is repeatable for credit. The University Grade Repeat Policy does not apply.
Hands-on experience in language and cultural studies at institutions and community organizations in the Western New York area.
ITA 498 Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity
Credits: 1 - 6
Semester:
Prerequisites: Permission of Instructor
Corequisites: None
Type: TUT
View Schedule
The content of this course is variable and therefore it is repeatable for credit. The University Grade Repeat Policy does not apply.
Students collaborate with faculty research mentors on an ongoing faculty research project or conduct independent research under the guidance of a faculty member.
ITA 499 Independent Study
Credits: 1 - 1
Semester:
Prerequisites: permission of instructor
Corequisites: None
Type: TUT
View Schedule
The content of this course is variable and therefore it is repeatable for credit. The University Grade Repeat Policy does not apply.
Students who have demonstrated the ability to perform upper-level coursework may wish to research a topic not available through regular course offerings. Requires permission of a supervising faculty member.
Updated: Apr 12, 2006 11:04:24 AM