Our guests guide us through the early history of the region and the rise and fall of the Roman Empire to the brilliance of the Renaissance and the modern day Italian Republic. We learn about the development of the operatic art form, take a close look at the life of the great Italian composer Guiseppe Verdi, and hear a selection of arias performed live by UI students. We discuss Italian cinema and the important role it’s played in not only telling Italy’s story but advancing the art of filmmaking. And we take a tourist’s look at this wondrous country, reflecting on the expectations of the first-time traveler and the observations of experience.

Hunter Sharpless, a UI English major now studying in Italy, Kathleen Kamerick, a lecturer in the UI History Department, and others begin the program with their thoughts on “a tourist’s Italy.”

UI professor and archaeologist Glenn Storey (Anthropology and Classics) discusses his field work and research into the lives of inhabitants of the Italian peninsula and Sicily. UI professor of Classics Robert Ketterer gives us an overview of the complex history of the area we now know as Italy, looking not only at the political and social changes over time but also at the prolific artistic contributions made by Italian artists from time immemorial.

Ketterer and Roberta Montemorra Marvin, associate dean of International Programs and noted Verdi scholar, discuss the origins of Italian opera some 400 years ago as well as the work of one of the giants in the operatic pantheon, Giuseppe Verdi. Shari Rhoads and students from the UI School of Music perform opera highlights and describe the exhilarating experience of studying and performing opera in Italy.

Not to be left out of the discussion is Italian cinema. Irene Lottini, a native of Italy and visiting professor of cinema at the UI, discusses how directors with fabled names like Visconti, Fellini, De Sica, Rossellini and Leone have influenced international cinema and their fellow directors over the last 75 years.

Our guests guide us through the early history of the region and the rise and fall of the Roman Empire to the brilliance of the Renaissance and the modern day Italian Republic. We learn about the development of the operatic art form, take a close look at the life of the great Italian composer Guiseppe Verdi, and hear a selection of arias performed live by UI students. We discuss Italian cinema and the important role it’s played in not only telling Italy’s story but advancing the art of filmmaking. And we take a tourist’s look at this wondrous country, reflecting on the expectations of the first-time traveler and the observations of experience.

Hunter Sharpless, a UI English major now studying in Italy, Kathleen Kamerick, a lecturer in the UI History Department, and others begin the program with their thoughts on “a tourist’s Italy.”

UI professor and archaeologist Glenn Storey (Anthropology and Classics) discusses his field work and research into the lives of inhabitants of the Italian peninsula and Sicily. UI professor of Classics Robert Ketterer gives us an overview of the complex history of the area we now know as Italy, looking not only at the political and social changes over time but also at the prolific artistic contributions made by Italian artists from time immemorial.

Ketterer and Roberta Montemorra Marvin, associate dean of International Programs and noted Verdi scholar, discuss the origins of Italian opera some 400 years ago as well as the work of one of the giants in the operatic pantheon, Giuseppe Verdi. Shari Rhoads and students from the UI School of Music perform opera highlights and describe the exhilarating experience of studying and performing opera in Italy.

Not to be left out of the discussion is Italian cinema. Irene Lottini, a native of Italy and visiting professor of cinema at the UI, discusses how directors with fabled names like Visconti, Fellini, De Sica, Rossellini and Leone have influenced international cinema and their fellow directors over the last 75 years.