Course Description
The eighteenth-century beginnings of the movement for unification to the present, with particular emphasis on the distinctiveness of the Italian experience in culture, society, and politics.
Athena Title
MODERN ITALY
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
As the original seat of Rome’s Mediterranean empire, as the traditional home of the Papacy, as the site where the northern city-states first launched a European-wide economic and artistic Renaissance: the Italian peninsula was not lacking in historical memories in the 1700s. This former grandeur was dampened by foreign occupation (Habsburg and Bourbon) and internal division. French revolutionary intrusions, and particularly those of Napoleone Buonaparte, further encouraged a Risorgimento. This political and cultural movement aimed to disprove Metternich’s notion that Italy was little more than a “geographical expression.” Mazzini, Garibaldi, Cavour: each offered models for unification. With more than a little help from the others, Cavour and the Savoy monarchy built the Italian nation-state. Yet dramatic economic and social divergences persisted between the more industrialized north and the more agrarian south. They persist even today. After the First World War, Mussolini and his fascist squadristi trumpeted a rebirth of Italian greatness. They made amends with the Vatican, long an opponent of unification. They allied with Nazi Germany. Proclaiming his corporatist ideology, Mussolini declared “the sad sunset of liberalism.” The result was a wrecked economy and military defeat. The post-1945 period has seen recovery, but many longstanding problems endure. The goal of this course is to initiate students into the intricacies of modern Italian political, social, and cultural history. Primary (novels, opera, film) and secondary sources are used to achieve these ends. Whatever your career goals, an understanding of the events and themes that have shaped the past, coupled with an ability to think critically about historical documentation and sources, these can only enrich your appraisal of the present. The principal objective of the course is to teach students to think critically for themselves about the relationships between the past and the present, to learn to ask questions of the past that enable them to understand the present and mold the future, and to become attuned to both the limitations and possibilities of change. The course seeks to acquaint students with the ways in which past societies and peoples have defined the relationships between community and individual needs and goals, and between ethical norms and decision-making. In general students will be expected to: 1. read a wide range of primary and secondary sources critically. 2. polish skills in critical thinking, including the ability to recognize the difference between opinion and evidence, and the ability to evaluate--and support or refute--arguments effectively. 3. write stylistically appropriate and mature papers and essays using processes that include discovering ideas and evidence, organizing that material, and revising, editing, and polishing the finished papers.
Topical Outline
Introduction to the Course Post-Renaissance Italy to 1789 The Italian Enlightenment Napoleone Buonaparte Brings the Revolution Home? Napoleon: To Destiny (film) The Restoration: A “Geographical Expression” “Young Italy” & the Failed Revolutions (1820s & 1830s) The Risorgimento & 1848 Cavour & the Piedmontese Model of Unification Garibaldi, the Thousand, & 1860 Completing the Risorgimento (1866-1870) The South & the New Italy | The Leopard (film) The South & the New Italy | The Leopard (film) Italy at the Opera The Vatican & the New Italy Forging a New Identity: Social & Economic Discontent “What does Italy Mean?”: Liberalism & Socialism Migration, Giolitti, a New King, & Futurism Switching Sides: World War I & Italia Irredenta Mussolini: Socialism to Fascism | Benito (film excerpts) Mussolini: Socialism to Fascism | Benito (film excerpts) The Fascist State: Il Duce & the Individual The Fascist State & Women The Fascist State & Nazism: Comparisons & Contrasts A Second World War: Collaboration & Resistance Collapse of the Monarchy: The New Republic Italy, Christian Democrats, & “Big Bang” Integrationists Italian Students & the Troublesome 1960s The “Economic Miracle” Ends: The 1970s & Aldo Moro Italy & Contemporary Concerns, 1980-Present
Syllabus