The course provides an interdisciplinary approach to the culture(s) of Italy. Crisscrossing the historical, the course introduces students to the most salient cultural, social and political configurations of contemporary Italy and the many identities these have produced. The first half of the course is focused on the media: digital networks, film, television, music, radio, press and books. The second half on the various cultures shaped through the same media: counter and subcultures, political cultures, food, fashion, holiday, advertising, sports and stardom. A strong emphasis will be placed on investigating the present historical moment through a critical engagement with the past. The course will be articulated through film screenings, listening sessions, reading assignments, lectures and discussions. 

By the end of the course students will be:

1        Familiar with the analytic and theoretical perspectives of cultural studies and cultural analysis

2        Able to conduct a critical analysis of a wide range of texts and cultural artefacts, identifying their principal characteristics and placing them in a social and historical context.  

3        Able to demonstrate knowledge of Italy’s post-war cultural history and contemporary expressions as they relate to the development of the media and popular culture.

4        Able to recognize various trends in the cultural and artistic production of Italy, be familiar with a number of artists and performers that have characterized specific historical moments and identify social movements and political groups active during the post-war years.

5        Able to confront expressions of Italian popular culture in a comparative way with similar ones coming from the USA and elsewhere.  

The course contributes to the following learning outcomes of the Major in Italian Studies:

• LOS 2:  Identify, interpret and explain the major developments and forces shaping Italian social, political and cultural history.
• LOS 3:  Distinguish, discuss and evaluate the role of key trends and works in Italian literature, cinema, music and other forms of cultural production.
• LOS 4:  Demonstrate extensive knowledge of contemporary Italian culture and society and the ability to function effectively within it.
• LOS 5: Engage with the principles of relevant literary, cultural and social theory, with an awareness of the particular perspectives and relative strengths and weaknesses of each approach, and apply these in their own critical analyses of the material studied  
•  LOS 6: Apply appropriate methodological strategies and information literacy skills to identify, use and document primary and secondary materials in full respect of academic integrity and ethical standards.
•  LOS 7: Communicate information and analytical interpretations clearly and effectively in written and spoken English.

Unit 1:   January 20th – 22nd

Course preview and introduction to some key concepts: culture and popular culture; national vs transnational/transcultural products; media and behaviors; consumption and taste. Italian media and popular culture studies. Basic information about Italian history from Unification to date, to better understand the development of the entertainment industries and their impact on the population.  

Unit 2:   January 27th – 29th  

Digital Italy: features of the digital era and their impact on traditional media. The coming of new media and their penetration in Italy. Rewriting youth culture: social networks, video and computer games. Smartphones: redefining personal and collective identities. Italians and the use of new technologies.

Television: local and global formats. History of Italian television. The Americanization of the Italian small screen. From paleo to neo-TV: the changing habits of family watching. The close relationship between TV and politics, from public monopoly to private networks.

Unit 3:   February 3rd – 5th  

Cinema, gender and stardom: the industrialization of the imaginary and the rise of a society of the spectacle. Italians’ contribution to world cinema: from silent movies to Neo Realism. Hollywood’s impact and some Italian ways to tell domestic stories. Stardom, beauty and trend setters, from Sofia Loren to Ennio Morricone. 

Screening: Gomorra, by Matteo Garrone  

Unit 4:  February 7th (make-up day for April 21st) – 10th

Music: The Sanremo song Festival and Italian identity. Who are the best-selling artists in Italy and who has made it abroad. Popular music: indigenous drives and foreign influences (rock, rap, canzone, hip hop, etc). The globalization of an Italian trademark: opera, bel canto, Neapolitan song.

Unit 5: February 12th– 17^th

Radio and print: history of radio in Italy, from propaganda to mobile listening, from state monopoly to free radios. The press: journalism in Italy from its heydays to DYT information. The destiny of books and the mutations of the publishing industry in a world market. Written and oral culture in the digital age, from blogs to web radios.  

Revolt, countercultures and subcultures: 

Social movements and cultural resistance, from universities to factories, in the street and in theatres. Classic subcultures: mods, hippies and punk vs contemporary subcultures: hip hop, ravers, skaters. How did they take root in Italy and why some of them were ignored. Labelling the new generations.

Unit 6:  February 19th – 25th   

Food culture 

Food and national identity: hunger and the myth of a rural country. The invention of regional cooking. Gender in the kitchen. Fast vs slow food: ways of approaching the table. Espresso and coffee culture. Food TV show and the rise of a cooking awareness: international and domestic formats.

