Difference between revisions of "Italian Department"

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The '''Italian Department''' also teaches Hungarian, inexplicably. Students can take advantage of the cultural offerings on hand at the [[Casa Italiana]], such as Mussolini's desk.
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The '''Italian Department''' also teaches Hungarian, inexplicably. Students can take advantage of the cultural offerings on hand at Columbia's Italian [[language house]], [[Casa Italiana]], including Mussolini's desk (yes, really).
  
 
==History==
 
==History==
  
The teaching of Italian at Columbia can be traced back about 200 years. The first professor of Italian literature at Columbia College was [[Lorenzo Da Ponte]], who was the librettist of several Mozart operas before emigrating to the U.S. He got the job through Columbia alumnus [[Clement Clarke Moore]].
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The teaching of Italian at Columbia can be traced back about 200 years. The first professor of Italian literature at Columbia College was [[Lorenzo Da Ponte]], who was the librettist of several Mozart operas before emigrating to the U.S. Although Da Ponte was the first to lecture on the works of [[Dante]] in America, his enthusiasm failed to prove infectious, and early Columbia students remained largely uninterested in the language.  
  
[[Category:Departments]]
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The department remains small and obscure to this day, although Casa Italiana is by far the grandest and best appointed of Columbia's language houses.
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[[Category:Italian Department|*]]

Latest revision as of 22:28, 6 September 2011

The Italian Department also teaches Hungarian, inexplicably. Students can take advantage of the cultural offerings on hand at Columbia's Italian language house, Casa Italiana, including Mussolini's desk (yes, really).

History

The teaching of Italian at Columbia can be traced back about 200 years. The first professor of Italian literature at Columbia College was Lorenzo Da Ponte, who was the librettist of several Mozart operas before emigrating to the U.S. Although Da Ponte was the first to lecture on the works of Dante in America, his enthusiasm failed to prove infectious, and early Columbia students remained largely uninterested in the language.

The department remains small and obscure to this day, although Casa Italiana is by far the grandest and best appointed of Columbia's language houses.