MEDIEVAL AND HUMANISTIC PHILOLOGY

The course is part of the characterising educational activities of the Master's degree course in Italian Philology and Literature; it is also part of the characterising educational activities of the Philology, Literature and History of Antiquity of the Master's degree course in Sciences of Antiquity: Literature, History and Archaeology.
The Master's degree course in Italian Philology and Literature aims at an in-depth methodological knowledge in the field of Italian literature from the Origins to the 20th century and of comparative medieval and modern literature. Within this course, the teaching of Medieval and Humanistic Philology sp., included as an optional course in the Medieval and Byzantine programme, aims to provide students with basic elements of intellectual history of the late Middle Ages and of philological technique to critically read and prepare editions of Middle Latin texts and vernacular texts in relation to Latin texts.
The intellectual history of the 13th-14th centuries will be studied through one of the most interesting cases of translation of a vernacular text into Latin, namely the Devisement dou Monde/Milione by Marco Polo and Rustichello da Pisa.

By the end of the course, the student will have acquired the following knowledge: 
(1) knowledge of the relationship between the "Devisement dou monde/Million" and travel literature (13th-14th centuries); (2) knowledge of the Devisement dou monde/Million from the dual perspective of the history of the tradition and textual criticism; (3) knowledge of the disciplinary vocabulary;
In terms of skills, the student will refine (1) the ability to critically elaborate the bibliography related to the topics covered in the course; (2) the ability to work on case studies through the application of methods developed in the critical literature. In this way, the following competences, consistent with the course of study, will be developed: (1) competence in the use of philological instrumentation; (2) competence in the analysis, interpretation and comprehension of the texts presented in class; (3) autonomous reflection and re-elaboration of the topics dealt with.

Basic knowledge of medieval history, text criticism, Latin, medieval palaeography and codicology. It is preferable to have attended a course in Romance philology.

The course proposes the reading of the Devisement dou monde/Milione by Marco Polo and Rustichello da Pisa, a text that changed the perception and representation of Asia, and that significantly contributed to shaping the European imagination on Asia between the 13th and 15th centuries.
Through a reading by selected passages, the course intends to offer a presentation of the text starting from its manuscript tradition and the problems it poses (bi-authorship, no originals, presence of editorial variants, activism and multiple translation processes, in vernacular languages and in Latin); the specificities of some redactions will be analysed, in particular the Franco-Italian F, the Latin Z and P, and some cases of indirect tradition from the 14th and 15th centuries. Students will be asked to produce a written essay on passages selected.

Final texts and bibliography will be provided during the lectures.

(1) lecture notes and materials available on the moodle platform;
(2) A. Andreose, Raccontare il mondo. Storia e fortuna del Devisement dou monde di Marco Polo e Rustichello da Pisa, Alessandria, Ed. dell’Orso, 2020 (chap. 2, Il DM e il progetto editoriale di Rustichello da Pisa, pp. 5-22);
(3) Marco Polo. Storia e mito di un viaggio e di un libro, a cura di S. Simion e E. Burgio, Roma, Carocci, 2024 (chap. 1-4, 6, 8, 9).
The texts of the reference editions of "Devisement dou monde", all available in open access, will be indicated and provided in class.
Any hard-to-find text will be made available on moodle.

For all students, attending and nonattending, the examination consists of an oral test (approximately 40 minutes) and a written exercise, the topic of which will be indicated at the beginning of the course. In the first part of the exam, the written exercise will be discussed; in the second part, knowledge of the topics and texts analyzed in class, and of the reference bibliography will be tested.
Objectives of the assessment test: (1) to verify knowledge of the topics of the course (intellectual history; textual criticism; analysis and commentary of texts presented in class); (2) to verify the ability to reflect and rework independently on the topics covered; (3) to verify knowledge of the bibliography indicated in the syllabus. The final grade will be given in thirtieths.

In more detail, the assignment of the final grade, which will take into account the written exercise and the oral test, will be made as follows:
(1) range 27-30 cum laude: (a) good, very good or excellent knowledge of the syllabus; (b) good, very good or excellent ability to analyze texts; (c) good, very good or excellent command of philological language; good, very good or excellent ability of expression, argumentation and personal reworking;(2) range 23-26: (a) fair, but partial or disorganized knowledge of the examination syllabus; (b) fair ability to analyze texts, with uncertainties in exposition and argumentation; (c) fair command of philological language, with some imprecision in the use of the technical vocabulary of the discipline; (d) more than sufficient ability in expression and argumentation;
(3) range 18-22: (a) barely sufficient knowledge of the exam syllabus; (b) limited ability to analyze texts; (c) limited and barely sufficient expression and argumentation skills;
(4) negative assessment: little or no knowledge of the examination syllabus; (b) insufficient ability to analyze texts; (c) inadequate expression and argumentation skills.

Traditional lessons and seminar exercises.

Italian

oral