Musical event: “The art of whistling”, with Elena Somarè (whistle) and Mats Hedberg guitar)

A special event – music and talk - with the Italian artist who has revived the old art of whistling releasing numerous albums where she recorded well-known tunes from all major genres and original melodies written for her astonishing skills.  This will take place on Tuesday 25^th, not Wednesday

Unit 7:   February 26th – March 3rd 

Holiday culture: travelling, trains, cars: mobility and modernity. Beach culture and its representation on big screen. Mythologies of Italy: from the Grand Tour to mass tourism. Autogrill, package tours, holiday villages and amusement parks: the rise of pseudo-places. A clash between tradition and modernity: Christmas in Italy.  

Unit 8:   March 4th – 17th

Guest lecture: “Future jobs in the media” (March 4^th)

The usual Wednesday class is replaced by a guest lecture on “Future Jobs in the media” with the authors of a book just published by RAI (Italian Public Media Service). The presentation, extended to the whole university (faculty and students), will be held in the AULA MAGNA (Guarini Campus) on March 4 (Tuesday) at 6:00 p.m.

Mid-term exam: Monday 17^th

Unit 9:   March 19th - 24^th

Italian trademarks: fashion, design: Fashion and the easy life (Dolce vita) in the Sixties. Icons and brands: Armani, Ferrari, Vespa, Espresso, Martini. 

Consumption styles: shopping and advertising - From village and neighbourhood markets to round-the corner outlets, from supermarkets to shopping centers, the lure of things and the art of displaying them. Pseudo (non) places and new ways of wasting time. Objects as promoters of symbolic consumption. Carosello and the fictionalization of advertising. The myth of America in Italian TV commercials. The meaning of things: everyday objects and consumption from the 1930s to date

Unit 10: March 26th – 31st    

Church and the media - Pope Francis and its relationship with CTV (Centro Televisivo Vaticano). Fatal attraction: John Paul II and the Papa boys. How the church has assimilated the media, from cinema to radio, from TV to social networks. Religion and popular music: singer-songwriters and their approach to spiritual issues.

Queer culture – Homosexuality in a backward country: early evidence of a homosexual issue. The rise of a gay movement in the Seventies: actions and representation on cinema, tv and music. The murder of Pier Paolo Pasolini: the first media event to focus on gay culture. The spread of LGBT culture. 

Unit 11: April 2nd – 7th  

Divas – Glamour as soft power. Diva’s presence in cinema, television, theatre, sports. The role and image of woman in contemporary Italy. Female subcultures and movements, from mondine (riceweeders) to feminism. Case studies: Mina, Raffaella Carrà.

Sports and leisure activities

Football and the Italian character. Football, globalization and multiethnicity. Cycling and popular heroes. Tennis: Jannik Sinner. Films and songs about sports. Most popular sports practiced by Italians and watched on TV.

Unit 12: April 9th – 14th  

In class presentations

Unit 13:  April 16th – 23rd   

In class presentations

Unit 14: April 28th – 30^th

In class presentations

Final course review 

Readings will be assigned on a weekly base. What follows is a list of books that can be useful for the final paper and have been in part included in the schedule.

Reference list:

Allen, Beverly and Mary J. Russo. Revisioning Italy. National Identity and Global Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997.

Burke, Frank (ed. by), A Companion to Italian Cinema, Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2017.

Eco, Umberto. Apocalypse Postponed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000.

Dickie, John. Delizia! The Epic History of Italians and Their Food. London: Sceptre, 2007

Fabbri, Franco and Plastino, Goffredo (eds.). Made in Italy. Studies in Popular Music. London:  Routledge, 2014.

Forgacs, D. and Gundle. S. Mass Culture and Italian Society from Fascism to the Cold War. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008

Forgacs, D. and Lumley, R. Italian Cultural Studies. An Introduction. Oxford University Press, 1996.

Hebdige Dick. Hiding in the Light: on Images and Things. London: Comedia, 1988.      

Hibberd, Matthew. The Media in Italy: Press, Cinema and Broadcasting from Unification to Digital. Open University Press, 2008

Lumley, Robert. States of Emergency: Cultures of Revolt in Italy from 1968 to 1978. Verso, 1990.

Minardi, E. – Desogu, P. (ed. by). The Last Forty Years of Italian Popular Culture, Cambridge Un. Press, 2020.

Paulicelli, Eugenia. Italian Style. Film and Fashion from the Early Cinema to the Digital Age. New York: Bloomsbury, 2016.

Sassoon, Donald. The Culture of the Europeans. From 1800 to the Present. London: Harper Collins, 2006.