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Discovering Italy: 'A spasso per l'Italia'

This community course, offered by the Italian Department at the University of Warwick, is designed for people in work or retirement and will be accessible to those without previous knowledge of Italy or the Italian language. Through talks, texts, videos, and other media it will explore various aspects of Italy's diverse cities and regions, offering a flavour of its art, film, history, literature, language and cuisine. Participants will have a chance to learn some Italian along the way, if they wish. The course is not accredited and does not require essays or exams.

The course, co-ordinated by Dr Eliana Maestri, will take place on Friday evenings (7:00–8:30) in the Elizabeth Room, Parochial Hall of St Nicholas Church (28 High Street, Kenilworth). It will run from 2 May to 27 June.

The course is low-key and light-touch.--meant to be enjoyable as well as an opportunity to learn more about Italian culture.

Pre-registration (by 1 April) is essential. Please contact Ms Jayne Brown in order to register (renaissance@warwick.ac.uk). If you have any questions about the actual content of the course, please direct them to Dr Eliana Maestri (E.Maestri@warwick.ac.uk), the course convenor. The individual sessions will be led by a team of the Italian Department's PhD students (or recent graduates), all of whom are trained to a very high standard, under the guidance of Dr Maestri, the Department's Language Teaching Co-ordinator.

Course outline (subject to minor changes)

2 MAY: ‘Jewish Rome’ with Dott.ssa Martina Piperno

9 MAY: ‘Building a unique city: Venice between East and West’ with Dottor Giacomo Comiati

16 MAY: ‘Is Le Marche the New Tuscany? Cultural gems of a little-known Italian region’ with Dott.ssa Martina Piperno

23 MAY: 'South of Italy in Australia: literature and testimonies from Italian Australian second and third generations' with Dr Eliana Maestri

30 MAY: ‘From the City to the Countryside: Palladio, Vicenza, and the Villas’, with Dottor Giacomo Comiati

6 JUNE: ‘Introducing Turin: the "Capital of the Alps"’ with Dottor Rocco di Dio

13 JUNE: ‘Discovering Rome through Bernini and Caravaggio’, with Dottor Gabriele Scalessa

20 JUNE: ‘Bologna in the 1960s: movements and trends’, with Dr Serena Bassi and Dottor Goffredo Polizzi

27 JUNE: ‘Of waters, winds and rocks. People and stories from the island of Sardinia’, with Dr Giacomo Mannironi

Italy