The Culture of Magnificence

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: LIBERAL STUDIES PROGRAM STUDY TOUR

The Renaissance in Northern Italy: The Culture of Magnificence, 3 credits**

A Liberal Studies course in conjunction with “The Venice, Ravenna, Verona and the Po Valley” Study Tour, June 11-22, 2012

SYLLABUS

The goal of this course is give participants the unique opportunity to read and reflect on the political and cultural dynamics that shaped one of the most transformative periods of history, the Italian Renaissance. The philosophy of humanism that swept Italy was foundational to the development of Renaissance art and culture. Yet those ideas found a unique expression in the diverse political and social contexts of the princely courts of Northern Italy (Mantua, Ferrara, Verona); the Empire of Venice; the university cities of Padua and Bologna; and in the early roots of humanism found in the 5th and 6th century mosaics of Ravenna. In this travel course, we will examine the cultural monuments, art, architecture and ideas which both reflected and shaped the unique societal and political dynamics of each of these centers while at the same time they were to become universally resonant masterpieces of the highest ideals of western culture.

The course instructors and tour leaders will be Associate Professor of Philosophy, Francis J. Ambrosio, Director, Doctor of Liberal Studies Program, and Deborah Warin, Director, Renaissance Tours Company, LLC, former Director of Continuing Education and lecturer at Georgetown University, and author of the forthcoming book, Battista Sforza: Renaissance Queen. Together they have led more than 35 previous Liberal Studies tours to Italy.

The course, which can be taken for graduate or undergraduate credit** in the Georgetown Liberal Studies Program, includes the following additional elements:

  • Two on-campus classroom sessions prior to departure
  • Participation in the Study Tour Program
  • Required readings as described in the “Reading List” below
  • A research paper of approximate 7500 words (graduate) or 5000 words (undergraduate) on a subject of the student’s choice related to the course material and approved by the Instructors, to be completed upon return from the study tour.

READING LIST

Nicolo Machiavelli, The Prince

Baldesar Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier

Paul Johnson, The Renaissance

Jan Morris, The Venetian Empire

Robert Tavenor, Palladio and Palladianism

Alison Cole, Art of the Italian Renaissance Courts: Virtue and Magnificence

** Fourth Credit Option (undergraduate only): With permission of the Dean, undergraduate Liberal Studies students may opt to complete a fourth credit option involving additional reading and writing assignments as well as an oral examination which enables the course to fulfill the requirement for either the Medieval or Renaissance Core Course in the BALS program.