to see in full color, slide your mouse over this image!

Offering courses in Italian language, literature, culture and film, as well as the chance to study first hand in Italy, ours is a lively, innovative department that prides itself on its commitment to high-quality undergraduate study.

From the outset, our courses in Italian language encourage you to use Italian as a creative and communicative medium of expression. You will be surprised to discover, even with a necessarily limited knowledge of Italian, how creative and witty you can be in the language.

Our literature, culture and film courses give you the opportunity for in-depth study of Dante's Divine Comedy, the Italian Lyric and Narrative traditions, Italian cinema, the Italian South and the Unification of Italy. As well as introducing you to the major figures and currents of thought in Italian culture, our courses give a thorough and methodological grounding with which, should you wish, you can continue with your studies beyond the undergraduate level.

 

The Department of Italian Studies is a pioneer in the use of film and video at Wellesley College, both as a teaching aid and as an art form in itself. As a student in the department, you will have the opportunity to take courses in the history of Italian cinema and in-depth studies of Italian and Italian-American directors such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Martin Scorsese. You will also be encouraged to produce your own video as an alternative to a written term paper. Film and video material also figures prominently in our Italian language and culture courses. At the beginning levels, video programs combining language and culture, present daily situations, explore the life of people at work and at leisure, and offer insights into the socio-economic issues of contemporary Italy. At the intermediate levels, films and videos are selected thematically and used in conjunction with literary and journalistic texts on Italian society in order to promote in-class discussions and essay writing. Some of the videos are designed and produced by the faculty in the department. Unlike most language departments, the Department of Italian Studies offers both a minor and a major.

 

In the past few years, our majors have gone on to graduate study at Cornell University, New York University, Columbia University, the University of California at Irvine, the University of Toronto, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Centro Sperimentale in Rome and the Università di Bologna. Other recent graduates have taken up careers with Sotheby's, the New York Times, Vogue Magazine, UBS-Warburg Bank, WGBH TV, Reuteurs and the Associated Press.

We encourage students wishing to major or minor in Italian to spend a semester or an academic year on our own program in Bologna, Italy. You can see clips from a video made about the 2000-20001 E.C.CO. program here.

Here are some comments made by some of our recent students: 

"I began my Italian studies at Wellesley College during my sophomore year. I heard the Italian department had great faculty and a good reputation for teaching fun and lively environment. Since I already spent a summer in Florence and took a course at my high school, on my first day, Maurizio Viano transferred me from beginner's level to intermediate. After my first class with David Ward, I was hooked and knew I had to pursue this beautiful language and culture. I spent first semester of my junior year abroad at Trinity College's Rome Campus and second semester at Temple University's Rome program. Upon returning to Wellesley, I had grasped a good amount of the Italian language and culture. (I was fresh from Italy and on a high to keep my Italian ways alive.) I was worried my authentic education in the country would have peaked there but I was delightfully proven wrong. I was welcomed by the Italian department with diverse advanced classes in literature, film, conversation and grammar. I really believe that without the Italian department's rigorous classes and the professors true enthusiasm to teach us how to master the language, my Italian studies might have ended in Rome. Not only did I enjoy bonding with the professors and my fellow Italian major colleagues, but also I received an extensive and stimulating education of one of the most culturally rich countries in Europe. My time in the Italian Department proved to me that an Italian lifestyle can really thrive outside of Italy."
~Catharine Belcic

"Being a first generation Italian-American, an Italian major was a must for me. Through a more academic study of literature, history, cinema, art and cultural studies in Italian Department classes I was able to think, rethink, and understand and come up with more questions about what I had directly lived. This was possible because Wellesley's Italian Department provides an ideal environment for learning and exploring: the faulty and staff are dedicated, very supportive, diverse, and highly innovative. The small size of the department provides the opportunity to get to know the professors, but the other students as well. And since most classes are small, you can freely get your opinions into the discussion. It's easy to feel both at home inn and inspired by the department of Italian Studies. Looking back on my Wellesley experience and education, I feel that my Italian major, working in the Italian Department, and spending junior year in Bologna, Italy seriously contributed (positively) to my growth as both a student and a person."
~Monica Dellacroce