Italian Culture and History as Portrayed in Postwar Italian Cinema

Wednesdays from 10:00am-12:00pm

May 13 – June 17, 2026 (6 weeks)

learn.slc.edu/courses/lifelong-learning-italian-cinema-and-culture-sm26

In this online course we will examine life and culture in Italy as portrayed in Italian cinema from the end of the war through the postwar reconstruction, the economic boom and its aftermath. Each week we will examine a major film from Italian cinema.

We will begin with one of the masterpieces of Neorealism, Vittorio De Sica’s “Ladri di Biciclette” (1948), and move on to films that belong to the genre of the Commedia all’italiana, specifically Federico Fellini’s “I Vitelloni” (1953) and Dino Risi’s “Il Sorpasso” (1962).

We will also discuss films that exemplify a variety of genres, styles and themes, such as Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Le Amiche” (1955, inspired by a book by Italian novelist Cesare Pavese), Fellini’s influential “La Dolce Vita” (1960) and Antonioni’s “Deserto Rosso” (1964).

Some of the themes we will explore are: life in postwar Italy, before or during the economic boom; family and community; gender; religion and state; history and politics; the rural past and Italy’s industrialization; tradition and modernity; isolation and alienation.

The class is discussion-centered; the first 30 minutes will be devoted to a short presentation of historically and culturally relevant facts helpful to understand the film under discussion, followed by Q&A; the remainder of the class will be structured as an open discussion in group with the aim of furthering the students' interpretation and understanding of the film and topics under examination.

Students are expected to watch the film assigned for each class so they can follow and participate in the discussion; they must have the ability to join the class via Zoom; on occasion, short background readings on relevant historical and filmic information might be assigned to facilitate the comprehension of the films.

All films will be available on Kanopy or online.

Class discussion will be held in English.