ITAS Courses for Fall 2026
Please click on the course title for more information.
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ITAS 101 01 - Beginning Italian I
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Course: |
ITAS 101 - 01 |
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Title: |
Beginning Italian I |
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Credit Hours: |
1 |
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Description: |
This course employs the latest language teaching methodology to provide students with an interactive learning experience. Students will be introduced to the basics of the Italian language, as well as to contemporary Italy and its culture. In class, students will practice the four skills - speaking, listening, reading and writing - through a variety of activities. |
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Prerequisite(s): |
None |
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Notes: |
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Instructors: |
Flavia Laviosa |
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Meeting Time(s): |
Founders 128 Classroom - MR 9:55 AM - 11:10 AM
Founders 128 Classroom - W 9:30 AM - 10:20 AM |
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ITAS 103 01 - Intensive Elementary Italian
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Course: |
ITAS 103 - 01 |
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Title: |
Intensive Elementary Italian |
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Credit Hours: |
1.25 |
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Description: |
This innovative course is designed for complete beginners seeking rapid progress in language proficiency and the opportunity to fulfill their language requirement within one year. Equivalent to ITAS 101 and 102, this course prepares students for ITAS 201 or ITAS 203 (combined 201 and 202). ITAS 103 employs cutting-edge teaching tools to create an interactive learning experience. Methods include in-class conversation, role-playing activities, and blended learning supported by the latest technology. Through daily practice and reinforcement of all language skills, students will achieve intermediate-level proficiency in Italian and gain a foundational understanding of modern Italian society in a single semester. No textbook is required; students will have free access to an online platform offering comprehensive course materials, including videos, readings, grammar charts, self-corrected exercises, and tests. |
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Prerequisite(s): |
None |
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Notes: |
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Instructors: |
Nassime Chida |
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Meeting Time(s): |
Founders 225 Classroom - TF 9:55 AM - 11:10 AM
Founders 225 Classroom - W 10:30 AM - 11:20 AM |
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ITAS 201 01 - Intermediate Italian I
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Course: |
ITAS 201 - 01 |
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Title: |
Intermediate Italian I |
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Credit Hours: |
1 |
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Description: |
The aim of this course is to develop students' fluency in spoken and written Italian. The reading of short stories, articles from Italian newspapers, and selected texts on Italian culture as well as the writing of compositions are used to promote critical and analytical skills. Listening is practiced through the viewing of Italian films. Both reading and listening activities are followed by in-class discussions. |
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Prerequisite(s): |
ITAS 101- ITAS 102, or ITAS 103. |
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Notes: |
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Distribution(s): |
Foreign Language |
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Instructors: |
Flavia Laviosa |
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Meeting Time(s): |
Founders 128 Classroom - MR 11:20 AM - 12:35 PM
Founders 128 Classroom - W 11:30 AM - 12:20 PM |
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ITAS 210 01 - Queer Italy: LGBTQ+ Culture in Italy from Dante to Pasolini and Beyond (in English)
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Course: |
ITAS 210 - 01 |
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Title: |
Queer Italy: LGBTQ+ Culture in Italy from Dante to Pasolini and Beyond (in English) |
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Credit Hours: |
1 |
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Description: |
Considered since the Renaissance as a homoerotic haven, Italy was for a long time the favorite destination of many gay writers in flight from the rigid sexual mores of their home countries. In Italy’s warmer Mediterranean climate, rich and sensuous figurative arts, and ancient costumes, they found a culture that seemed more at ease with a nuanced idea of human sexuality. After all, Italy is the country that gave birth to famous artists who became icons of LGBTQ+ culture, such as the painter Caravaggio and the poet Pasolini, and that, unlike other Western nations, never had laws criminalizing homoeroticism. Today, paradoxically, Italy is the Western European country which is most lagging behind in passing legislation in support of LGBTQ+ rights. From the lack of a full legal recognition of gay marriage and adoption rights to the failure to approve a hate-crime bill for the protection of LGBTQ+ individuals, Italian society still shows great reluctance to grant full equal rights to LGBTQ Italians. With these historical contradictions in the background, this course will retrace the steps of the rich, complex, and often tortuous path of LGBTQ+ culture in Italy from the early representations of sodomy, during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, in works by Dante and Poliziano, to the shaping of a political and social discourse around homosexuality in literary texts by twentieth century writers, such as Saba, Bassani, Ginzburg, and Morante, to the emergence of a political debate on current LGBTQ+ issues, such as AIDS, homophobia, transgender and transexual rights, in works by contemporary artists, such as Tondelli, Bazzi, and Lavagna. |
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Prerequisite(s): |
None |
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Notes: |
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Distribution(s): |
Language and Literature |
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Cross Listed Courses: |
PEAC 210 01 - Queer Italy: LGBTQ+ Culture in Italy from Dante to Pasolini and Beyond (in English)
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Instructors: |
Sergio Parussa |
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Meeting Time(s): |
Pendleton East 139 Case Method Room - MR 9:55 AM - 11:10 AM |
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ITAS 224 01 - The Literature of Rights and the Rights of Literature (in English)
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Course: |
ITAS 224 - 01 |
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Title: |
The Literature of Rights and the Rights of Literature (in English) |
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Credit Hours: |
1 |
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Description: |
The course explores the theme of human rights in Italian society during the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries. First, it is designed to discuss the rights of literature, i.e., the role that literature can play in the understanding of human rights. Second, it will provide students with a survey of the discussion of human rights in Italian literature. By presenting literary texts as narratives that have contributed to the debate on human rights, the course will introduce students to the most important moments in the history of human rights in Italy, from the first political organizations which fought for equal rights for factory workers, to the struggle of the feminist movement for women's emancipation throughout the twentieth century, to the approval of laws that legalized divorce and abortion during the 1970s and 80s, up to the new legislation on domestic violence, marriage, and adoption rights for LGBT people, and today’s debate on the issue of citizenship for immigrants. The course will be taught in English. Students who wish to take the course to fulfill the major or minor in Italian should register for ITAS 324. The course will provide reading and writing assignments in Italian, as well as individual discussion sessions in Italian, for students who are taking the course at the 300-level.
