OVERVIEW

The course, divided into three sections (three for students who must obtain 9 cfu; two - the second and third - for students who must obtain 6 cfu), focuses on main movements and authors of particular relevance of the Italian literary panorama of 16th-20th century.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Analyse authors, texts, genres of Italian literature in relation to the historical context in which they originate and in relation to the tools of philological and interpretative text analysis.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to enhance knowledge along some fundamental directrixes in the context of Italian literature: text tradition, philology, the precise use of bibliographical sources, interpretative exegesis and critical-historiographical reconstruction. At the end of the course students should be able to independently use the analytical knowledge acquired.

Knowledge and understanding:

Through lectures, guided analysis, and class discussions students will improve their knowledge of the most important methods in textual analysis of a literary text and will achieve the full ability to understand critical texts related to the literary work considered.

Applying knowledge and understanding:

Through independent perusal of literary texts and translations, the student is able to apply the previously achieved analytical skills, so to identify both structural aspects of the analyzed text, and the relationship between the text and the cultural and historical context in which it was produced.

Making autonomous judgments:

Through an oral presentation the student is able to understand, critically discuss and explain the specific literary characteristic of the text.

Communication skills:

The final oral discussion improves the ability to present analysis results in an efficient and synthetic way; they also allow students to express the concepts learned, with an appropriate language, and to hold a discussion on the topics dealt with in class.

Learning skills: The described activities allow students to acquire the methodological tools necessary to continue their studies and to address, at the end of the course, the inclusion in the world of scientific research and in the labour market.

PREREQUISITES

Students who take the course must have a good knowledge of Italian literature, its main authors and works.

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures will be held in traditional (in attendace) mode: it is possible, depending on the indications of the course and the University of Genoa, that the streaming mode will also be maintained and lectures will be recorded. More precise information will also be communicated to students via the course page of AulaWeb.

Student participation will be encouraged through questions and interventions. The course also provides students with learning tools (such as slides used during the lectures, supplementary or support materials) available in AulaWeb.

Students with disabilities or DSAs are reminded that in order to request adaptations in the exam, they must first enter their certification on the University website at servizionline.unige.it in the "Students"

section. The documentation will be verified by the University's Services for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities and DSA Sector (https://rubrica.unige.it/strutture/struttura/100111).

Subsequently, at least 10 days before the date of the exam, an e-mail must be sent to the teacher with whom you will take the exam, including in the knowledge copy both the School's Teacher Referent for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities and with DSA (Prof. Elisabetta

Colagrossi: elisabetta.colagrossi@unige.it) and the Sector indicated above. The e-mail should specify: the name of the teaching; the date of the call; the student's last name, first name and roll number; the compensatory tools and dispensatory measures deemed functional; and required.  The contact person will confirm to the lecturer that the applicant is entitled to apply for adaptations in the examination and that these adaptations must be agreed upon with the lecturer. The lecturer will respond by informing whether the requested adaptations can be used. Requests should be sent at least 10 days before the date of the call in order to allow the lecturer(s) to evaluate the content. In particular, in case you intend to make use of maps conceptual maps for the exam (which must be much more concise than the maps used for

studying) if the submission does not meet the deadline there will not be the technical time needed to make any changes.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

For students requiring 9 CFUs:

1. The Rime of Giovanni Della Casa and 16th-century Petrarchism
2. The 18th century of Pietro Metastasio
3. Telling the War. Armies, warfare, war propaganda and pacifist denunciation in Italian literature from Scapigliatura to the First World War

For students requiring 6 CFUs:

Students requiring 6 CFUs must take the first and second modules, OR the second and third modules, from among those offered to students requiring 9 CFUs.

9 CFUs non-attending students syllabus

Part 1

Ludovico Ariosto, Satire edited by Emilio Russo, Roma, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2019 (open access: https://bitesonline.it/satire/).

In detail:

• Satira I, introduction by Emilio Russo, pp. 35-64;
• Satira III, introduction by Ida Campeggiani, pp. 95-129;
• Satira IV, introduction by Paolo Marini, pp. 131-166;
• Satira VI, introduction by Paolo Procaccioli, pp. 205-230.

Parte 2

Niccolò Machiavelli, Principe e Mandragola. Full reading of the two works.

Parte 3

Giuseppe Parini, anthology of the works.

Parte 4

Choice of reading of TWO novels among the following:

• Igino Ugo Tarchetti, Una nobile follia
• Carlo Dossi, Vita di Alberto Pisani
• Giovanni Verga, Eva
• Italo Svevo, Senilità

6 CFUs non-attending students syllabus

Students must make the points 2-3-4 of the 9 CFUs syllabus.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography for attending students

WARNING: ALL TEXTS AND DOCUMENTS presented in lectures and available to students on AulaWeb ARE AN INTEGRATIVE PART OF THE BIBLIOGRAPHY.

