Taught In English

There is no language prerequisite for courses at this language level.

This course will have as its point of departure the peculiarly Italian phenomenon of the city-state, an unusual feature of the social, political and cultural landscape of medieval Europe. From the 13th to the 14th centuries most of those city-states came under the rule of one man: the Signore. They also started to absorb a large number of formerly independent, outlying communes and rural territories. That phenomenon, which gave birth to Regional States, had important and lasting consequences for the political and economic history of Italy and corresponded with the Renaissance, the period during which the political and philosophical speculation of humanist scholars went hand in hand with the masterpieces of great artists. Through the study of political thinkers such as Niccolò Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini, this course will deal with the creation of the modern world, by examination of the Baroque and Rococo periods, considering Italian history as one of the crucial ingredients of modern European identity. This course will examine both the old and the new, both the origin of the modern world and the "world we have lost"; it will analyze major intellectual, literary, religious, and political developments originating in the Italian peninsula in order to evaluate their contribution to the European culture. The course will use of primary readings, visits to nearby monuments and class discussions.