Viva L'Italia! Celebrating Italy

On March 17, 1861, after many years of struggle (the so-called Risorgimento) to liberate the Italian peninsula from centuries of foreign domination, the unity of Italy is proclaimed, and Turin becomes the first capital of the newly unified and independent kingdom. The capital is moved to Florence in 1865, and finally to Rome in 1871, when the geographical unification of Italy is completed. Italy remains a kingdom until 1946, when the Italian Republic is proclaimed through a people's referendum. The new Italian republican constitution becomes effective in 1948.

2011 marks the 150th birthday of Italy
In addition to offering various courses related to Italian language and culture, RIT celebrates the anniversary with a program that brings together, in a cross-disciplinary manner, various faculty from the Departments of Fine Arts, Modern Languages & Cultures, Philosophy, and Political Science in the College of Liberal Arts and from the Foundations Department in the College of Imaging Arts & Sciences.

The series of events celebrates the richness of Italian culture in the areas of arts, music, theater, film, history, political theory, and philosophy- not only after, but also before the political unification of a country whose collective identity and culture go back at least to the times of Dante.

Two outstanding personalities from the world of contemporary Italian culture will join RIT faculty in marking this important anniversary:

Mimmo Calopresti

The Italian screen writer, director, and producer Mimmo Calopresti will be present at the screening and discussion of one of his highly praised movies, La fabbrica dei tedeschi [The German Factory] (2008);

Ugo Perone

The Italian philosopher and public intellectual Ugo Perone will be a guest of the Philosophy Department during the week of May 2-6, and will present a series of lectures on various themes such as time, modernity, subjectivity, ethics and public space.

All students, faculty, staff, and all members of the wider community outside of RIT are invited to attend both in-class events and special performances, which will take place approximately once a week during the course of Spring quarter 2011 at various locations on the RIT campus.

For further details and information, see the Calendar of Events or contact us.

All events are free and open to the public. Registration is required for the open class lectures. To register, contact one of the organizers.

The program is sponsored by the Dean's Office and the Departments of Fine Arts, Modern Languages and Cultures, and Philosophy within the College of Liberal Arts, and by the Hale Lecture Series in Ethics.