In addition:

For part 1)

Giovanni Della Casa, Rime, edited by Stefano Carrai. Milano-Udine, Mimesis Edizioni, 2014 (open access by UniGe account: https://access.torrossa.com/it/resources/an/3010707?digital=true), or Giovanni Della Casa, Rime, in Rime volgari e latine, edited by Marco Leone, Quinto Marini, Matteo Navone, Massimo Scorsone, Firenze, Società Editrice Fiorentina, 2022.

Giuliano Tanturli, Dai «Fragmenta» al Libro: il testo di inizio nelle rime del Casa e nella tradizione petrarchesca, in Per Giovanni Della Casa: ricerche e contributi, proceedings of the congress, Gargnano del Garda, 3-5 ottobre 1996, edited by Gennaro Barbarisi, Claudia Berra, Bologna, Cisalpino Istituto Editoriale Universitario, 1997, pp. 61-89 (the text will be available on AulaWeb).

Stefano Carrai, Ancora sull’edizione postuma delle rime di Giovanni Della Casa, «Studi e problemi di critica testuale», LVI, 1998, pp. 5-30 (the text will be available on AulaWeb).

For part 2)

Pietro Metastasio, Didone abbandonata (edizione 1780) and Attilio Regolo, in Drammi per musica, edited by Anna Laura Bellina, Venezia, Marsilio, 2002-2004, 3 vols. (open access: https://www.progettometastasio.it/public/); the Didone – with a small, but useful commentary – can be read also in Pietro Metastasio, Melodrammi e canzonette, edited by Gianfranca Lavezzi, Milano, BUR; the text of Attilio Regolo will be available on AulaWeb).

Gianfranca Lavezzi, Introduzione, in Pietro Metastasio, Melodrammi e canzonette, edited by Gianfranca Lavezzi, Milano, BUR [many editions], pp. 15-66.

For part 3)

Igino Ugo Tarchetti, Una nobile follia, full reading (many editions);

Luigi Pirandello, Berecche e la guerra, full reading (many editions): it is recommended Luigi Pirandello, La giara, il viaggio, Candelora, Berecche e la guerra, Una giornata, edited by Marco Dondero, Rosanna Morace, Ivan Pupo, Milano, Mondadori, 2023, pp. 487-527.

Duccio Tongiorgi, Disarmonie di una nazione. Sguardi letterari del secolo decimonono, Firenze, Le Monnier 2020 (only pp. 171-211) (some copies are kept in Biblioteca Umanistica).

Bibliography for non-attending students

9 CFUs BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

For part 1:

Ludovico Ariosto, Satire, edited by Emilio Russo, Roma, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2019 (open access: https://bitesonline.it/satire/). Study of satire I, III, IV, VI with related scholar introductions.

For part 2:

Niccolò Machiavelli, Il Principe, edited by Giorgio Inglese, Torino, Einaudi, 2014 (full reading).

Niccolò Machiavelli, Mandragola (full reading). These editions are recommended:

• Niccolò Machiavelli, Mandragola, edited by Rinaldo Rinaldi, Milano, BUR, [many editions]

       or

• Niccolò Machiavelli, Mandragola, edited by Pasquale Stoppelli, Milano, Mondadori, [many editions]

       or

• Niccolò Machiavelli, Mandragola, introduction by Gennaro Sasso; edited by Giorgio Inglese, Milano, BUR, [many editions]

Scholar bibliography:

• Giulio Ferroni, Mutazione e riscontro nel teatro di Machiavelli e altri saggi sulla commedia del Cinquecento, Roma, Bulzoni, 1972, pp. 19-103 (the text will be available AulaWeb).

For part 3:

Giuseppe Parini, edited by Francesca Fedi e Rosa Necchi, Milano, Edizioni Unicopli, 2017.

For part 4:

For the reading of at least TWO of the indicated novels, please refer - reading introductions and commentaries - to the following editions:

Igino Ugo Tarchetti, Una nobile follia, Ravenna, Pozzi.     

Carlo Dossi, Vita di Alberto Pisani, edited by Luigi Sasso, Milano, Garzanti.

Giovanni Verga, Eva, edited by Giovanna Rosa, Milano, Feltrinelli.

Italo Svevo, Senilità, edited by Cristina Benussi, Milano, Feltrinelli.

6 CFUs BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

Students must make the points 2-3-4 of the 9 CFUs syllabus.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

10 February 2026

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral exam.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The oral exam consists of an interview on the topics discussed during the lessons (or indicated in the bibliography), in order to evaluate the skills to contextualize a literary text in the frame of the Italian cultural history; to illustrate its metric-stylistic features; to make connections, to expose the contents with an appropriate language and to discuss the topics learned during the lessons.

FURTHER INFORMATION

All students are required to register for AulaWeb.