Culture courses

Lower division (60 hours)

Duration of each meeting: 3 hours – duration of each cooking class: 4 hours
Description : This course allows students to gain an overall knowledge of the Italian language, culture and society. In order to gain a better understanding, it is necessary that the course be extremely multidisciplinary and that students are able to form a general framework consisting of historical, artistic, anthropological and social data. The main objective of this course is to put students in direct contact with works of art in order to understand them in a literal, figurative, architectural and urban planning sense. This is obtainded especially through seminars and on-site lessons. Students will be provided beforehand with historical and anthropological concepts essential to an informed and careful approach to the subject under study. In this direction it is hoped that students will develop the tools of analysis and study, which, once applied to the Italian heritage, will even make the student autonomous in appreciating and studying other cultures and other countries. Therefore, this course will include the intervention of several academic faculty experts in various fields of study. Students will also be enriched becasue they are exposed to several teaching approaches which, in any case, will be consistent in quality and per unit intent.
*course includes 3 cooking lessons and olive oil, local produce and wine tasting through on-site lessons.

Upper division (45 hours)

Department of Art history and architecture :
* ART HISTORY I (from 476 to 1300);
* ART HISTORY II (from 1300 to 1555);
* HOW TO READ A CITY I (Siena in its past);
* HOW TO ‘READ’ A CITY II(Siena in the new millennium);

History Department :
* IL COSTITUTO SENESE” The Sienese Constitution and the history of Siena from the low Middle Ages to 1555;
* 150 YEARS OF ITALIAN IDENTITY: The unification and the role of Tuscany;
* FASCISM AND WAR WORLD II IN ITALY: The role of the United States in the Liberation War and Reconstruction;
* CONTEMPORARY ITALY: Identity, Culture and Society;

Department of Performing arts :
* ITALIAN THEATER AND OPERA
* MUSIC HISTORY
* HISTORY OF CINEMA, TELEVISION AND MEDIA
* THEY ARE JUST SIMPLE SONGS, OR ARE THEY? history of Italy through songs from 800 to our days

Department of literature:
* TRAVELING WITH THE “CLASSICS”: From the origins to the Classic times;
* DANTE AND THE HISTORY OF DANTE CRITICISM ;
* ITALY THROUGH THE EYE OF THE TRAVELER AND THE NATIVE;
* FEMALE FIGURES IN THE LITERATURE OF THE ’900;

Department of Anthropology
* RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL HISTORY OF ASSISTANCE: THE EXAMPLE OF SIENA;
* HISTORY OF FOLKLORE;
* ANTHROPOLOGY AND HISTORY OF RELIGIONS;

Department of Economy
* MERCHANTS AND BANKERS – THE BUILDERS OF EUROPE;
* THE CONSTRUCTION OF EUROPE: A DREAM OR A REALITY?
* FOR A COMPATIBLE ECONOMY: ecology, innovation and development;

Department of Health and Nutrition
* GASTRONOMY & NUTRITION I: the Mediterranean diet in the history of Italy ;
* GASTRONOMY & NUTRITION II: recipes, prescriptions, and remedies in the Italian cuisine;
* FOOD OF ARTS & ARTS IN FOOD: various connections of food in liberal arts;
* RENAISSANCE ON THE TABLE: traditions, recipes & flavors of the Renaissance era;