by Barbara Black

The Italian General Consul for Quebec and the Eastern Provinces, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, presented a cheque for $20,000 to representatives of Concordia on Oct. 29 at the consulate.

It will probably ensure the renewal of the contract for this year’s LTA professor in Italian. Dr. Cristina Perissinotto is a specialist in the concept of Utopia, 20th century literature and the teaching of Italian as a second language.

This is just one indication of the growing popularity of Italian as a subject of study within the Department of Classics, Modern Languages and Linguistics. In recent years, Italian has grown in terms of both program and interested students to a total of about 1,400, making it the second biggest section of the department after Spanish.

In fact, Professor Filippo Salvatore said the curriculum has been revamped to embrace the study of Italian culture rather than simply the language and literature. It now includes references to architecture, the arts, science, history and philosophical thinking, and to two significant Italian filmmakers, Visconti and Antonioni.

Salvatore himself teaches a new course on Italian feminist discourse from the Renaissance to the present. An early example is the Venetian Lucrezia Marinelli, who wrote a treatise under the challenging title On the Nobility and Excellence of Women, and on the Faults and Shortcomings of Men, in 1599.

Business Italian is proving a popular choice, both as a service course and for students in the Italian program. The two sections are taught by a specialist, Pier Luigi Colleoni.
The Italian section has a graduate component via the SIP (special individualized program). A master’s student is currently finishing a study of a major early-20th-century poet, Camillo Sbarbaro.

An undergraduate course will be given on a trial basis concerning literature by Canadians of Italian origin, and a student has applied to focus on this subject for a master’s degree. Another student plans to apply to do a master’s study of film representations of Canadian Italians. Professor Salvatore intends to pursue co-operation with McGill University, which has a graduate program in Italian.

Vice-Dean John Capobianco and Rector Frederick Lowy have met with officials of the University of Siena with a view to organizing exchanges or a summer program.

Dr. Salvatore presented a brief to the minister of education last June on behalf of the Italian community to recommend the teaching of Italian in the public and private school system, and was encouraged by the representatives of both political parties.