The Department of Italian Studies at New York University is recognized as one of the finest Italian programs in the country. We offer programs leading to the Master of Arts degree in Italian Studies and the Ph.D. degree in Italian. We share a beautiful historic brownstone just off Fifth Avenue in lower Manhattan as well as a mission with one of the premier Italian cultural institutes in the US: the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, hosting over 100 events a year, engaging diverse publics in reflecting on Italy’s heritage, traditions, history, and relevance.
Our graduate courses and seminars are taught by an outstanding faculty with specialization in key areas of Italian literature and cultural history. Specific strengths of the faculty lie in the fields of medieval and early modern studies, modern and contemporary literature and culture, film and media, modern and postmodern Italy, intersections of literature, music, and the arts, new technologies & the humanities, gender and performance studies, reception, cultural theory. We also offer courses taught by eminent visiting professors from Italy and the United States. The Tiro a Segno Fellowship in Italian-American culture, for instance, allows the department to appoint prominent scholars to teach courses concerning the experience and contribution of Italian immigrants and Italian Americans to American culture and society. And thanks to Casa Italiana’s support, we offer graduate courses taught by resident artists, writers, and filmmakers.
The Italian program attracts graduate students from all parts of the world. In addition to training capable and creative scholars, one of our objectives is to promote the effective teaching of Italian at all levels. To this end, students receive training in teaching and have the opportunity to teach starting in their second year. We also welcome qualified part-time students who wish to obtain a Master’s degree. For all students, an interdisciplinary approach is recommended: students are encouraged to enroll in additional courses outside of the department, e.g., courses in history, cinema, comparative literature, and the fine arts.
When it comes to funding, our students receive a generous package, including 5 years of graduate fellowship through NYU’s MacCracken program, independent of teaching opportunities for additional pay and competitive 6th-and 7th-year research and dissertation completion fellowships. They also have access to departmental summer fundings and exclusive NYU options for funded research abroad including Global Research Initiative Fellowships at NYU’s Global Sites, including Athens, Berlin, London, Madrid, Paris, Prague, Shanghai, Tel Aviv, Washington, D.C, but especially NYU Florence – Villa La Pietra and our exchange partner Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa.
Students enrolled in our doctoral program may take classes and meet other students in the Inter-University Doctoral Consortium with Columbia, CUNY’s Graduate Center, Fordham, The New School, Princeton, Rutgers and Stony Brook. They participate in vibrant NYU Italian Studies graduate initiatives such as reading groups, works in progress, guest lectures, peer mentorships, roundtables, workshops and conferences; and may pursue Advanced Certificates such as Poetics and Theory, Public History, Public Humanities, Museum Studies, as well as the Concentration in Medieval and Renaissance Studies through our partner, NYU’s Medieval and Renaissance Center.