Rome in the Cultural Imagination

Catalog description

A center of artistic, cultural, religious, and political power, Rome has captivated the imagination of artists, politicians, and thinkers over its long history. Paradoxically, it is both a destination for religious pilgrimage as well as a center of licentiousness. This course, which considers Rome as both a city and an idea, follows the city’s long trajectory through magnificence and decay to focus in a particular way on the impressions of 19th- and 20th- century American travelers, many of whom were artists, writers, and filmmakers. This course is conducted in English.