Bryn Mawr College

Department of Italian

For the past decades, Italian has been an expanding field. The number of language students has increased steadily in the United States and extraliterary subjects, ranging from cinema to semiotics, now augment the traditional study of authors from Dante to Calvino.

In recent years, Italian majors have continued with graduate study in Italian, romance languages, English and Comparative literature. The Department takes pride in the fact that those majors who have elected to do graduate work in Italian have been accepted by the most prestigious graduate programs in the country and almost always by the school of their choice. Demand for Italian as a language of business, culture and travel also attracts many students to the department. Graduates benefit from knowing a living foreign language in the context of its cultural history. Above all, the department believes that studying the structure of the Italian language and its literary uses and pleasures prepares students for disciplined work in any field, and offers them a lifetime of stimulation and interest.

At Bryn Mawr, while Italian has been a major field since the College was founded, collaboration with other departments has always added a breadth and flexibility to the program in Italian. Students may choose a romance languages major combining French and/or Spanish with Italian or may major in Comparative Literature with Italian as a primary language. Some students combine Italian with work in other literatures, art history, political science, economics, or philosophy, according to their interests, for a double major or a major/minor combination.