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Prerequisite(s): |
None. Not open to students who have taken ITAS 324.
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Notes: |
This course is also offered at the 300 level as ITAS 324, with readings and writing assignments in Italian. |
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Distribution(s): |
Language and Literature |
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Cross Listed Courses: |
CPLT 224 01 - The Literature of Rights and the Rights of Literature (in English)
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Instructors: |
Sergio Parussa |
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Meeting Time(s): |
Founders 305 Seminar Room - M 2:20 PM - 5:00 PM |
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ITAS 263 01 - Dante's Inferno (in English)
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Course: |
ITAS 263 - 01 |
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Title: |
Dante's Inferno (in English) |
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Credit Hours: |
1 |
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Description: |
This seminar is a collective close-reading of Dante Alighieri's Inferno, the first canticle of the Divine Comedy, along with extended selections from Purgatorio and Paradiso. We will examine the poem's historical context, its intricate narrative structure, and its enduring influence. We will treat Dante’s poem as a gateway into the medieval world. Secondary reading will include near-contemporary chroniclers, theologians and poets as well as classic Greek and Roman authors such as Aristotle, Virgil and Ovid. No historical or religious background knowledge is required, only attention to detail and a willingness to be surprised. Sample discussion questions we will tackle with Dante: How can I distinguish between love and lust? How do I navigate a hyper-polarized society? What is justice? Is there value in suffering? How far should political prosecution go? How can I stand up to authority in a world where dissent is dangerous? Why are there spots on the moon? |
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Prerequisite(s): |
None. Not open to students who have taken ITAS 363/MER 363. |
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Notes: |
This course is also offered at the 300 level as ITAS 363/MER 363. |
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Distribution(s): |
Language and Literature |
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Cross Listed Courses: |
MER 263 01 - Dante's Inferno (in English)
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Instructors: |
Nassime Chida |
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Meeting Time(s): |
Founders 225 Classroom - TF 11:20 AM - 12:35 PM |
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ITAS 324 01 - The Literature of Rights
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Course: |
ITAS 324 - 01 |
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Title: |
The Literature of Rights |
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Credit Hours: |
1 |
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Description: |
The course explores the theme of human rights in Italian society during the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries. First, it is designed to discuss the rights of literature, i.e., the role that literature can play in the understanding of human rights. Second, it will provide students with a survey of the discussion of human rights in Italian literature. By presenting literary texts as narratives that have contributed to the debate on human rights, the course will introduce students to the most important moments in the history of human rights in Italy, from the first political organizations which fought for equal rights for factory workers, to the struggle of the feminist movement for women's emancipation throughout the twentieth century, to the approval of laws that legalized divorce and abortion during the 1970s and 80s, up to the new legislation on domestic violence, marriage, and adoption rights for LGBT people, and today’s debate on the issue of citizenship for immigrants. |
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Prerequisite(s): |
Four semesters of Italian, or equivalent. |
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Notes: |
This course is also offered at the 200 level as ITAS 224, in English. |
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Distribution(s): |
Language and Literature |
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Cross Listed Courses: |
CPLT 324 01 - The Literature of Rights
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Instructors: |
Sergio Parussa |
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Meeting Time(s): |
Founders 305 Seminar Room - M 2:20 PM - 5:00 PM |
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ITAS 363 01 - Dante’s Inferno
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Course: |
ITAS 363 - 01 |
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Title: |
Dante’s Inferno |
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Credit Hours: |
1 |
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Description: |
This seminar is a collective close-reading of Dante Alighieri's Inferno, the first canticle of the Divine Comedy, along with extended selections from Purgatorio and Paradiso. We will examine the poem's historical context, its intricate narrative structure, and its enduring influence. We will treat Dante’s poem as a gateway into the medieval world. Secondary reading will include near-contemporary chroniclers, theologians and poets as well as classic Greek and Roman authors such as Aristotle, Virgil and Ovid. No historical or religious background knowledge is required, only attention to detail and a willingness to be surprised. Sample discussion questions we will tackle with Dante: How can I distinguish between love and lust? How do I navigate a hyper-polarized society? What is justice? Is there value in suffering? How far should political prosecution go? How can I stand up to authority in a world where dissent is dangerous? Why are there spots on the moon? |
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Prerequisite(s): |
ITAS 201 and ITAS 202, or ITAS 203, or permission of the instructor. |
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Notes: |
This course is also offered at the 200 level as ITAS 263/MER 263. |
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Distribution(s): |
Foreign Language - Above Intermediate
Language and Literature |
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Cross Listed Courses: |
MER 363 01 - Dante’s Inferno
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Instructors: |
Nassime Chida |
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Meeting Time(s): |
Founders 225 Classroom - TF 11:20 AM - 12:35 PM |
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