FALL Courses 2008
The Wonders and Meanings of Nature in the Italian Renaissance
Professor Seymour Mauskopf, Department of History Duke University
4 credits
Global warming, drug-resistant bacteria, eco-tourism, and organic foods -- all of these are markers of both the contemporary crisis we feel we have produced by our manipulation of "Nature" and of our yearnings to bridge the alienation of modern society from the natural world. How did earlier societies view Nature? Taking as a point of departure "The Discovery of the World and of Man" in Jacob Burckhardt's Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, this course will examine the complex attitudes, reactions, and sensibilities towards Nature in early modern European society, under the impact of changes brought about by the Renaissance and Renaissance societies, by the development of Renaissance art, by the voyages of discovery and exploration, and by the rise of modern science. Particular attention will be given to the Florentine locale, especially to villas, gardens, and natural history collections.
Pilgrimage: Visits of Consequence, Visits of Conquest
Professor Thomas A. DuBois,
Department of Scandinavian Studies - University of Wisconsin
4 credits
The focus of this course is on pilgrimage as a concept and an activity through European history. We examine the rise of pilgrimage within European Christianity and the roles it played in integrating a pan-European faith over the course of the Middle Ages. Our attention will focus particularly on pilgrimage to Italian sites, but readings will include Chaucer and other narratives of pilgrimage elsewhere. The second part of the course picks up the theme of pilgrimage in its eighteenth and nineteenth century secularized forms: the Grand Tour, the voyage of discovery and the Bohemian pilgrimage. Authors like A. Dumas, E. M. Forster, Mark Twain, and H. C. Andersen help enliven this exploration, which again makes use of the various cultural treasures of Florence and Italy. In the final part of the course, we look at the resurgence of pilgrimage as a conscious religious expression in contemporary Europe during the past two decades. The course will have a strong self-reflexive element, encouraging students to explore their reasons for coming to Italy and their understandings of the effects of the experience on their present and future lives.
Identities-Nationalities-Migration at the Outset of the Twenty-first Century
Professor Thomas A. DuBois, Department of Scandinavian Studies - University of Wisconsin
4
credit
This course looks at the construction and maintenance of identities within a rapidly changing Europe. The nineteenth century's construction of national identities profoundly shaped the geographic and cultural politics of Europe during the bulk of the twentieth century. The postwar enterprise of European unification, embodied in the European Union, has mounted a substantive challenge to this ideology, seeking to reconceptualize the continent as a unified economic space marked by the free flow of personnel, products and ideas across old national borders, while retaining the framework of national sovereignty and its various symbols and effects. We examine the cultural responses to this trend in new forms of cosmopolitanism, the reassertion of national, regional, or local identity, and debates regarding the arrival of people from within and from outside the European Union. Literature and film will be combined with social scientific writings to explore these themes.
Machiavelli, Guicciardini and the Art of Politics
Professor Thomas Robisheaux, Department of History - Duke University
4 credits
This course, a seminar, explores the political thought of two of Florence‘s most brilliant political and historical thinkers at the time of the Renaissance: Niccolo Machiavelli and his compatriot, Francesco Guicciardini. The course begins with historical background about Florence at the time of the Renaissance, including humanism and the tumultuous political circumstances in which Machiavelli and Guicciardini lived. As part of the background we will examine the republican tradition in Florence, the rise of the Medici and the end of the republic in the early sixteenth century. The main part of the course then turns to close readings of Machiavelli‘s great works, including The Prince, The Discourses, The Florentine Histories, and The Art of War. Most students will find Machiavelli‘s thought familiar at first, but these close readings will explore the fascinating concepts that illuminated his thinking, including reflections on human nature, fortune, the individual will, situational politics, morality and leadership, Christianity, and the prospects of republican government. The course then turns to Machiavelli‘s great contemporary, one who was an even more skillful historian, Francesco Guicciardini. Students will compare Machiavelli‘s political and historical thought with Guicciardini‘s views in his History of Florence, and and his Dialogue on the Government of Florence. Students will form their views through close readings of these texts. Requirements will include several short essays and a final examination. The aim of the course is for students to develop an understanding of these Renaissance political thinkers through encounters with his own writings.
Renaissance Italy and the Catholic Renewal
Professor Thomas Robisheaux, Department of History - Duke University
4 credits
This course introduces students to the stunning creativity of a reinvigorated and expansive Catholic Church and Catholic religious culture at the time of the Renaissance and the long Catholic renewal (ca. 1400-1750). Topics that will be covered include: the crisis of the papacy and religious life at the time of the Black Death, the religious life as a communal experience, the renewed and new religious orders (Franciscans and the new Jesuit order in particular), lay devotional movements (organized into confraternities), the rise of a radical reform movement in Florence around Savonarola, humanist views and critiques of the Christian life, the Renaissance papacy, saints and society (with Catherine of Siena as examplar), the Council of Trent, the development of Baroque art and architecture, the development of Italy as a bastion of "militant Catholicism," and the complex relationships between natural philosophy and Catholic orthodoxy (Giordano Bruno, Galileo Galilei). Field trips to sites in Florence that represent differing aspects of Renaissance religious life are planned, including the Florentine Duomo, Santa Maria Novella (Dominican) and Santa Croce (Franciscan). Readings may come from John Bossy, Christianity in the West, R. P.-chia Hsia, The World of Catholic Renewal, Pietro Redondi, Galilao Heretic plus primary source readings from Petrarch, Lorenzo Valla, the letters of Catherine of Assisi, Galielo and Giordano Bruno. Assignments will include several short essays focused on primary documents, a mid-term and a final examination.
