The course aims to provide essential knowledge and tools to develop a critical evaluation of 20th-century society, with a particular focus on the decades spanning from the Resistance to the Years of Lead. Through a distinctly interdisciplinary approach, exploring various expressions of Italian culture from that period (especially literature and cinema, but also television and music), students will gain the ability to identify the major ideological and socio-cultural transformations that characterized the period between 1945 and 1979, and to interpret the forms of their representations.

1. Introduction to Contemporary Italian Culture  
- Overview of the Discipline and the Concept of Culture

2. From 1945 to the 1950s  
- Historical and Cultural Overview of Italy between 1945 and 1956 
- Literature and Cinema: Neorealism and the Resistance 
- Culture and Industry: The Olivetti Case

 3. The 1960s  
- Political Changes and Literary Representations
- Economic Boom: New Media and Cultural Dissemination 
- The Beat Generation
- Industrial and Corporate Literature 

 4. The 1970s  
- The Years of Lead and Literary Representations  
- Feminism and Feminisms
- Environmental Issues and Environmental Literature
- The New Role of the Intellectual

Knowledge and Understanding  
Students will acquire the ability to understand the main historical and cultural transformations in Italy from 1945 to the 1970s and their impact on literature, cinema, and society.

Applied Knowledge and Understanding  
Students will be able to analyze literary, cinematic, and artistic works from recent history and identify the relationship between economic-business phenomena and cultural trends.

Independent Judgment  
Students will develop the ability to critically reflect on key cultural phenomena of the late 20th century and utilize their knowledge of recent history to interpret contemporary cultural products and issues.

Communication Skills  
Students will be capable of clearly presenting their analyses and reflections on the course themes, using appropriate technical terminology.

Learning Skills  
Students will develop the ability to independently explore Italian cultural themes through the analysis of literary, cinematic, and artistic works.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Slides, supplementary essays, and audiovisual materials (uploaded on Moodle) will support the delivery of the course content. The course will include collective discussions, recaps of the topics covered, and in-class exercises.

Teaching

Frontal lessons. 

Attendance

The reading of the books and the viewing of the films listed in the following section ("Study Materials"), as well as consultation of the materials uploaded by the instructor on Moodle, are required.

Course books

The complete reading of the following texts is required:

La luna e i falò (1950) - Cesare Pavese (Link to the recommended edition)
La giornata di uno scrutatore (1963) - Italo Calvino (Link to the recommended edition)
Caro Michele (1973) - Natalia Ginzburg (Link to the recommended edition)

The viewing of the following films is recommended:

Roma città aperta (1945) - Roberto Rossellini 
Sciuscià (1946) - Vittorio De Sica 
Ladri di biciclette (1948) - Vittorio De Sica 
La dolce vita (1960) - Federico Fellini 
C’era una volta il West (1968) - Sergio Leone 
L’avventura (1960) - Michelangelo Antonioni 
Hair (1979) – Miloš Forman 
I cento passi (2000) - Marco Tullio Giordana 
La meglio gioventù (2003) - Marco Tullio Giordana 

Assessment

Written exam, lasting 90 minutes, consisting of 3 open-ended questions, each individually graded on a scale from 0 (minimum) to 10 (maximum). The assessment of the exams will focus particularly on the students' ability to:

- demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the content delivered and explained during the course;

- personally elaborate on and adequately contextualize the acquired skills;

- present, argue, and articulate the course topics with precision, formal correctness, and appropriate terminology.

The exam is graded on a 30-point scale and may result in: Fail (0-17/30): if the student lacks most or all of the basic competencies provided during the course and is unable to convey them in written form;  Sufficient (18-23/30): if the student demonstrates the minimum knowledge required to answer the proposed questions, with occasional uncertainties in exposition and argumentation; Fair (24-25/30): if the student appropriately reflects the course content in their responses, even if not in depth, and articulates it adequately with decent writing skills;  Good (26-27/30): if the student shows a comprehensive understanding of the course content, a minimum level of depth, and argues with accuracy in written form; Excellent (28-30/30): if the student demonstrates full mastery of the topics covered during the course, high argumentative skills, and excellent written communication of the content. The award of distinction (cum laude) is at the discretion of the instructor and will be reserved for exams that fully meet the stated criteria, exhibiting originality, depth, coherence, and full autonomy in elaboration, along with an outstanding written expression.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

Individual study

Attendance

Non-attending students are required to contact the instructor well in advance for information and orientation purposes.  

Study of the materials listed in the next section («Study Texts»).  

Course books

To allow non-attending students to compensate through self-study for what is covered during the lectures, the following materials are indicated as they pertain to the same program content, in order to promote full understanding:

The complete reading of the following texts and the introductions included in the recommended editions (Introduction by G. Beccaria to C. Pavese; Introduction by C. Garboli to N. Ginzburg) is required:

La luna e i falò (1950) - Cesare Pavese (link all'edizione consigliata)
La giornata di uno scrutatore (1963) - Italo Calvino (link all'edizione consigliata)
Caro Michele (1973) - Natalia Ginzburg (link all'edizione consigliata)

The viewing of the following films is recommended:

Roma città aperta (1945) - Roberto Rossellini 
Sciuscià (1946) - Vittorio De Sica 
Ladri di biciclette (1948) - Vittorio De Sica 
La dolce vita (1960) - Federico Fellini 
C’era una volta il West (1968) - Sergio Leone 
L’avventura (1960) - Michelangelo Antonioni 
Hair (1979) – Miloš Forman 
I cento passi (2000) - Marco Tullio Giordana 
La meglio gioventù (2003) - Marco Tullio Giordana 

N.B.: Non-attending students will also need to supplement the study texts with the materials contained in the dedicated Moodle folder "Materials for Non-Attending Students".

Assessment

Written exam, lasting 90 minutes, consisting of 3 open-ended questions, each individually graded on a scale from 0 (minimum) to 10 (maximum). The assessment of the exams will focus particularly on the students' ability to:

- demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the content delivered and explained during the course;

- personally elaborate on and adequately contextualize the acquired skills;

- present, argue, and articulate the course topics with precision, formal correctness, and appropriate terminology.

The exam is graded on a 30-point scale and may result in: Fail (0-17/30): if the student lacks most or all of the basic competencies provided during the course and is unable to convey them in written form;  Sufficient (18-23/30): if the student demonstrates the minimum knowledge required to answer the proposed questions, with occasional uncertainties in exposition and argumentation; Fair (24-25/30): if the student appropriately reflects the course content in their responses, even if not in depth, and articulates it adequately with decent writing skills;  Good (26-27/30): if the student shows a comprehensive understanding of the course content, a minimum level of depth, and argues with accuracy in written form; Excellent (28-30/30): if the student demonstrates full mastery of the topics covered during the course, high argumentative skills, and excellent written communication of the content. The award of distinction (cum laude) is at the discretion of the instructor and will be reserved for exams that fully meet the stated criteria, exhibiting originality, depth, coherence, and full autonomy in elaboration, along with an outstanding written expression.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.