Italian

Colosseum

The Ph.D. program in Italian Studies at Harvard University is committed to providing an innovative, interdisciplinary approach to Italian studies, with special emphasis on innovative research in the fields of Medieval and Renaissance studies, 19th- and 20th-century literature and society, contemporary Italy, cinema and media, the history of design, cultural economics and analytics. We believe that the building of solid historical and philological foundations should be accompanied by extensive critical practice, profound interaction with current cultural trends and new and emerging forms of scholarship, and a hands-on familiarity with new media and technologies. For this reason all graduate students in residence during the spring attend the Italian Studies Colloquium, which consists of weekly meetings with the authors of newly published books. The “Espresso Talks”—informal meetings in which students and faculty discuss recent novels, movies, and cultural events over a cup of coffee—serve the same purpose. Students are also invited to contribute articles, reviews, interviews, and documentary videos to the online magazine Romance Sphere. Many students are also involved in such secondary field programs as Critical Media Practice and in metaLAB (at) Harvard, a hands-on research lab and design studio dedicated to exploring and expanding the frontiers of networked culture in the arts and humanities.

Courses 
Our faculty teach courses and seminars either in Italian or in English. Recent topics include The Cosmos of the Comedy (Schnapp), Boccaccio and/on Authority (Latin to Vernacular, Vernacular to Latin (Schnapp), Petrarca and the Divided Self (Pertile), Renaissance Epic (Erspamer), Homeless Paintings of the Italian Renaissance – A Curatorial Experiment (Schnapp), Cultural History and Nation-Making, 1870-1920 (Lolla), Making Italians: Poetry and Novel in the 19th Century (Erspamer), The Modern Image: Intersections of Photography, Cinema and Literature (Minghelli), The Last Ten Years: Italian Fiction and Film (Erspamer), Deconstructing Rome (Pedriali), Ethics and Aesthetics (Erspamer and Sommer), Gadda Goes to War: Provocations around the State-Stage (Pedriali), and Questions of Theory (Schnapp and Hamilton). To help students develop their writing and research skills we have instituted a student-organized dissertation writers group convened by faculty on a rotating basis.

Over the past decade visiting professors to the program have include Giorgio Agamben (philosophy), Daniele Archibugi (political science), Piero Boitani (comparative literature), Adriana Cavarero (political philosophy and gender studies), Paolo Galluzzi (history of science), Carlo Ginzburg (history), Ara Merjian (art history), Federica Pedriali (literature and theory), Gabriele Pedullà (literature and history), Pier Luigi Sacco (cultural economics), and Sergio Zatti (literature and psychoanalsis). Many of them were invited under the aegis of the Lauro De Bosis Committee, established at Harvard seventy years ago in memory of Lauro de Bosis, a poet and intellectual who had given his life fighting Fascism.

Harvard professors who offer courses cross-listed with Italian Studies or of interest to our students include Katherine Park (History of Science), Giuliana Bruno (Visual and Environmental Studies), Katharina Piechocki (Comparative Literature),  Gennaro Chierchia (Linguistics), Kathleen Coleman (Classics), Alina Payne (History of Art and Architecture), James Hankins and Charles Maier (History), and Thomas Kelly (Music).

 Because the program’s emphasis is on innovative approaches to Italian cultural and literary studies, we encourage students to embark on a highly individualized course of study that often includes enrollment in other courses within the Romance Languages and Literatures Department, as well as in other disciplines, including history, philosophy, women and gender studies, cinema, art and architecture, music, classics, religious studies, anthropology, social studies.

An agreement with Brown University allows students to take courses offered by the Italian department there. Information about cross registering is available on the “Course Search” page of MyHarvard under “Other Resources”. Graduate students of the two universities organize annually a joint conference in Italian Studies (“Chiasmi”), held alternatively at Harvard and Brown.

Teaching 
In addition to forming capable and creative scholars, the program promotes their effective teaching at all levels. Beginning in their third year students teach language classes; once they have completed their general exams they may teach sections of courses in Italian literature or culture.

Resources 
Graduate students at Harvard University discover an unusual wealth of research resources. Among them is the library system, which includes Widener Library, the largest university library in the world; Houghton Library, with its collection of manuscripts, ancient books, and papers of major Italian authors and intellectuals such as Pirandello and Salvemini; and the Harvard Film Archive, which contains a magnificent collection of world cinema. These repositories supplement a number of research centers related to Italian studies, including the Mahindra Humanities Center, the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, the Film Study Center, and the Villa I Tatti Center for Italian Renaissance Studies.

 

To see our program requirements, see the GSAS Policies.