Italian Studies

Select from a wide range of language and culture units from one of the largest Italian departments in Australia and undertake a semester with one of our Italian partner universities. Develop high levels of linguistic aptitude and deep understanding of Italian authors, thinkers and literary and intellectual movements from the Middle Ages to the present.

Undergraduate

• Italian Studies (Introductory)*
• Italian Studies (Intermediate)*
• Italian Studies (Advanced)*
• Italian Studies (Honours)
• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Advanced Studies (Languages)
• Diploma of Language Studies

*Available in the shared pool of majors and minors

Research

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Master of Philosophy
• Master of Arts (Research)

• University of Bologna
• University of Florence
• University of Padova
  
• University of Pavia
• University of Rome – La Sapienza
• Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan
• University of Turin
• Ca' Foscari University of Venice

• Associate Professor Giorgia Alu
• Associate Professor Francesco Borghesi
• Dr Daniel Canaris
• Associate Professor Antonia Rubino

• Undergraduate coursework, language level assessment, postgraduate research and exchange: giorgia.alu@sydney.edu.au
• Honours: giorgia.alu@sydney.edu.au

• Antonella Beconi
• Daniela Panìco
  

• Emeritus Professor Nerida Newbigin
• Dr Paola Marmini
• Dr Maria Cristina Mauceri
• Dr Kathleen Olive

• Dr Cristiana Palmieri

This recurring annual series showcases emerging research in Italian Studies, featuring local and international speakers. Presented in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute Sydney

Semester 2, 2022

• 16 October | «Un lungo / tortile nicchio»: il primitivismo di Giovanni Pascoli (in Italian), Laura Crippa, Università della Svizzera Italiana/University of Sydney
  
• 15 September | Online interaction for language learning: insights from conversation analysis, Enza Tudini, University of South Australia
  
• 25 August | Chinese medicine as a mirror of Neapolitan experimentalism: A case study of Parere (1681) by Leonardo di Capua (1617–1695), Daniel Canaris, University of Sydney

Semester 1, 2022

• 19 May | The Double Life of the Voice in the Italian Renaissance (webinar), Giuseppe Gerbino, Columbia University
• 17 May | Creativity on Stage Behind Barbed Wire: Italian POWs in Africa 1940-1947 (webinar), Elena Bellina, University of Rochester
• 7 April | The Functions of Persian and Arabic Loanwords in Italian Language and Literature (webinar in Italian), Iman Mansub Basiri, University of Tehran

Celebrate the life and works of Dante on the 700th anniversary of his death with our special talk series.

This extended series is organised in collaboration with the State Library of New South Wales, the Italian Cultural Institute Sydney, University of Sydney Library and Dante Alighieri Society of Sydney. These seminars coincide with ‘Dante all’altro polo  –  Dante at the Other Pole’, a Rare Books and Special Collections exhibition at the University of Sydney’s Fisher Library, until 18 June 2022.

2022

• 22 February | “Giorgione dopo Sydney – Ipotesi di ricerca” | Webinar and Roundtable to discuss the provenance of a Renaissance-era sketch recently discovered in the University of Sydney Library (in Italian)
• 24 March | Sinner or saviour or both? Dante’s claims in and around Paradiso 25 (webinar), Lino Pertile, Harvard University
• Until 18 June | ‘Dante all’Altro Polo’ (Dante at the Other Pole) Exhibition, Fisher Library

2021

• 25 March | Dante 2021 Inaugural Lecture by Nerida Newbigin
  
• 28 June | Film screening: L’Inferno

 Lecture series

• 27 July | Dante’s Journey from Paradise to Hell – Vrasidas Karalis
• 25 August | Hell on Earth in Dante and Margaret Atwood – Emma Barlow
• 20 September | The Global Translation History of Dante’s Divina Commedia – Jacob Blakesley
• 4 October | Dante’s Commedia: An audacious ‘cammin’ – Diana Glenn
  

XXI Settimana della lingua italiana nel mondo

On the occasion of the “XXI Settimana della lingua italiana nel mondo” (Week of the Italian Language in the World) organised under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy, four further lectures of our Dante 2021 Lecture Series – this time in Italian – will be offered in the framework of a special collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute in Sydney, whose generous support the Department is very grateful for.

13 October

• Dante giurista. Una lettura della Monarchia – Diego Quaglioni 
• Ulisse e il desiderio naturale di conoscere dal Convivio alla Commedia – Sonia Gentili
  

20 October

• Dante linguista oggi – Mirko Tavoni
• Su Dante lirico – Claudio Giunta
  

Organising committee

• Chair: Francesco Borghesi (Department Chair of Italian Studies, University of Sydney)
• Emma Barlow (Dante Alighieri Society Sydney)
• John Gagné (Director, Medieval and Early Modern Centre, University of Sydney)
• Lillo Guarneri (Director, Italian Cultural Institute, Sydney)
• Philip Kent (University Librarian, University of Sydney)
• Alice Loda (University of Technology Sydney)
• John Vallance (NSW State Librarian and Chief Executive)

The Italian Studies Seminar Series invites leading scholars from Australia and beyond to share research findings across a wide range of topics.

Presented in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute Sydney

Semester 2, 2021

• 12 August, 4pm | Repair practices in Italian-English bilingual multiparty conversations – Francesco Possemato and Daniela Panìco  
• 8 September, 4pm | Pandora’s Legacy: Venice in its 1,600th year – Catherine Kovesi
• 4 November, 4pm | Bilingual Practices and Language Maintenance: the case of two Italian-Australian families – Daniela Panìco

Semester 1, 2021

• 25 March, 1–2.30pm | Italian Language Education in Australia: public perceptions through the eyes of the press
• 15 April, 5–6.30pm | Gianni Berengo Gardin: ideals, industry and photography
• 6 May, 1–2.30pm | Pier Paolo Pasolini and the Transhistorical Nature of Tragedy
• 27 May, 1–2.30pm | Towards a Definition of Mediterranean Crime Fiction

Catch up on our talks via this SoundCloud playlist.

Semester 2, 2021

• 26 Nov, 7:30pm | “Pico’s Library Rebuilt – La biblioteca di Pico ricostruita” bilingual international workshop