Lorenzi P., Chomel L. Italia, civiltà e cultura

University Press OF AMERICA, INC.
Lanham Boulder New York Toronto Plymouth, UK
231pg
Italia: Civiltà e Cultura is divided into six sections: Geography, History, Art, Music, Literature and Cinema. These chapters treat each of the different subjects in chronological order. The subdivision by centuries of historical events and cultural movements appears to be arbitrary, but allows for a certain clarity and uniformity that fosters helpful connections for the reader. For example, when researching the Divine Comedy, one can find references to Dante’s time in both the History and Music sections. The separation of the various disciplines is artificial yet is conducive to learning since each exists within a common geographical and historical context subject to mutual influences.
These divisions, as such, are required for brevity and clarity. There remains for the instructor, accordingly, the task of integrating the various disciplines, suggesting parallels and illustrating significant connections between them to bring meaningfulness to the past. With the aim to facilitate readability, it was preferred to adopt the Presente Storico, the Imperfetto and the Passato Prossimo tenses rather than to fall back on the more traditional Passato Remoto, a tense that can be introduced in additional readings. Each chapter is complemented by suggested thematic itineraries to encourage active class discussion and is integrated with comprehension check questions to guide students through the reading and understanding of the subject matter. Ample freedom of choice is left for the instructor to develop sections of particular interest and to introduce material to expand and enhance the subject. Experience gained through years of teaching suggests not to require a superficial memorization of contents, but rather to develop new perspectives about the past thus allowing a better understanding of Italy today, in all of its richness, variety and contradictions.