Is Italy just a country of mama’s boys, family dinners, and amoral familism? In this Italian conversation course, we watch and discuss – in Italian – movies that portray and mock families and family relationships. By analyzing films by Federico Fellini, Roberto Benigni, Ferzan Özpetek, Paola Cortellesi, and other famous directors, we reflect on traditional and queer notions of family, as well as on the role of comedy in representing the evolution of Italian society from fascism to the present. Please note that this course is conducted entirely through the medium of Italian and involves friendly and informal conversations in small groups and as a class. Because our focus is on communicative skills, this course is a great way to brush up on your Italian and it is open to participants of various levels, but you should have more than a year of experience studying Italian and be reasonably comfortable discussing present and past events in Italian in order to make the most of this class. If you have doubts about your current language level, please email the instructor.

COURSE FORMAT
This is an interactive online seminar course that meets weekly over 8 weeks. Live online sessions will use the zoom platform. Weekly reading or other forms of materials may be assigned. Weekly sessions will be recorded and available for registered participants to access throughout the course.
There are no papers or grades. This course does not offer any credits or certificates. This course is intended for learning for the love of learning.

COURSE MATERIALS
Required Viewing
This course requires additional purchase of materials. Each participant is asked to watch one film per week. Most movies can be purchased or rented via Amazon.com; the instructor will provide links to the ones that are not available online.

Optional readings/viewings:
- John Foot, The Archipelago: Italy Since 1945, London, Bloomsbury, 2018
- Pier Paolo Pasolini, Comizi d’amore [Love Meetings], 1964

Optional Italian language resources:
- Gatti, Fabia, e Stella Peyronel, Grammatica in contesto. Strutture e temi di italiano per stranieri, Firenze, Loescher, 2006
- Free MOOC (massive open online courses) Italian language courses by Wellesley College- https://www1.wellesley.edu/italianonline


Registrants will receive access to the course website and the zoom links about two weeks before the course starts.

COURSE CANCELLATION POLICY
Registrants can cancel and receive a full refund up to March 10. After March 10, there will be no refunds issued.
Yale Alumni College courses are subject to schedule changes as well as cancellations. If Yale Alumni College must cancel any course prior to its start due to low enrollment, you will be notified of this by the cancellation date. Upon cancellation of a course, registrants may transfer their registration to another available course or have the registration fee fully refunded.

In the event of a disruption to the original course schedule, including but not limited to; Professor absence, hazardous weather conditions, or local travel restrictions, Yale Alumni College will do its best to reschedule the missed class for the week immediately following the original end date at the same course time and day.

Image:“Parenti serpenti”, film di Mario Monicelli