Lectures
Monday, 3:30-5:30 [TC 202]
Wednesday, 3:30-4:30 [TC 202]

Instructor: Professor Elias Polizoes
Office: University College 258
Phone #: 519.661.2111 [x.85897]
E-mail: epolizoe@uwo.ca
office hours: Thursdays, 9-11 am

Course description
This course introduces students to the culture of Italian cities, from the age of the medieval commune to the present day. We will explore such cities as Assisi, Florence, Siena, Venice, Rome, and Naples, and along the way examine the features of imagined cities, both infernal as well as ideal or utopian. We will have the opportunity to visit a number of cities several times during the course and in that way better grasp not only how they transform over time, but also the changing ways in which Italians and foreigners alike have understood them over the centuries.

Learning outcomes
This course is divided into three inter-related units. The first is called "The age of the Italian city-state" and introduces students to two complementary cultural phenomena: the idea of the city, and the ways in which Italian cultural production in Assisi, Florence, and Siena is rooted in civic identity. The second unit is called "The grand tour and after." By the end of it students should be able to compare and contrast some of the ways in which Italy in general, and specific cities in particular, have figured in the German and English imagination since the eighteenth century. The last unit is called "Cinematic Rome." It teaches the principles of Neo-realism and examines how these principles were challenged by Italian filmmakers in the 1960s and 1970s. What is more, this unit explores how Rome in the films of such directors as Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Federico Fellini is seen not as one city among many, but as the ideal location for the exploration of such themes as the battle of good and evil, history and class consciousness, and identity. This is an inter-disciplinary course and in it students will learn about key words and concepts from a number of fields, including theology, art history, architecture, urban studies, literary studies, and film studies.

Mark breakdown

a. attendance & participation 15%
b. mid-term test [first term] 15%
c. in-class essay [first term] 15%
d. mid-term assignment [second term] 15%
e. 5 page essay [due in second term] 15%
f. final exam 25%

Required readings (all available through the University Bookstore)
o Dante Alighieri, Inferno, tr. Allen Mandelbaum (New York: Bantam Books, 1982)
o E. M. Forster, A Room with a View (Penguin, 2000)
o J. W. Goethe, Italian Journey, tr. W. H. Auden and Elizabeth Mayer (Penguin: 1970)
o D. H. Lawrence and Italy (Penguin, 2006)
o Mary McCarthy, The Stones of Florence and Venice Observed (Penguin, 2006)

The following photocopies will be available in UC 114
1. Ugolino di Monte Santa Maria, "The Wolf of Gubbio," from: The Little Flowers of Saint Francis, tr. Raphael Brown (New York: Doubleday: 1958), pp. 88-91.
2. Charles Dickens, Pictures from Italy (Penguin, 1998), pp. 149-151.
3. Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents, tr. David McLintock (Penguin, 2002), 7-9.
4. Daniel Waley, The Italian City Republics (London & New York: Longman, 1988 [third edition]), pp. 1-10 ["The legacy of power"], 11-31 ["The population"], 32-68 ["Government"], 69-87 ["Town and Country"].
5. Ugolino di Monte Santa Maria, "The Wolf of Gubbio," from The Little Flowers of Saint Francis, tr. Raphael Brown (New York: Doubleday, 1958), pp. 88-91.
5. St. Francis of Assisi, "The Canticle of Brother Sun" ["Laudes creaturarum"], in Jacques Le Goff, Saint Francis of Assisi, tr. Christine Rhone (London & New York: Routledge, 2004), pp. 61-62.
6. David Mayernik, "Florence vs. Siena: The Battle for Paradise," from: Timeless Cities: An Architect's Reflections on Renaissance Italy (Boulder & Oxford: Westview Press, 2003), pp. 133-194.
7. James Boswell, "Letter to Jean Jacques Rousseau," from: Boswell on the Grand Tour: Italy, Corsica and France, 1765-1766, ed. Frank Brady & Frederick A. Pottle (London: Heinemann, 1955), pp. 3-20.
8. Peter Hall, "The Rediscovery of Life: Florence 1400-1500," from: Cities in Civilization: Culture, Innovation, and Urban Order (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998), pp. 69-113.
9. Cesare Zavattini, "Some Ideas on the Cinema," tr. Pier Luigi Lanza, in: Vittorio De Sica: Contemporary Perspectives, ed. Howard Curle & Stephen Snyder (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000), pp. 50-61.
10. Peter Bondanella, "Italian Cinema," in: The Cambridge Companion to Modern Italian Culture, ed. Zigmund Bara?ski & Rebecca J. West (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 215-242.
11. Roberto Rossellini, "A Few Words about Neo-Realism," in: Springtime in Italy, ed. & tr. David Overbey (Hamden: Archon Books, 1979), pp. 89-91.
12. Peter Bondanella, "Roma città aperta and the Birth of Italian Neorealism," The Films of Roberto Rossellini (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), pp. 45-63.


Lecture Schedule

September 8
o General introduction

Unit 1: The age of the Italian city-state

1.1 The return to cities

September 10
o Age upon age: Lecture on stratification
o Charles Dickens [1812-1870], Pictures from Italy (1846) (excerpt)
o Sigmund Freud [1856-1939], Civilization and its Discontents (1930) (excerpt)

September 15
o Daniel Waley, The Italian City Republics, pp. 1-10 ["The legacy of power"], 11-31 ["The population"], 32-68 ["Government"], 69-87 ["Town and Country"]

1.3 The legend of St. Francis

September 17
o Ugolino di Monte Santa Maria [fl. 1270-1340], "The Wolf of Gubbio" (from: The Little Flowers of Saint Francis [Fioretti di San Francesco (1300)].

