First-Year Seminar: Italy's Invention of the Modern Museum

This course traces the development in Italy of what we know as the modern museum. Unfolding chronologically from the Renaissance to the current day, the course will examine the origins and rise of art, natural history, science, and national museums across the peninsula from Rome to Venice, Florence to Naples. We will study the establishment of the early public art museums epitomized by the Vatican Museums, the Uffizi Gallery, and the Capitoline Museums. We will examine the impact on national and cultural identity of Fascist propaganda museums instituted under Mussolini's regime, and we will conclude with an examination of extraordinary new museums in Italy, such as the interactive MUSME (Museum of Medicine) in Padua, and the MEIS (National Italian Judaism and Shoah Museum) in Ferrara. Art Curators, and Museum directors will visit our course. Taught in English.
Course Attributes: FYS; BU IS; AS HUM; AS LCD; EN H

First-Year Seminar: Italy's Invention of the Modern Museum

ITALIAN 247

Section 01