Ita Journeys from Marco Polo

Catalog description

This interdisciplinary course investigates Italy's dual role as the home of legendary travelers and the destination for tourists over the centuries. Through a variety of texts-travel diaries, letters to kings and queens, maps, travel guides and film-we will explore the reality and metaphor of travel in the lives and works of pilgrims, poets, explorers and artists. We will consider three historical periods: the age of discovery (ca. 1300-1600), the grand tour (ca. 1600-1800) and the age of global tourism (ca. 1800- present). The course concludes with a virtual tour of various regions of contemporary Italy. As a final project, students will author their own travel guide to the Italian city (or cities) of their choice. Recommended for students who wish to further their cultural and linguistic preparation before studying abroad, this content-based language course emphasizes the vocabulary and idiomatic expressions necessary for travel in Italy. Conducted in Italian.