Course Info

Browse the Course Catalog Course Search

Course Info for HIST - 229 - 01, Fall 2026
Class number: 3310 Title: Italian History in Four Keys Department: History
Career: Undergraduate Component: Seminar Session: Regular
Instructor's Permission Required: No Grading Basis: Regular Units: 1.00
Enrollment limited to 19 Current enrollment: 20 Available seats: 0
Start date: Tuesday, September 8, 2026 End date: Wednesday, December 23, 2026 Mode of Instruction: In Person
Schedule: MW: 11:30AM-12:45PM, SH - S204 Instructor(s): Cocco, Sean
Prerequisite(s): None
Distribution Requirement: Meets Humanities Requirement
Course Description:
Even if the modern Italian nation has a brief history dating to the nineteenth century, Italians are part of peninsular, regional, and urban histories that reach back many centuries. The vibrant and contradictory features of today’s nation reveal the existence of ancient substrates. This reading- and writing-based seminar examines four environmental features – stones, water, plants, and animals – that are threads connecting Italy’s national history to much older regional and local pasts, as well as to the future. Students will examine national history through four perspectives that complicate myths of nationhood. Students should expect to read from history, literature, and science, to examine historical documents, and to develop interpretations in classroom discussions and writing assignments.