September 22 Assisi
o St. Francis of Assisi [1181 or 1182 - 1226], "The Canticle of Brother Sun" ["Laudes creaturarum" (1224-1226)]
o Basilica di San Francesco: Master of St. Francis (fl. 1260-1280), Cimabue (1240-1302), Giotto (c. 1267-1337)

September 24 Florence
o Santa Croce, Bardi Chapel: Giotto

1.4 The idea of the city

September 29
o The Ideal City: Lecture on Leon Battista Alberti [1404-1472], Piero della Francesca [1416(?)- 1492], Leonardo da Vinci [1452-1519] & Andrea Palladio [1508-1580]

October 1, 6, 8, 15, 20 Florence
o Peter Hall, "The Rediscovery of Life: Florence 1400-1500"
o David Mayernik, "Florence vs. Siena: The Battle for Paradise" (read pp. 133-170)
o Mary McCarthy [1912-1989], The Stones of Florence (1959)

October 22, 27, 29 Siena
o finish reading Mayernik (pp. 170-195)
o Lectures on Sienese art and culture: Duccio di Buoninsegna [c.1255-c.1318], Simone Martini [c.1280-1344], Ambrogio Lorenzetti [c.1290-1348], the Duomo (and crypt), the Palazzo Pubblico, the Palio

November 3 Mid-Term Test (2 hours)

November 5, 10, 12, 17, 19, 24, 26 Florence re-visited
o Dante Alighieri [1265-1321], Inferno [ca. 1308]

December 1 In-class essay (2 hours)

December 3 Unit review and concluding remarks

Unit 2: The grand tour and after

2.1 "It was my imagination that needed correction"

January 5
o Introductory lecture on the Grand Tour
o James Boswell [1740-1795], "Letter to Jean Jacques Rousseau" [1765]

2.2 "Et in Arcadia ego": Goethe & Romantic Italy

January 7
o Introduction to J. W. Goethe [1749-1832], Italian Journey (1786-1789)

January 12, 14
o From Carlsbad, Brenner & Verona to Venice, the "beaver republic"

January 19, 21
o Rome, "the First City of the World"

January 26
o Naples, "that paradise of Nature"

2.3 The English & Tuscany

January 28, February 2, 4
o E. M. Forster [1879-1970], A Room with a View (1908)

February 9
o Bernardo Bertolucci (dir.) [b. 1940], Stealing Beauty (1996 | 113 min. | colour)

February 11
o Hill-top utopia: Lecture on Bertolucci

Mid-term assignment handed out

2.4 Before Rome

February 23, 25, March 2, 4, 9
o D. H. Lawrence [1885-1930], Etruscan Places (1927 [published 1932])

Mid-term assignment due on February 25

Unit 3: Cinematic Rome

3.1 Neo-realism

March 11
o Introduction to Neo-Realism
o Cesare Zavattini [1902-1989], "Some Ideas on the Cinema" (1952)
o Peter Bondanella, "Italian Cinema"

March 16 Film Screening:
o Roberto Rossellini (dir.) [1906-1977], Roma città aperta ([Rome Open City] 1945 | 100 min | b/w)

March 18
o Lecture on Roma città aperta
o Roberto Rossellini, "A Few Words about Neo-Realism" (1953)
o Peter Bondanella, "Roma città aperta and the Birth of Italian Neorealism"

March 23 Film Screening:
o Vittorio De Sica (dir.) [1902-1974], Ladri di biciclette ([The Bicycle Thief) 1948 | 93 min| b/w]

March 25
o Lecture on Ladri di biciclette

3.2 Two responses to neo-realism

March 30 Film Screening:
o Pier Paolo Pasolini (dir.) [1922-1975], Mamma Roma [1962 | 110 min | b/w]

April 1
o Lecture on Mamma Roma

April 6 Film Screening:
o Federico Fellini (dir.) [1920-1993], Roma [1972 | 128 min | colour]

April 8
o Lecture on Roma
Essays Due

Prerequisites: none

Antirequisites: Italian 2100

Please Note: You are responsible for ensuring that you have successfully completed all course prerequisites (or have special permission from your Dean to waive the prerequisite) and that you have not taken an antirequisite course. If you are not eligible for the course, you may be removed from it at any time, and it will be deleted from your record. In addition, you will receive no adjustment to your fees. These decisions cannot be appealed.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism is a major academic offense (see Scholastic Offense Policy in the Western Academic Calendar). Plagiarism is the inclusion of someone else's verbatim or paraphrased text in one's own written work without immediate reference. Verbatim text must be surrounded by quotation marks or indented if it is longer than four lines. A reference must follow right after borrowed material (usually the author's name and page number). Without immediate reference to borrowed material, a list of sources at the end of a written assignment does not protect a writer against the possible charge of plagiarism. The University of Western Ontario uses a plagiarism-checking site called Turnitin.com.

Absenteeism
Students seeking academic accommodation on medical grounds for any missed tests, exams, participation components and/or assignments must apply to the Academic Counselling office of their home Faculty and provide documentation. Academic accommodation cannot be granted by the instructor or department.
UWO's Policy on Accommodation for Medical Illness (https://studentservices.uwo.ca/secure/index.cfm)
Downloadable Student Medical Certificate (SMC): https://studentservices.uwo.ca under the Medical Documentation heading