2026-2027 Academic Year

Fall 2026

ITAL 201 Intermediate Italian
Intensive introduction to conversation and composition, with special attention to grammar review and refinement. Essays, fiction and theater, as well as Italian television and films, provide opportunities to improve familiarity with contemporary Italian language and civilization. Prerequisite: 102 or the equivalent. This course fulfills the language graduation requirement.

ITAL 341 The Discourse of Love
What is Love? Through a diverse selection of works from authors such as St. Francis, Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Lorenzo de' Medici, Pietro Aretino, Gaspara Stampa, and Veronica Franco, students will examine the nature of love from a variety of perspectives. From the spirituality of religion to the physicality of desire and attraction, this course will confront topics such as the medieval and Renaissance ideas of love (courtly love, the Dolce Stil Novo, and love sickness), theological notions of love (charity), different expressions of love (heterosexuality, same-sex attraction and polyamory), and transgressive types of love (lust, adultery, and prostitution). This course is taught in Italian. Prerequisites: 231 and 232, or permission of the instructor. Offered every year.

Spring 2027

RELG 260 Dante's Divine Comedy
Cross-listed with ITAL 322-01.

ITAL 322 Dante's Divine Comedy
Cross-listed with RELG 260-02.

ITAL 400 Boccaccio's "Decameron"
This course will focus on Boccaccio's Decameron with a critical eye on the construction of the text and the stylistic complexity of the individual novelle. A special emphasis will be placed on issues and themes related to love, sex, and sexuality, addressing these topics from various perspectives such as sex within and outside marriage, medicine, reproduction, chastity, ethics, immoral behavior, law, sex work, race, religion, and sexual violence. The course will culminate in an interdisciplinary research project that reflects each student’s personal interests.