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Harvard Summer
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Home |General Info |Summer Language Program

Recommended Courses

All 2010 students will have the opportunity to participate in the Production of an Independent Movie!!!

Recommended Courses for the Summer 2010

Elementary Italian (ITL 101-102)

New!!! Italian Language & Cooking (Cross listed: 100; 200/300)

New!!! Italian Language and Film Production (Cross listed: 100; 200/300)

Italian Cinema; Topics in Film Media Production 
&
Field Experience in Film Media (ITL 315; FILM 351; FLM 401)

Italian Language & Drama (Cross listed: 300/400 level)

Dante’s Divine Comedy (ITL 395)

Byzantine Art: Theory and Practice (Byz 400)



Elementary Italian Courses: learn Italian in only 4 weeks!!!   

As we always say to all our participants, De Rada is one of the best program in Italy to learn Italian at the elementary level.  You can go to San Demetrio Corone and know just how to say "ciao", and in four weeks you will be able to understand and to handle a conversation in Italian.  The secret is our excellent teaching techniques, our "real-life" activities and your full immersion experience.  Remember that your Italian new friends and the local people in a small community such as San Demetrio Corone, will talk to you day and night only in Italian. In the town some people can also speak English, but they prefer to use Italian with our students.

 

Italian Language and Film Production Courses/Labs (For students of ITL 101-102; 103-104; ITL 205-206; 301-302 & 305). This is a unique opportunity for all students to participate in the production of the independent movie "Il ritorno di Norman" by Renato Guzzardi. Students from the elementary to the advenced level will collaborate to write and prepare some scenes of the movie in which they also will perform as actors/actresses. 

 

From Script to Image (ITL 206/305. Taught in Italian. 6 credits). This innovative special course is designed for students who already had at least 4 semesters of Italian or equivalent. Students will be engadged in writing some parts of the screenplay for the movie "Il ritorno di Norman" by Renato Guzzardi. They will also work on the preparation of the scenes and will perform as actor/actresses. Moreover students will watch movies based on famous novels and will analyze them by comparing the plot of the original story to the screenplay used for each movie. Reading of articles, reviews and interviews about the fims watched in class will enrich this unique course.  


FILM 401: Field Experience in Film Media (3 credits. Taught in English)/Cross listed with: FILM 351: Topics in Film Media Production (4 credits. Taught in English. Only available in the June-July section): Students will work with an Italian director on an independent film. Program participants will be involved in all aspects of pre-production and production, including screenwriting, filming, and editing. Those who are interested can also participate as actors in the movie. For this activity students will earn 3 credits. The film course will be taught by Nery Villanueva, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Film Studies at Salve Regina University (I section), and by Prof. Robert Manteiga (roberto@uri.edu), distinguished Professor of Hispanic Studies, Comparative Literature and Film Media of the University of Rhode Island (II section). Prof. Villanueva and Prof. Manteiga will also be supervising the production course and overseeing all activities.

Renato Guzzardi, independent filmmaker and Professor at the University of Calabria, will be directing the film Il ritorno di Norman based on the travelogue Old Calabria (1915) written by British writer and journalist Norman Douglas.

Moreover, screenwriter and director Eva Benedikt from the Boston area will be working on another independent film in Calabria at the time called Illegal, and may be interested in offering a few of our more experienced production students the opportunity to collaborate with her. The movie will produced by Nuovo Film, a production company of the producer Demetrio Loricchio.

(Prerequisite for URI students: FLM 110, Intro to Film Production. Those who do not have  this prerequisite can only hope to transfer the credits as FLM 2XX).

Italian Cinema & Documentary Film (3+1 credits. Taught in English. Italian majors must write their essays and final project in Italian). ITALIAN CIN-ITL 315. If there are enough students, we are going to offer two sections, one in Italian and one in English.  (For URI students only: please note that ITL 315 counts for the major in Italian, for Film Media and for Foreign Language/Cross Culture).

An additional credit is given for an original documentary film on Calabria which students are going to shoot in Italy. Instructor and documentary supervisor: Robert Manteiga (roberto@uri.edu), distinguished Professor of Hispanic Studies, Comparative Literature and Film Media, University of Rhode Island.

I. Course Description

This course surveys the development of Italian cinema from the fascist era of the Cinecitta` to the present day.  The focus will be on Italian Neorealism and its influence on post-neorealist Italian auteurs and film genres. Films will be examined in a historical/aesthetic context.  The instructor will comment on both the ideological and stylistic aspects of the films.  Lectures by the instructor are designed to (1) give the students a basic understanding of film and the film-making process, (2) provide insights into the director and his work, and (3) offer social, political and cultural background information necessary for a better understanding of the film.

