VENICE AND THE CLASSICAL WORLD: HISTORY AND STORIES

This course is open to MA students from Ca' Foscari's International College. BA students are also welcome, but should contact the course tutor beforehand

Students attending this course will be able to:
- develop a critical approach to the study of the past
- use interdisciplinary sources (both textual and visual), in order to be able to get a fuller historical reconstruction
- learn a specific methodology and a technical vocabulary for doing research in the Social Sciences and the Humanities
- gain a fuller understanding of the history of the Venice region, from the 1st millennium BCE to present
- visit historic monuments and sites with a new perspective

No prior background is required. No prior understanding of Italian or Latin is required either, but at the end of the course students will be able to master some essential vocabulary.

What makes Venice unique from all the other large cities in Italy is that it did not grow on top of a classical (i.e., ancient Greek or Roman) settlement. Yet, throughout their history, Venetians have developed a complex and shifting relationship with the classical world, based on both conceptual and material connections. This course intends to explore the associations of the Venice region with earlier civilizations from a twofold perspective.
Students attending this course will be challenged to work simultaneously on different cultural periods, in order to understand how the notion of the past is a shifting one, whose uses may be adapted according to different historical circumstances.
The first part of the course will focus on textual and visual sources, which help us reconstruct the history of north-eastern Italy from the 1st millennium BCE to late antiquity (5-6th centuries CE), the time when the alleged birth of Venice took place. The goal of this section of the course is to introduce students from all backgrounds to the working methods of historical research. Greek and Roman literary texts and inscriptions, material evidence and visual artefacts will be fully discussed and analyzed, in order to understand their potentials as repositories of data and information.
The second part of the course will explore some uses of the past across Venetian history. In particular, we will investigate how classical antiquities have been approached, chased, studied, exhibited, used, and re-used, in order to shape multiple stories within different historical contexts. Our chronological framework will be as wide as possible, taking into consideration all periods of Venetian history, from the rise of Venice as a local settlement, to the time when it became a leading Mediterranean power, and, later, an iconic travel destination in the 19th and 20th centuries. This course goal will be pursued through outdoor classes and fieldtrips, which will take place in different locations in and around Venice (museums, churches, public spaces), in order to get a real experience of the presence of antiquities in the city and in the nearby lagoon.

A Course Pack with mandatory selected readings in pdf format will be provided by the instructor in the course Moodle.
Recommended further reading: Brown Fortini, Patricia (1996), Venice and Antiquity: The Venetian Sense of the Past, New Haven - London: Yale University Press.

Class participation: 20%
This part of the grading will be evaluated based on individual engagement, willingness to answer questions, and attention and response to classmates. Classroom sessions and fieldtrips are likewise important and interaction with the instructor and with the other course participants is highly recommended. Students who are reluctant to speak up, please talk to the instructor and the TA. Students are expected to behave properly in class: eating and drinking are not allowed, if not during breaks. Laptops, tablets and cell phones are welcome in class, but not for social media. Pen, paper and plain human intelligence are equally encouraged.
Readings and individual presentations: 20%
During the first part of the course, each student will be required to give an individual 10-minute presentation on one of the readings, in order to develop a critical approach to scientific literature. All students are likely invited to do the readings in advance, so that they may interact with the presenter and stimulate lively debates in class.
Group presentations: 30%
During the second part of the course, students will work in groups on selected topics related to the course, which will be the object of longer presentations (20 to 30 minutes)
Final Paper: 30%
The final paper (3,000 words) should develop critically one of the topics of the course (approved by the instructor), based on individual readings, the lectures, and the class discussions. The essay will be evaluated based on criteria of consistency, in-depth analysis, critical thinking, and clarity.

Teaching methodology will combine class lectures and fieldtrips to different sites in and around Venice,

scritto e orale

Questo insegnamento tratta argomenti connessi alla macroarea "Capitale umano, salute, educazione" e concorre alla realizzazione dei relativi obiettivi ONU dell'Agenda 2030 per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile