Welcome

Department of Italian Studies

Benvenuti/Welcome!


Yale’s  Department of Italian Studies offers the Ph.D. in Italian literature with wider methodological concerns and discourses, such as history, rhetoric and critical theories, comparison with other literatures, the figurative arts, religious and philosophical studies, medieval, Renaissance, and modern studies, and the contemporary state of Italian writing.

At the undergraduate level, the Department of Italian Studies has two distinct missions: to provide instruction in the Italian language at all levels of competence, and to lead students to a broad appreciation and deep understanding of the literature and culture of Italy.

The major in Italian is a liberal arts major designed to explore Italy’s vital role in the development of the humanistic values and disciplines that have infused Western culture over several centuries. Central to the major in Italian is the conviction that study of another language yields the important benefit of enlightening students about their own culture while instructing them about a foreign one. Core courses provide students with a solid linguistic, literary, and historical background in Italian. Additional offerings range across several disciplines, including the study of film, philosophy, comparative literature, history, political theory, art, religious studies, theater, architecture, and music.

News

February 24, 2023
For observers of the European film scene, Federico Fellini’s death in 1993 came to stand for the demise of Italian cinema as a whole. Exploring an eclectic sampling of...
February 22, 2023
In late December, our dear colleague Penny Marcus was notified by President Salovey that she has been appointed the Sarai Ribicoff Professor of Italian Studies.  We...
February 20, 2023
We are delighted that Amara Lakhous, award-winning novelist of Scontro di civiltà per un ascensore a Piazza Vittorio, Divorzio all’islamica a Viale Marconi and other...