II. Texts:

(you must buy these books before you leave your country):

There will be daily reading assignments from the two texts indicated below.  These must be done prior to viewing the films.

Louis Giannetti, Understanding Movies =UM required

Giorgio Bertellini, The Cinema of Italy =CI required

Timothy Corrigan, A Short Guide to Writing About Film=highly recommended

 

Films will be selected from the following list 

May-June section with Prof. Villanueva:

Cinema paradiso (1988), Giuseppe Tornatore

Mediterraneo (1991), Gabriele Salvatores

Il ladro di bambini (1992), Gianni Amelio

Caro diario (1993), Nanni Moretti

L’America (1994), Gianni Amelio

Il postino (1994), Michael Radford

La vita è bella (1997), Roberto Benigni

Malèna (2000), Giuseppe Tornatore

La stanza del figlio (2001), Nanni Moretti

Rosso come il cielo (2006), Cristiano Bortone

Gomorra (2008), Matteo Garrone

 

June-July section with Prof. Manteiga:

(clip of) Rome Open City (1945), Roberto Rossellini

The Bicycle Thief (1948) & Umberto D (1952), Vittorio De Sica

La Strada (1954) & 8 1/2 (1963), Federico Fellini

Rocco and his Brothers (1960) &

Death in Venice (1971), Luchino Visconti  

Accattone (1961), Pier Paolo Pasolini

Divorce Italian Style (1961), Pietro Germi

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) Sergio Leone

Bread and Chocolate (1974), Franco Brusati

Seven Beauties (1975), Lina Wertmuller

Padre padrone (1977) Paolo and Vitorio Taviani

Cinema Paradiso (1988), Giuseppe Tornatore

Johnny Stecchino (1991), Roberto Benigni

 


Italian Language and Cooking Courses/Labs (For students of ITL 101-102; 103-104; ITL 205-206; 301-302 & 305).

Our new courses will combine our experience in teaching and our great cuisine. The 100 level students will study the vocabulary and grammar related to the Italian cuisine, plus discover the secrets of traditional recipes, before they will learn how to cook some delicious Italian dishes. The 200-300 level students will read Italian short stories, poems, essays and articles about the history and tradition of Italian cuisine and will prepare incredible Italian meals.

 

 

            

 

 For more pictures visit our Photo Gallery

 

 

Italian Drama: Theory and Performance (6 credits. Taught in Italian) 

-Origins and developments of the Italian Comedy  (3 credits). ITL 301/Cross listed ITL 325, 455 (M-F, 9-10:50 am).

-Italian Advanced Oral expression: from the page to  the stage (3 credits). ITL 302/Cross listed  ITL 326, 465.

Taught in Italian. For students with an intermediate-advanced knowledge of Italian.  Instructor: Prof. Walter Valeri,  M.F.A. Art/MAXT Institute at Harvard University. E-mail: ITCNE@aol.com.

Prerequisite:  Italian C 205 -206 or permission of the Director  Prof. Michelangelo La Luna  e-mail laluna@uri.edu.

 

I. Courses Description:

These two complementary courses examine dramatic texts of Italy’s leading playwrights: from Ruzante (Angelo Beolco), Carlo Goldoni, Luigi Pirandello to Dario Fo. Students will read and analyze extracts of several dramatic masterpieces.  Italian 301 requires students to write a brief final essay whereas  Italian 302 culminates in  a student performance in Italian open to the faculty and other  students. In doing so, students will refine their knowledge of the origin of one of the most enjoyable genres of dramatic literature ever produced in Europe. They will develop their Italian oral expressiveness and interactive communication as well as acquire techniques that will assist them in any forum where public speaking and performance are key to effective communication. Learning Italian is in many ways analogous to staging a text. Both disciplines call upon the mind and the body – the cerebral and the mechanical, if you will - to work in concert. The dramatic texts motivate the students to speak and write in Italian by developing situations that inspire them to use language. This process encompasses imagination, communication, and cooperation among students. Furthermore, the humor of the texts offers a pedagogical context in which to reflect on comedy as it relates to the social realities of life in Italy and beyond. The two courses include a review of Italian grammar in context, while reinforcing and expanding the four basic communication skills of listening, speaking, reading and some writing.

