Department of Modern Languages and Literature

Requirements for the B.A. in Italian Studies

Learning Outcomes for the Italian Studies Major

Requirements for the Degree (beginning Fall 2023)

Please note that students entering the University as of Fall 2023 must follow the revised major requirements. Current Italian Studies majors (pre-Fall 2023) can choose between the former and the revised major, and are encouraged to discuss this with their advisors prior to submitting a Change of Major form.

See the pre-Fall 2023 degree requirements

A. The Proficiency and General Distribution Requirements of the University.

  • IT 301 Advanced Italian I
  • IT 302 Advanced Italian II
  • IT 308 Introduction to Professional Translation 
  • IT 322 Sociolinguistics: A Changing Language in a Changing Society
  • Two Italian Literature courses*
  • ITS/SOSC 250 Contemporary Italian Society or
    PL 215 Italian Politics and Society 
  • BUS/ITS 260 Made in Italy
  • ITS/CMS 332 Italian Media and Popular Culture or
    CMS/ITS 241 History of Italian Cinema
  • IT 401 Advanced Workshop in Italian Writing
  • ITS 460 Research and Writing in Italian Studies
  • IT 480 Senior Thesis 

*Italian Literature Courses Eligible to Fullfill the Two It Lit Courses In The Core (as of Fall 2023):

  • IT 310 Elements of Italian Literature (Prerequisite: IT 302 or permission of the instructor)
  • IT 317 Roots of Italian Identities (Prerequisites: IT 302 or permission of the instructor)
  • IT 319 The Image of Rome in Italian Literature and Cinema (Prerequisite: Placement, IT 302 or permission of the instructor)
  • IT 320 Critical Study of Early Italian Literature (Prerequisite: Placement, IT 302 or permission of the instructor)
  • IT 321 Critical Study of Modern and Contemporary Italian Literature (Prerequisite: Placement, IT 302 or permission of the instructor)
  • IT/GDR 335 Twentieth Century Italian Women Writers (Prerequisite: Placement or IT 302 or permission of the instructor)
  • IT 349 The Divine Comedy (Prerequisite: One previous course in Italian literature or permission of the instructor)
  • IT 399 Special Topics in Italian Literature (Prerequisite: One previous course in Italian literature or permission of the instructor)

Please note that the IT Literature courses are taught in Italian.

The University requires an overall minimum grade point average of 2.00 in all courses taken at the University, with no more than two grades lower than C- in core courses.

B. Major Electives

Five courses to be chosen from:

  • courses not taken in the core, any IT or ITS 300-level and any course from the list of approved substitutes.

Approved Italian Studies Major Electives:

  • AH 181 Politics and Power in Roman Architecture - Augustus to Mussolini
  • AH 196 Introduction to Italian Renaissance Art 
  • AH 199 Introduction to Art and Architecture: Rome, A Case Study
  • AH 293 Modern Rome and Its Monuments 
  • AH 294 Renaissance Rome and Its Monuments
  • AH 295 Early Italian Renaissance Art
  • AH 296 Italian High Renaissance Art
  • AH 298 Baroque Rome and Its Monuments
  • BUS/ITS 260 Made in Italy: The Italian Business Environment
  • CMS 317 Television and Democracy in Italy
  • CMS/ITS 243 Cinematic Rome
  • CMS/ITS 244 Popular Italian Cinema
  • CW 356 Creative Writing Workshop: Writing the Eternal City
  • CW/ITS 458 Advanced Art of Literary Translation
  • CW/ITS 558 Graduate Workshop in the Art of Literary Translation
  • EN 221 Selections in World Literature
  • EN 243 Shakespeare and Italy
  • EN 282 Italian Visions: Perceptions of Italy in Literature
  • EN 310 Selected Topics in World Literature
  • EN 370 Introduction to Narrative Studies: Interdisciplinary Applications
  • EN/ITS 295 Dante's Divine Comedy
  • EN/ITS 341 Modern Italian Drama in Translation
  • HS 233 The Italian Renaissance
  • HS 365 Italy from the Risorgimento to the First World War (1815-1918)
  • HS 366 Italy from Mussolini to the Crisis of the First Republic
  • IT/BUS 303 Italian for Business
  • ITS 291 Language, Culture, and Italian Identities
  • ITS 292 Contemporary Italian Narrative in Translation
  • ITS 299 Special Topics in Italian Studies
  • ITS/MUS 293 Italian Music: A Modern Cultural History
  • ITS 350 Dante's Inferno in Art, Literature and Film
  • LING 201 Language and Linguistics 
  • MUS 102 Italian Opera
  • PL 357 Italy and the Middle East
  • RL 221 The Popes of Rome: History of the Catholic Church
  • RL 225 Mystics, Saints, and Sinners: Studies in Medieval Catholic Culture
  • SOSC/PL 207 Migration and Contemporary Society
  • SOSC/ITS 220 Italian Food Culture
  • SOSC/ITS 225 Sociology of Southern Italy
  • SOSC/ITS 226 Rome: Modern City
  • SOSC/ITS 299 Special Topics in Social Sciences and Italian Studies
  • SOSC/ITS 380 Researching Rome: Fieldwork in the City of Rome

C. General Electives sufficient to give a total of 120 credits.