Italy in the contemporary world

The course provides students with the skills to understand and critically reflect on the facts, processes and interpretations of Italy in the contemporary world. It also constantly recalls the issue of the public use of history, intending to acquire critical reading skills of this phenomenon.

At the end of the course, students know, in a global context, the specific characteristics of the history of Italy in the contemporary age and, in particular, the social transformations and cultural policies of the twentieth century. They also include the main issues relating to the Contemporary era.

The course offers students the essential tools and knowledge to interpret, in a global context, the Italian history of the twentieth century through an analysis that takes into account the political, social, economic, mentality and customs. Some central interpretative nodes of Italy in the contemporary world are, therefore, addressed, privileging the perspective of the interweaving between political history, social history and cultural history. Following this direction, the course deepens the gender perspective through the analysis of the political militancy of a protagonist of the twentieth century, Teresa Noce, and the political history of the left in republican Italy, taking into account the emotions and passions that have involved entire generations and influenced the collective imagination.

Main topics:

Italy in the Great War

Fascism

Italy in the Second World War

The "Republic of Parties"

The economic miracle

The 1968 movement

The strategy of tension

Black and red terrorism

National solidarity

Feminism

The Moro crime

The economy in the eighties

The collapse of the "Republic of Parties"

The "Republic of the Anti-politics"

No bridging courses

Students have to reach these goals:
1.Understanding of the main issues and problems relating to research methodology in contemporary history. Knowledge of the main tools to do scientific research in contemporary history. 1.1. Students will attain this knowledge by participating in lectures and studying the scientific texts proposed by the teacher and discussed in the classroom.2. Applying knowledge and understanding: students should consolidate skills and ability to define simple research projects and to deal with some typical problems.2.1. Classroom discussions, tutorials, study of texts. 3. Capacity of judgment: students should achieve criticism about the methods used in the most common empirical investigations.4. Communication skills: discussion coordinated by the teacher on the course topics.4.1. Development of opportunities for dialogue in the classroom.5. Learning skills: development of critical skills, logic and problem analysis.5.1. Classroom discussions, tutorials, study of texts

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Video- Multimedia- Mixed media

Teaching

Traditional lesson with the teacher teaching the whole class

Innovative teaching methods

Debate

Flipped learning

Attendance

There is no obligation to attend

Course books

Miguel Gotor, L’Italia del Novecento. Dalla sconfitta di Adua alla vittoria di Amazon, Torino, Einaudi, 2019 (va escluso il capitolo I Dalla crisi di fine secolo all'età liberale);

Anna Tonelli, Nome di battaglia Estella. Teresa Noce, una donna comunista del Novecento, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2020;  

Gianluca Scroccu, Anna Tonelli, La sinistra nell’Italia repubblicana. Dalla Resistenza al campo largo, Roma, Carocci, 2023.

Assessment

For students that have attended at least 3/4 of the lessons, it will be possible to undertake the following examination procedure: 

1) a midterm written exam (of one hour), that will take place between the 17-22 April, with open questions that will evaluate learning of the monographic part of the course through the two exam texts (Tonelli and Mafai); 

2) a final written exam (of one hour), that will take place in the final lessons of the course, with open questions that will evaluate learning of the course text book on the history of the twentieth century. 

Both exams will be evaluated in marks out of thirty. Those who pass both tests can accept the grade, for their records, that represents a weighted average of both tests: the midterm equates to 1/3 of the grade, the final exam equates to 2/3.

Students can refuse this grade. In that case, they will have to take a final exam on the entire programme during the standard exam periods, through one oral exam. This will also be the outcome for those students who do not pass one of the written exams.

Excellent grades will be given in presence of: a good critical perspective and in depth study; knowing how to link among them the main subjects addressed during the course; the use of an appropriate language.

Good grades will be given in presence of:  good mnemonic knowledge of the contents; a relatively good critical perspective and connection skills related to the treated topics; the use of appropriate language.

Sufficient grades will be given in presence of: the achievement of a minimal knowledge on the treated themes, even in presence of some gaps; the use of a not appropriate language.

Negative grades will be given in presence of: a difficult orientation related to the the treated topics; knowledge gaps; the use of a not appropriate language.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Attendance

Course books

To provide the opportunity for non-attending students to balance out their individual study with the content of the lessons and gain a full understanding of the course, the programme includes following supplementary materials:

Miguel Gotor, L’Italia del Novecento. Dalla sconfitta di Adua alla vittoria di Amazon, Torino, Einaudi, 2019 (va escluso il capitolo I Dalla crisi di fine secolo all'età liberale);

Anna Tonelli, Nome di battaglia Estella. Teresa Noce, una donna comunista del Novecento, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2020;  

Gianluca Scroccu, Anna Tonelli, La sinistra nell’Italia repubblicana. Dalla Resistenza al campo largo, Roma, Carocci, 2023.

Assessment

The exam will be held through an individual interview based on textbooks suggested. The aim is to evaluate both student's comprehension of the content and his ability in reworking concepts and in argumenting. It is possibile to present a written document on a topic agreed with the teacher. 

Excellent grades will be given in presence of: a good critical perspective and in depth study; knowing how to link among them the main subjects addressed during the course; the use of an appropriate language.

Good grades will be given in presence of:  good mnemonic knowledge of the contents; a relatively good critical perspective and connection skills related to the treated topics; the use of appropriate language.

Sufficient grades will be given in presence of: the achievement of a minimal knowledge on the treated themes, even in presence of some gaps; the use of a not appropriate language.

Negative grades will be given in presence of: a difficult orientation related to the the treated topics; knowledge gaps; the use of a not appropriate language.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

The student can request to sit the final exam in English with an alternative bibliography.