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"

There are no propedeuticities to respect.

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

Teaching

Traditional lesson with the teacher teaching the whole class, seminars, conferences with external scholars, support of multimedia materials.

Innovative teaching methods

Debate

Flipped classroom

Attendance

To be counted as “attending”, students must participate in at least 50% of teaching hours and/or, for example, have completed any classwork, exercises or other such activities organised by the lecturer during the course.

Course books

Miguel Gotor, L’Italia del Novecento. Dalla sconfitta di Adua alla vittoria di Amazon, Einaudi, Torino 2019 (no cap. I. For more details see Blended Learning);

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, Carocci, Roma 2023.

Assessment

For students that have attended at least 50% of the lessons, it will be possible to undertake the following examination procedure: 

1) a midterm written exam (of one hour), with open questions that will evaluate the learning of the textbook on the history of the twentieth century; 

2) a final written exam (of one hour and half), with open questions that will evaluate the learning of the course textbook on the history of the twentieth century and the monographic part of the course. 

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

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.

The oral 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 to rework concepts and to argue.

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 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 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 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.

Teaching

Students and non-attending students are invited to keep in touch with the teacher and view the teaching material uploaded to Moodle during the course.

The teacher is available for clarification, suggestions, and explanations by email, appointment, and Skype.

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, Einaudi, Torino 2019 (no cap. I. For more details see Blended Learning);

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, Carocci, Roma 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. 

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 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.