Florentine Renaissance Art: From Lorenzo il Magnifico to Cosimo I: 1469-1539
Professor Josephine Rogers Mariotti
4 credits
The course proposes to survey the development of the arts in Florence from the time of Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici (the Magnificent) to the reign of Cosimo I, the second Duke and the first Grand Duke ofTuscany. We will begin with a survey of the major workshops of late 15th century Florence: Pollaiolo, Verrocchio, Botticelli, Perugino, and Ghirlandaio, whose culture and activities constitute the training ground of the masters of the High Renaissance. These include Leonardo, Raphael, Filippino Lippi, Fra Bartolomeo, Andrea del Sarto and Michelangelo, whose life-span covers the entire period under exam, and whose art will serve as a guideline throughout the course: Michelangelo’s early activity in Florence, his decorative cycles in the Vatican in Rome, and his later activity. The ‘rival’ prince of the papal court, Raphael Sanzio, will likewise be our focus, as both become paragons of a ‘golden age’ of classicism, dramatically interrupted by the ‘Sack of Rome’ of 1527.
The ‘post-peak’ era to follow begins with the experimental and expressively charged art of Pontormo, Rosso Fiorentino and other Tuscan masters who, along with the followers of Raphael and Michelangelo in Rome, are the protagonists of a transformation in style and content termed as ‘Mannerism’ or ‘Maniera,’ a label we will endeavor to define. The development of a self-conscious ‘stylish style’ in the 16th century brings us to admire the ‘court art’ of Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici, whose artists include some of the epoch greatest protagonists: Agnolo Bronzino, Benvenuto Cellini, Francesco Salviati, Parmigianino and Giambologna. More than monographic coverage of each artistic persona, our goal will be to reconstruct the stylistic and cultural interactions and environment in which the artists and patrons operated.
In-class sessions will alternate with visits to monuments and museums in and around Florence, allowing students to integrate their academic studies with direct experience of the works and artists under study.
European Societies
Professor Ettore Recchi, University of Florence
4 credits
This course seeks to illustrate long- and short-term dynamics of social change in Western Europe. Starting from a historical overview of national identities and the post-WW II integration process, the basic puzzle ‘What it means to be an European?’ will be addressed. As a general objective, the course is designed to stimulate students to have a comprehensive view of the conflicting political and societal forces driving contemporary Europe towards unification on the one hand and further territorial and cultural divisions on the other. The course is organized in three teaching units: a) National identities in Western Europe: a long-term historical perspective; b) The European integration process and the European Union; c) A comparative analysis of European societies. Readings will be drawn from a variety of sources in coursepack form. Students are required to participate regularly and do a presentation on one of the course subjects. Participation, presentation, and two tests (mid-term and final) will form the basis for the final evaluation.
Architecture Design Studio
Professor Neil Robinson, Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning, U-M
6 credits
This course is open to U-M graduate architecture students only.
Experiencing the City
Professor Neal Robinson, Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning, U-M
4 credits
This course introduces students to the urban history, morphology and spatial experiences of cities in general, and Florence in particular. Structured around lectures and on-site projects, the course will engage students through a variety of forms of representation (drawing, photography, analytical and cartographic constructs) to translate spatial, experiential, and material aspects of Florence. Lectures will introduce the development of Florence and provide broader historical and cultural perspectives. Weekly site visits to Florence and project assignments will be organized in conjunction with the lecture topics and extend pertinent themes through the aforementioned representational methods. As the primary means of engaging course material, these analytical projects comprise a significant portion of the coursework.
Italian Language
Previous study of Italian is not required in order to apply for the program, as all non-language courses are taught in English. All program participants will be required to take one Italian language course and they are encouraged to study Italian prior to their participation in the program in order to facilitate their integration into Italian culture.
First Semester Italian
Professor Silvia Sammicheli
4 credits
Second Semester Italian
Professor Silvia Sammicheli
4 credits
Third Semester Italian
Professor Lucrezia Sarcinelli
4 credits
Fourth Semester Italian
Professor Lucrezia Sarcinelli
4 credits
Advanced Italian
Professor Lucrezia Sarcinelli
3 credits
Italian for Architects
Professor Sammicheli
2 credits
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