1. HUM 350
Italian Culture and Civilization
Instructor: Prof. Vincenzo Selleri
e-mail: vselleri@york.cuny.edu

2. Prof. Vincenzo Selleri teaches Italian, Italian Cinema and
Italian culture and Civilization in CUNY, SUNY and
St John’s University.
His main fields of interest include Modern Italian Jewish
History, Italian Literature and Italian Cinema.
Course Description:
What is Italy? Does an original Italian culture exist? How is the
National Italian identity perceived abroad and by Italian Citizens?
The course will try to answer these and other questions through
the study of the unification of Italy, exploring and comparing
regional identities, tracking the evolution of the standard Italian
language, learning about the great literary and cinematic works
that have influenced the Art of western civilizations. Topics will
include fine arts, music, cinema, regional folklore and traditions,
fashion, and gastronomy.

3. Required Textbooks:
• None. All the reading material is available on
Blackboard under copyright law.
Recommended Textbooks:
• Charles Killinger. Culture And Customs Of Italy,
Greenwood, 2005.
• Charles L. Killinger, The history of Italy.
Greenwood 2002.
• Mario B. Mignone. Italy Today. Peter Lang. 2008

4. Course Objectives:
By the end of the semester, each • To independently become acquainted with
some specific Italian cultural concepts.
student shall: • To be able to control and collect information
• Shape and define a sincere but not through appropriate sources.
stereotypical picture of modern Italy • To realize the importance of a historical
• Provide a unified image of Italy but also framework.
define its regional differences and varieties • To be able to structure and integrate gained
• Compare and contrast the representation of knowledge.
Italy through its own history • To be able to refer to history during the first
• Write short and long papers on the topics introduction to literature.
• Develop oral presentation skills
• Use the Internet as resources for research
on all aspects of the course;
• Use and cite bibliographies and other
research tools appropriate to the discipline;
• To have knowledge of the most important
terminology and realia of the history and
culture of Italy.
• To understand the current Italian society.
• To be able to develop a vision on the new
developments in the Italian society.

5. Attendance:
Punctual attendance and participation in all
class meetings are essential and required. No
written work can replace missed class time,
since many class meetings will be organized
around interactive use of the internet and other
media. More than ONE undocumented
(unexcused) absence will result in the lowering
of the final grade for the course.

6. Assignments:
The students are responsible for preparing material
assigned each week before coming to class.
Assignments will be in a variety of modalities:
Readings will be reviewed in quizzes and analyzed
in discussions, written assignments and “e-logs”
(that is, brief reflections that you will e-mail to me
and I will in turn respond by e-mail). Three quizzes
will be given during the semester, during the first 20
minutes of class. During the semester the students
will be expected to attend a cultural event * and
prepare an oral presentation on it. The final exam
will be cumulative.

7. CULTURAL EVENT:
During the semester the students will have the
choice of one cultural event to attend and they
must prepare an oral presentation on the basis
of a written report of the event. They may
choose concerts, operas, museums, plays or
other types of events in consultation with the
instructor. The event must relate to the content
of the course. The students will be given more
specific guidelines for the report in the first few
class meetings.

8. Grading
The final grade will be calculated as follows:
• Quizzes (3) ___________________15%
• Essay __________________15%
• Cultural Report/Oral presentation (1) _____________ 10%
• E-logs (10) ________________20%
• Midterm __________________10%
• Final exam ___________________20%
• Attendance/participation ___________________10%

9. COURSE OUTLINE
• Week 1 • Week 9
• Introduction: • Primo Levi and Italian Shoa pt2
• Italian Culture and Stereotypes
• Week 10
• Week 2 • The great scientists: Galieo Galilei
• The Unification of Italy
• Different Italians. The South and the North of Italy. • Week 11
• The Italian Organized Crime
• Week 3 • Essay #2
• The Italian national anthem.
• The Italian flag. The emblem of the Italian Republic. • Week 12
• National Italian identity and the issue of language • Migration, Immigration and Emigration
• Cultural Report
• Week 4
• Regions and Cities: National and regional traditions : Calabria • Week 13
• QUIZ #1 • Manufacturing, engineering and advanced technologies
• QUIZ #3
• Week 5
• Regions and Cities: National and regional traditions : Puglia • Week 14
• Review
• Week 6 • Final Exam
• Commedia dell’arte and the masks
• Essay #1
• Week 7
• Calvino and the Italian fairytales
• Week 8
• Primo Levi and Italian Shoa pt1
• QUIZ #2