II. Textbooks:

Franco Fido, La commedia del cinquecento ( free on line)

www.italica.rai.it/rinascimento/saggi/commedia_cinquecento/index.ht

Niccoló Machiavelli, La Mandragola – Atto I – (free on line)

www.classicitaliani.it/index008.htm

Ruzante (Angelo Beolco), Vita e opere (free on line)

www.it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruzante

Carlo Goldoni, Le avventure della villeggiatura - Atto I, II,II

(free on line) www.classicitaliani.it/index105.htm

Luigi Pirandello, Enrico IV – Atto I - (free on line)

www.classicitaliani.it/index026.htm

Dario Fo, Morte accidentale di un anarchico

edited by J. Lorch, Manchester University Press 1997 (Bilingual suggested edition).

Other materials (videos  and texts) will be commented and distributed in class.

 

Mistero Buffo by Dario Fo. Summer 2007 life performance.

 

Walter Valeri founded and taught this successful course at Harvard University from 2000 -2007. He is the author of various essays, plays and collections of Italian poems, including Donna de Paradiso (2006) and Deliri Fragili (2006). From 1980 to 1996 he worked with Nobel laureate Dario Fo, serving as his personal assistant.  He has edited a standard sourcebook on Dario Fo, Fabulazzo (1994) and on Franca Rame, Franca Rame: a woman on stage (2001). His essay on using the theater as tool for learning and perfecting the Italian language will appear in the collective volume Set the stage! Italian Language, Literature, and Culture through Theater (Yale University Press 2008).

 

La Locandiera by Carlo Goldoni 2002 Harvard Summer School performance at the De Rada Institute

 

For more pictures visit our Photo Gallery

 

 

ITALIAN DC-ITL 395: Dante’s Divine Comedy (3 credits. General Education Course. Taught in English. Cross listed with ITL 481) (A)* (F)*

Reading in English translation of Dante’s chief work.  Analysis and interpretation of the Divine Comedy from the social, religious, philosophical, and political viewpoints of the Middle Ages.  Dante’s Divine Comedy is a masterpiece of the Western literary tradition and a great synthesis of Medieval culture and society.  Through textual and critical analysis, students will interpret the language and the cultural content of the Divine Comedy.  Secondary readings will be assigned for further interpretation of the most important passages of La Divina Commedia.  In the past the course has been taught by Dante Della Terza, Professor Emeritus, Harvard University, which is considered one of the best Dante scholars in the world.  We hope he can come back this summer and teach for us.

Books: Any edition of the Divine Comedy (for more information see the list of editions suggested below in the description of Dante's course).

 

ITALIAN AU-ITL 455: Selected Italian Authors (3 credits. Taught in Italian). 

Students will explore the literature of the 20th century through the works of major contemporary Italian writers and poets such as Luigi Pirandello, Umberto Saba, Eugenio Montale, Salvatore Quasimodo, Italo Calvino, Cesare Pavese, and Antonio Tabucchi (the selection will be made by the instructor).  The course maybe taught by the distinguished literary critic Dante Della Terza, Emeritus Professor of Harvard University, and by Gianni Mazzei, writer and poet and professor of Liceo Classico (Trebisacce) and of Universita' La Sapienza a distanza in Rossano (CS).  Our lessons and special guests will provide students with a unique opportunity to improve their writing skills and their ability to analyze literary texts.

 

 

BYZANTINE ART 400. Byzantine Art: Theory and Practice. Course taught by the Maestro Rita Chiurco (rita.chiurco@alice.it) one of the best iconologist in Italy.

 

Ten days course for a total of 30 hours (600 Euros per person).

The course includes an historical and theoretical introduction with slides show on the origin and colors of iconography and is followed by the painting of an icon representing the face of Christ. The theory will last four days and the practice six days. The entire icon material (gesso, wood, colors etc.) is included in the course fee. Course program includes the following:

 

-       The origin of the iconography

-          The iconographer

-          The board and its preparation

-          Drawing

-          Gilding

-          Choosing and preparing pigments

-          Egg tempera

-          Painting

-          Calligraphy

-          Final varnish “olifa”

 

 

Rita Chiurco: Pantocrator

 

Four days course for a total of 10 hours (100 Euros per person).

This short course is divided in two days of theoretical introduction and two days in which student can assist to the preparation of an icon by the Maestro Chiurco. 

 

Two days course for a total of 5 hours (50 Euros per person).

This course includes one day of theoretical introduction and one day in which student can assist to the preparation of an icon by the Maestro Chiurco.

 

 

  Rita Chiurco: Madre di Dio

 

   

Please contact us at info@derada.comwithany questions, concerns or comments. Thank you.
De Rada Italian Institute¨ 37 Kingston Hill Ct., Kingston, RI 02881 USA¨www.derada.com
Centro Internazionale di Studi Deradiani¨San Demetrio Corone (CS) 87069 ITALY ¨ tel-fax 0984-956049/tel. 0984-956165/fax 0984-956998 ¨info@derada.com

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