Hunter College Italian Program

Love is Multilingual! ❤️

The Chanin Center invites you to express love in your own way. Come, listen to music, dance and create a beaded bracelet to share with your special someone.

Where: The Cecile Insdorf Screening Room B126 HW
When: Wednesday February 14, 2024
Time: From 2:30 to 3:30pm

It’s never too soon to start dreaming and planning to go (back) to Italy! ✈️

This Wednesday from 12-4pm join the Study Abroad Fair in the West Building Lobby and learn about 350+ programs abroad! Hear from other students about their experiences, and chat with Hunter’s Education Abroad team and program partners from CUNY and around the world. Check out for more info!

And stay tuned! In the coming weeks, we’ll share more Italy pictures from our Winter 2024 students! 🤩

Full house for the Medieval Studies and Global Early Modern Studies (GEMS) Certificate Programs Open House last Friday! Among the faculty presenting their research was our own Prof. Calabritto, professor of Italian and our Chair of Romance Languages at Hunter, and professor of Comparative Literature and in the GEMS Program at the Grad Center. Prof. Calabritto spoke about her recent book, “Madness and Murder on Trial: A Tale of True Crime from Early Modern Bologna.”

📸: Profs. Monica Calabritto and Sarah Covington presenting on their books and the event flyer.

Welcome to the Spring semester! The Italian Program is excited to start a new semester of Caffè & Conversazione every Wednesday 1:15-2:15pm in Room 1324HW. ☕️ All levels are welcome! ☕️ All Hunter students are welcome (you don’t need to be enrolled in an Italian class this Spring)! ☕️ Kick-off meeting on Wed 1/31!

Having the best time in Florence!

Buon anno! Happy new year from the Italian Program at Hunter! 💫

And what a great way to ring in the new year: studying the Italian Renaissance with Prof. Calabritto in Florence!

It’s the last day of classes today ! Enjoy your final classes, everyone, and congratulations to our new colleagues in the Romance Languages Department (pictured below) for finishing teaching their first semester at Hunter!

Next, we have reading days on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then finals start. Good luck, everyone!!!

📸: Noran Mohamed, Ana Lucía Tello, Tania Varela, and Stefania Porcelli at the Hunter Holiday Party (not pictured: Rafael Fernandez, we missed you!)

It’s the last day of classes today ! Enjoy your final classes, everyone, and congratulations to our new colleagues in the Romance Languages Department (pictured above) for finishing teaching their first semester at Hunter!

Next, we have reading days on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then finals start. Good luck, everyone!!!

📸: Noran Mohamed, Ana Lucía Tello, Tania Varela, and Stefania Porcelli at the Hunter Holiday Party (not pictured: Rafael Fernandez, we missed you!)

The Bridge Book Award is a project that unites the Italian and American cultures, and aims to strengthen mutual understanding through literature. Prof. Calabritto was one of the jurors and this week she virtually presented the award in the category “saggistica italiana” to Paolo Chiesa, “Marckalada. Quando l’America aveva un altro nome,” .

Learn more about the Bridge Book Awards at https://premioletterariothebridge.org/en/ and .

🌸Spotlight on Spring 2024 Courses🌸

ITAL 37088 SEE NAPLES AND DIE
"See Naples and die": this expression was first used to suggest that after observing the beauties of Naples there is nothing to live for. Yet Naples is a very problematic city, where beauty meets violence and from which one would seek liberation as if from a spell. This course will focus on the representation of Naples in contemporary Italian literature, theater and cinema, focusing on a selection of texts that engage with the notion of napoletanita. Drawing from the concept that Walter Benjamin labeled "porosity," we will explore the extent to which such texts challenge the idea of Naples as a unitary urban space, or as a beautiful postcard. We will discuss writings in prose by Matilde Serao, Anna Maria Ortese, Curzio Malaparte, Elena Ferrante, a play by Edoardo De Filippo, and their filmic adaptations, as well a sample of Neapolitan songs. The course integrates reading and writing strategies and aims at helping students develop critical thinking mainly through close-reading techniques, in-class discussions, and the writing of response papers.
Pre-req: Contact an advisor

🌸Spotlight on Spring 2024 Courses🌸

ITAL 34400 DANTE'S PURGATORIO
In this course we will journey with Dante through the second realm of the afterlife and the second canticle of his Divine Comedy, Purgatorio or purgatory. We will study the history of purgatory as a liminal space, explore the structure of Dante's purgatorio, and analyze the historical and literary features of Dante's poem. As we ascend to the top of mount purgatory, we will reflect on the nature of sin, the themes of love, memory, and time. We will pay close attention to the artistic representations of purgatory throughout time.
Pre-req: Contact an advisor

🌸Spring 2024 Course🌸

ITAL 36592 FOOD STUDIES: THE ITALIAN REVOLUTION
This class examines the relation among food, culture and social issues with a particular focus on Italian cultural production - including literature - and Italian food movements focused on sustainability and regenerative agriculture. Reflecting on topics ranging from the history of Italian food to questions of identities and global environmental crisis, students will discuss the idea that food is not only a medium for sustenance but also a source of nonphysical nourishment, a catalyst for community engagement, and a connection to the eco-system. The course includes a unit of the Italian American experience and hands-on experience with the local Slow Food community. In English.
Pre-req: ENG 120.