FRS 003 — Sec. 010 —
(1 unit) — CRN 53618 — F 10:00-10:50am — 422 Sproul
Italian Cities
Instructor: JoAnn Cannon, Department of French & Italian, College
of Letters & Science
Description: This freshman seminar will introduce students to
Italian culture through a multi-disciplinary study of the cities of Italy. Drawing
upon reference books and representative films, each student will specialize in
one Italian city, including, but not limited to Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice,
Turin, Genora, Palermo, Siena, Urbino, Verona, Bologna, Bari, Naples, Syracuse,
Cagliari, and Lucca. Students will be asked to study the city of their choice
from three perspectives, including its literary traditions, history, art history,
local customs and festivals, architecture, cuisine, and music. The goals of the
course include 1) familiarizing students with the historical, cultural and artistic
diversity of Italy’s cities and regions, 2) providing students with the
opportunity to develop an in-depth knowledge of a particular city’s history
and culture.
Format: Assignments will include short readings on selected Italian
cities and an in class film screening, which introduces students to recent Italian
history. There will be no field trips. The seminar will meet for one hour per
week. Grading: The course grade will be based 1/3 upon
a ten-minute oral report, 1/3 on a written 5 to 7 page report, 1/3 on participation
in weekly discussion. The oral report will be given in class on one aspect of
each student’s selected city. This material will then be expanded for the
final, written report.
About the Instructor: Professor Cannon has been a member of the
faculty in the Department of French and Italian since 1989. Her research interests
include Italian cinema, contemporary Italian narrative, and Italian cultural studies.
She has lived in Florence, Italy, for four years and in Bologna for one year.
She recently spent a sabbatical in Rome at the American Academy, where she completed
the research for her forthcoming book on the detective novel in contemporary Italy.