Welcome to the Department of Italian

In the most recent Research Assessment Exercise (2008), 95% of our research activity was judged to be internationally recognized, internationally excellent, or world-leading. This result built on the grade 5A obtained in RAE 2001 and confirmed Italian at Bristol as a major department in the discipline of Italian Studies. The department's research success has been fostered by a growth in the number of staff in line with the undergraduate population, and by a shared interest in cultural studies. The research interests of the seven members of the academic staff feed directly into courses taught at all stages of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. A particular strength of the department is the study of Italian linguistics; a major AHRB-funded project on dialectology has attracted a notable increase in the numbers of postgraduate students.

The undergraduate degree programme at Bristol combines the traditional and the innovative. With highly qualified native Italian speakers specialising in language teaching and progression, language learning is in constant evolution. The culture courses taught are designed to develop skills in cultural criticism rather than literary appreciation in a more traditional sense. Teaching in this area is enhanced by immediate contact with lecturers' research specialisms, which cluster in three main areas: Medieval and Renaissance literary and cultural history; Twentieth-century Italian culture; and Italian linguistics.