Italian

Page contents

• Programme overview
• Entry requirements
• Staff research interests

Programme overview

The Department of Italian has a strong commitment to excellence in both teaching and research. We promote a vigorous research culture in a co-operative and positive atmosphere in which postgraduate research projects and the research of staff can thrive.

The Department pursues the study of Italian culture in an interdisciplinary context that challenges traditional parameters of the discipline to advance knowledge in our areas of expertise. We currently have particular strengths in the literature, visual culture and cultural history of modern and contemporary Italy, and in the literary and cultural history of the medieval period.

Research groups

The Department has two broad areas of research expertise:

• Modern and Contemporary Italian Literature and Cultural History
Italian colonial / postcolonial cultures; representations of terrorism; visual culture and film; gender and sexuality; travel writing; autobiography; literary culture; representations of the South of Italy.

• Medieval and Early Modern Italian Literature and Cultural History
Dante; Boccaccio; medieval theory of language; early Italian poetry; reception studies; the history of the book.

Every member of the Department participates in the research clusters of the Arts Faculty and the School of Modern Languages. Staff in the Italian Department play an active role in the Centre for the Study of Colonial and Postcolonial Societies; Identity Formation in Political, Historical and Linguistic Contexts; Medieval Cultures; and Screen Research@Bristol.

Members of staff are currently involved in projects on Italian memories of Ethiopia and, supported by the AHRC, on Italian cinema audiences in the 1940s and 1950s. Colleagues are also deeply involved in the promotion of scholarship in Italian Studies, institutionally, nationally and internationally.

Postgraduate students are fully integrated into the research culture of the Department and participate in our programme of colloquia, workshops and lectures. You may also benefit from the Department's strong research links with universities in Italy, especially Cagliari and Naples.

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Entry requirements

MPhil: An upper second-class degree (or international equivalent). MLitt/PhD: A pass at MA level (or international equivalent).

For information on international equivalent qualifications, please see our International Office website.

Admissions statement

Read the programme admissions statement for important information on entry requirements, the application process and supporting documents required.

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Key research interests

Professor Charles Burdett, Italian culture under Fascism; the representation of colonialism; travel writing and theories of intercultural contact; the representation of the Islamic world in contemporary Italian society and culture.

Dr Rhiannon Daniels, Medieval and Renaissance Italian culture; the reception of Boccaccio; manuscript and early print culture; histories of reading.

Dr Ruth Glynn, Late twentieth-century Italian culture; representations of Italy's experience of political violence and terrorism in the anni di piombo; postmodernism and the Italian novel; philosophy of history; women and violence.

Dr Tristan Kay, Medieval Italian culture; Dante and early lyric poetry; modern literary appropriations of Dante.

Dr Catherine O'Rawe, Italian popular cinema; the reception of Italian film in post-war culture; Sicilian literature and culture; aesthetic exchange between Hollywood and Europe.

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