Academic year: 2026–27
Course: Foundation Course Humanities
Credits: 6
Period: First semester
Number of hours: 48
Teacher: Mattia Petricola (mattia.petricola@gmail.com)
Language of instruction: English
Syllabus
This course offers an introduction to Italian literature, from its emergence within the vernacular cultures of medieval Europe to the Renaissance, with a concluding exploration of the Baroque. The course adopts a thematic and comparative approach, examining Italian literary culture within the wider context of European history, literature, and the arts.
Through a selection of literary texts, students will investigate how literature has reflected, constructed, and challenged historically specific ideas about religion, love, identity, gender, and society. Particular attention will be devoted to the circulation and transformation of literary traditions across cultural and linguistic boundaries, as well as to the relationships between historical literary works and contemporary cultural and social questions.
Alongside the study of literary history, the course introduces students to the fundamental methods of literary analysis and academic argumentation. Literary texts will serve not only as objects of historical investigation but also as opportunities to develop the essential skills of humanities scholarship: identifying significant textual details, formulating interpretative questions, developing a thesis, and constructing coherent arguments supported by textual evidence.
The course is organised into the following thematic sections. Each combines historical and cultural contextualisation with the close reading of carefully selected literary excerpts. Comparative references to other European traditions will provide additional perspectives without requiring comprehensive coverage of every author or work discussed.
Main topics
- Languages, literature, and the sacred world: the making of medieval Europe
The transformation of European culture following the fall of the Western Roman Empire; the changing role of Latin and the emergence of vernacular languages and literary traditions. The centrality of Christianity to medieval European culture and literary imagination. Saints, miracles, hagiography, and the development of vernacular religious literature, with particular attention to Francis of Assisi. Mysticism, visionary experiences, and women’s religious authority, including selected examples from Hildegard of Bingen and Catherine of Siena.
- What is love? Desire and the emergence of European literary traditions
Love as a historically and culturally constructed experience. Classical representations of love and their medieval transformations; courtly love, medieval romance, and the emergence of European vernacular love poetry. The development of the Italian lyric tradition, from the Sicilian School to Dante’s early works. Literary conventions and changing representations of love, desire, and gender.
- Imagining the afterlife: Dante and the Divine Comedy
Classical and medieval traditions of journeys through the afterlife. Dante’s Divine Comedy as a transformation of earlier literary, philosophical, religious, and political traditions. Through selected passages from the three canticles, students will explore the poem’s thematic complexity and extraordinary stylistic range, from comedy to theological reflection and mystical experience.
- Poetry, storytelling, and the formation of a literary canon
The development and consolidation of two influential literary traditions: lyric poetry and prose storytelling. Petrarch’s Canzoniere: love, memory, poetic identity, and the development of Petrarchism as a European literary model, including its reinterpretation by women writers such as Gaspara Stampa. Boccaccio and the novella: storytelling, humour, satire, and the representation of ordinary life and social relationships. The circulation and transformation of Italian literary models across Europe.
- Reinventing traditions: Renaissance culture and the European epic
The cultural transformations of Humanism and the Renaissance, including the rediscovery of classical antiquity, changing conceptions of knowledge and the individual, courtly culture, patronage, and the circulation of literature through manuscripts and print. The inheritance and transformation of classical epic and medieval European chivalric traditions, with particular attention to Ariosto and Tasso. Heroism, war, religion, gender, fantasy, and the marvellous.
- Concluding perspectives: the Baroque and the culture of spectacle
A brief introduction to seventeenth-century European culture, exploring the relationships between literature and other artistic forms. Religious and political conflict, courtly culture, theatricality, and spectacle. Baroque aesthetics and their emphasis on wonder, illusion, metaphor, and excess, illustrated through selected literary and visual examples.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
· Demonstrate a foundational understanding of the principal historical and cultural developments that shaped Italian literature from its medieval origins to the early modern period.
· Situate selected Italian literary works within their wider European context, identifying connections between literary traditions, genres, and cultural practices.
· Apply fundamental techniques of close reading and textual analysis, recognising significant formal, stylistic, and thematic features of literary texts.
· Formulate focused interpretative questions and develop coherent theses, constructing arguments supported by appropriate textual evidence.
· Critically examine literary works, recognising the historical specificity of their cultural assumptions and relating them to broader debates about literature, culture, and society.
Teaching approach and requirements
The course combines historical and cultural introductions, guided close readings, comparative analysis, and classroom discussions. Literary works will be examined through carefully selected excerpts, allowing students to engage with significant texts and traditions while developing the skills necessary for independent literary interpretation.
Particular emphasis will be placed on learning how to construct an argument about a literary text. Through in-class exercises and guided discussions, students will practise moving from textual observations to interpretative questions, formulating and refining theses, selecting relevant textual evidence, and explaining how that evidence supports their interpretations. These activities will be integrated throughout the course, with opportunities for feedback and revision, progressively preparing students for the analytical component of the final examination.
No previous knowledge of Italian language or literature is required. All literary texts will be provided in English translation. Students will not be expected to read complete literary works or prepare literary texts independently before each class:
reading and textual analysis will be conducted primarily together during the lessons. Selected scholarly and contextual readings will supplement classroom activities and contribute to preparation fopr the final exam.
Assessment
The final grade will be determined by two components:
Attendance and participation (30%). Regular attendance and active engagement in classroom discussions, close readings, and learning activities.
Final written examination (70%). The examination consists of a multiple-choice component assessing knowledge of the main texts, historical contexts, and literary concepts covered during the course, and an essay component assessing students’ ability to develop coherent interpretations and arguments supported by textual evidence.
The examination will focus on material covered in class and selected scholarly readings provided during the course. Detailed information about its structure and assessment criteria will be available in a dedicated examination guide.