This course is taught in English and consists of nine free online classes prior to our trip to Italy. Each class lasts 60 minutes. It will explore and analyze the main historical events and social changes in Italy from the years of Fascism, Economic Miracle, social changes in the 60s and 70s to current events.

The course will concentrate on chapters from Paul Ginsbor’s

A History of Contemporary Italy-Society and Politics 1943-1988, one film and one documentary-film (both to be seen outside of class; one must be rented on Amazon), music and works of imaginative prose and poetry in order to offer an overview of modern Italian history with a focus specifically on

Rome and its social and cultural significance.

All the reading material will be posted online. Three classes will be enriched by the virtual visits of an Etruscan expert and a writer and a filmmaker whose works we will be analyzing. Following the Zoom meetings, our visit to Italy will place us on the stage where some of the events we discussed took place.