Italy
Contemporary Italy: A Country in Crisis?
June 10-18, 2009
Itinerary
This 9-day seminar begins in Ferrara and ends in Naples. Participants should plan to fly home or on to further travel from Naples. Itinerary not available. Currently in development.
Seminar Fee
CIEE Member: $3,125 Non-Member: $3,325
Academic Content (please note this is tentative and subject to change)
Lectures
- The Contemporary Italian Political Context – The Return of Berlusconi and the Eclipse of the Left
- The New Italy: a Multi-cultural Society or a Return to Fascism?
- Organized Crime in Contemporary Italy
- Italy: The View from the South
- Ferrara as a Renaissance ‘Capital’ (visual arts, urban design, Italian poetry, the Este family, etc.)
- Ferrara’s Jewish history (Jewish Community, the Ghetto, World War II deportations to the present)
- Ferrara and the Hermitage
Co-curricular Site Visits & Field Trips
- Guided Walking Tour of Ferrara, ‘The Ideal City’ (includes Este Castle)
- Meeting with City Council
- Tour of the Hermitage Collection if open
- Palazzo Schifanoia and Ferrara’s Renaissance Heritage
- Guided Tour of Naples and Historic City Centre
- Valpolicella Vineyard Tour and Guided Wine Tasting
Rationale
This seminar gets beneath the surface of the serious problems facing Italy today. Discover the reality behind the questions raised in the media in Italy and abroad concerning democracy, the economy, organized crime, immigration, terrorism and race relations. Has the Italian left ceased to be an effective force in Italian politics? Is there a risk of returning to a modern version of the fascism of the ‘ventennio’, as some commentators have suggested? Or is political debate dying out, as economic challenges enforce a kind of universal resignation in the political community? Talks from expert speakers tackle these issues in two locations: the beautiful surroundings of mediaeval and Renaissance Ferrara and the vibrant, history-filled Naples.
Host Institution
The University of Ferrara was founded in 1391 and during the 15th and 16th centuries was transformed into one of the most important cultural centers of the Italian Renaissance. Nicholas Copernicus is just one noteworthy graduate of the university. After the unification of Italy, the University of Ferrara became a free university. Faculties and departments include history, archaeology, philosophy, languages and literatures, education, architecture, physics, mathematics, and natural sciences. There are approximately 12,000 students enrolled with a teaching staff of 600.
Seminar Leadership
Richard Chapman, born in Wales and a resident of Ferrara since 1994, is the Resident Director of the CIEE Study Center in Ferrara. He received his undergraduate degree in history from the University of Cambridge and his Masters in English Language Teaching and Professional Development from the University of East Anglia, UK. He has taught English as a foreign language since 1987 in Germany, Italy, and England. Since 1999, he has taught English in the Department of Languages at the University of Ferrara. Richard is also in the process of writing a series of English language textbooks for Italian secondary schools that coincide with his research interest in the field of language testing.
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