| Unit name | Renaissance Italy |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ITAL20046 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Rhiannon Daniels |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None. |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None. |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None. |
| School/department | Department of Italian |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Why is this unit important?
The Italian Renaissance is one of the richest and most culturally compelling periods in history. Writers and thinkers of the fifteenth century saw themselves emerging from a dark age into the light of a new age, filled with kinds of eloquence and beauty that hadn’t been seen since the fall of classical civilisation. Brunelleschi finished the dome on Florence cathedral; Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel in Rome; and, with the invention of printing, Venice became the centre of the European book trade.
In this unit you will travel through a set of places central to Renaissance life: courts (such as Mantua, Ferrara, Urbino), academies (such as the Accademia degli Umidi - Academy of the Wet - founded in Florence), print shops, and churches, pausing in each location to explore some of its key social, cultural and economic features, and to consider a literary text that was produced in that space. In this way you will build a good understanding of the relationship between texts and their contexts in sixteenth-century Italy.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
This is an optional unit which can be selected as a stand-alone unit. It does not require any previous knowledge of the Renaissance or of Italian literature. For students who wish to follow a pathway in pre-modern culture through the Italian programme, this unit builds on the Y1 option Medieval and Renaissance Italy, and complements optional units at Y2 and Y4 on Dante, Boccaccio’s Decameron, and the Italian City. You will gain an understanding of the diversity of literary texts that shaped the sixteenth century and reflect Renaissance values (lyric and narrative verse; prose dialogue; writing by men and by women), alongside secondary readings relating to social and cultural history. There will be opportunities to handle 16th-century books from Special Collections as well as to experience a Renaissance print shop and print your own text.
An overview of content
The unit takes a non-chronological approach to sixteenth-century Italy in order to emphasize the importance of diverse contexts: spaces and places, modes of publication and performance, gender and identity. Primary sources will reflect different modes of writing that were common in the Renaissance, e.g. Ariosto’s epic poem of love and war, which includes a trip to the moon as well as the invention of the hippogriff long before Harry Potter was born; Petrarch’s sonnets to his beloved Laura re-written by sixteenth-century poets keen to pass themselves off as fourteenth-century Tuscans. A selection of key cultural themes will be explored across the unit, such as humanism, literary imitation and influence, patronage, the development of a vernacular language, and debates about the status of women.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
You will have gained in-depth knowledge of a selection of literary texts composed and published in sixteenth-century Italy. You will be able to articulate how those texts reflect ways of thinking and issues that were debated during the Renaissance, and demonstrate an understanding of some of the social, cultural and economic factors that enabled authors to publish. You will have gained experience of working collaboratively to produce a group assessment, and taken responsibility for your own piece of extended writing, which will develop an independent approach to the subject matter.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the unit a successful student will be able to:
Contact time in class will be more or less equally divided between tutor-led lectures and student-led discussion. Tutor-led classes aim to provide an accessible starting-point for particular aspects of Italian culture which synthesize relevant aspects and set them within a wider framework. Lectures will be interactive and will include discussion and reflection. Tutor-led classes form the foundation for seminars based on student-centred discussion of primary sources you will have prepared independently. Both types of class will include small group work to enable you to test and explore ideas with your peers.
This unit will seek to engage with local resources, such as collections of sixteenth-century Italian books held in Special Collections, and the early modern hand-presses at Bristol Common Press. Where appropriate you will gain experience of working in these specialist facilities, working directly historic materials and applying historical knowledge to the creation of new materials.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative)
When assessment does not go to plan
When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the form or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are normally confirmed by the School shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the academic year.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. ITAL20046).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
