Centre For Italian Studies - Taormina, Sicily
Location
Italy: Taormina
Description
The Center for Italian Studies in Taormina, Sicily, passionately dedicates itself to the study of the Italian language and culture
Semester programs and Short term programs for undergraduate as well as graduate programs are available and for Italian Studies Courses and for Italian language immersion
Italian Studies courses, taught in either Italian or English, are offered in art history, literature, cinema, history, archaeology, politics and humanities.
Syllabi for programs are available for faculty members to review prior to approval of academic credits for study abroad in Sicily courses.
Students may directly transfer credits into their home university or earn US university credits through Auburn University.
Our Center for Italian Language and Culture is a hosting institution for several Italian Departments and Study Abroad Programs, for whom we have developed programs for independent students or faculty led customized programs.
Our U.S. based Academic Advisor will be very happy to assist independent students to facilitate enrolment and orientation and to work with faculty in developing faculty-led programs.
We look forward to welcoming you and your students to Taormina to experience the warmth of Sicilian hospitality and the regions rich historical, literary and artistic culture.
Highlights
Our Italian language courses can be the beginning of an unforgettable journey in Sicily. From Taormina, it is very easy to get to Syracuse, volcano Mount Etna, the Eolian Islands, Catania, Piazza Armerina and Noto. And traveling a little bit further to Palermo, Selinunte, Segesta, Agrigento, Erice. And many more are the treasures of Sicily.
Do you already know our town, Taormina and our island, Sicily?
Taormina has very ancient origins: in its Bay of Naxos, in 735 B.C., the first Greek colonizers landed and founded their first colony (Naxos) which was later to become the Magna Grecia. After them, whoever ruled over the Mediterranean Sea left their 'footprints' on this wonderful island. Would you like to know Taormina a little bit better' Click on Taormina and have a look at our photo album and if you have time, go for a virtual walk in town among its monuments, its history and its beaches.
Taormina can also be the basis for a trip in Sicily to discover the roots of the Sicily's culture and traditions. As W. J. Goethe wrote in 1786: "Without Sicily, Italy cannot be fully understood. It is here one finds the key to all things. Sicily has been at the centre of the Mediterranean See and therefore of the European interests, for more than 2.000 years, until the 'discovery' of the New World.
At the time of Dante Alighieri there was already a discussion among academics about which should be the national Italian language: that of the writers and poets of the courts of Frederick II or that of the court of the Medici in Florence. Then the divine Comedy was written and this put an end to the discussion. But it is in Sicily that the national theatre has its origins, with the tragedies written by Eschilo, Euripide, Aristofane. It is here that the genius of Archimedes anticipated the genius of Leonardo da Vinci. And it was the culture of the Magna Grecia that fed the Etruscan civilization, first and the Latin civilization, afterwards, making Rome 'Caput Mundi'. Click on myths of Sicily, if you want to know more about them.
Two of the Nobel Price for literature were Sicilians: Pirandello e Quasimodo. But many are the Sicilian writers who are fundamental in the history of the Italian literature: Verga, Capuana, Rosso di San Secondo e Tomasi di Lampedusa. And still nowadays the contribution of Sicily to the Italian literature is immense: Vittorini, Sciascia, Bufalino, Consolo e Camilleri.
The same in music: from the 'cantastorie' telling the stories of the French Paladins to the Opera composer Vincenzo Bellini. The same in paintings: from Antonello da Messina to Renato Gattuso. And in fashion: from Mariella Ferrera to Dolce & Gabbana.
Not to be forgotten are also the treasures of the eno-gastronomy: from pasta alla Norma to caponatina, from cannoli to pasta reale, from Marsala wine to Malvasia.