Italian Studies and Italian American Studies

The Minor in Italian and Italian American Studies is an interdisciplinary program exploring the variety and richness of contemporary Italian and Italian American Culture. The program offers courses on cinema, the graphic novel, food culture, the visual arts, popular music and literature. The course of study is supplemented by a study abroad program in Florence, the annual Italian Experience festival in September, the Italian American Lecture Series, the office of the Association of American Educators, and the Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Professorship in Italian Studies and Italian American Studies.

Program Requirements

• Faculty

  Simone Castaldi
  Assistant Professor of Italian
  319 Calkins Hall
  (516) 463-5488
  Email | Bio

  Pellegrino D'Acierno
  Professor of Comparative Literature,
  Inaugural Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Professor of Italian and Italian American Studies
  Office: 322A Calkins Hall
  Phone: 516-463-6974
  Email | Bio

  Michael D'Innocenzo
  Professor
  (516) 463-5606
  301B New Academic Building
  Email | Bio

  Ilaria Marchesi
  Associate Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature
  304 Calkins Hall
  516-463-6454
  Email | Bio

  Stanislao Pugliese 
  Professor of History
  Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Professor of Italian and Italian American Studies
  (516) 463-5611
  307 New Academic Building
  Email | Bio | WWW

  Gregory Pell
  Associate Professor of Italian
  (516) 463-5437
  310 Calkins Hall
  Email | Bio

  Lori J. Ultsch
  Associate Professor of Italian
  (516) 463-4519
  310A Calkins Hall
  Email | Bio

  Maria L. Fixell
  Director, Hofstra in Venice
  Study Abroad Program
  107 Roosevelt Hall
  Hempstead, NY 11549
  (516) 463 4765
  Email

  Mary Anne Trasciatti
  Associate Professor, Rhetoric
  408 NAB
  (516) 463-5427
   E-mail | Bio

• Contact Us

  For more information on the minor in Italian studies or Italian American studies, please email:

  Dr. Simone Castaldi

  Associate Professor of Italian

  Simone.castaldi@hofstra.edu

  Dr. Gregory Pell

  Professor of Italian

  Gregory.M.Pell@hofstra.edu

  Dr. Stanislao Pugliese

  Professor of History

  Stanislao.G.Pugliese@hofstra.edu

  Dr. Lori J. Ultsch

  Associate Professor of Italian

  Lori.J.Ultsch@hofstra.edu

• Program Requirements

  The program consists of the successful completion of 18 semester hours of required and elective courses listed below and six hours in residence. Substitutions for and additions to the courses on this list, (i.e., HIST 177/178) may be made with the approval of the Italian Studies Advisory Committee.

  Visit the Hofstra Bulletin for a full listing of required courses and electives.

• Academic Resources

  The Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Professorship in Italian Studies and Italian American Studies

  UNICO is the largest Italian American service organization in the United States. Queensboro UNICO, a private non-profit organization, is composed of individuals of Italian ancestry dedicated to preserving Italian heritage through various cultural programs. In an effort to preserve Italian American culture in a positive light, a group of Italian American businesspeople have joined forces with Hofstra University to create and endow in perpetuity the Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Professorship in Italian Studies and Italian American Studies. The Distinguished Professorship was first held by Dr. Pellegrino D’Acierno. Hofstra History alumnus Dr. Stanislao Pugliese currently holds the position.

  Queensboro UNICO has also endowed a scholarship for a Hofstra University student studying Italian, Italian studies or Italian American studies.

  Association of Italian American Educators

  Hofstra University is home to the Association of Italian American Educators, located in the Department of History, 321 New Academic Building, South Campus.

  C.I.A.O. (Cultural Italian American Organization) is the student-run Italian club. Contact the group at hofstraciao@gmail.com, follow them on Twitter at HofstraCIAO or visit hofstra.collegiatelink.net/organization/hofstraciao.

• Italian American Experience Lecture Series

  The Italian American Experience Lecture Series, presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center, began in 1996. The lectures, organized by Dr. Stanislao Pugliese, focus on a different cultural theme every fall and spring semester. The series is currently sponsored by AIAE (the Association of Italian American Educators) and the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association.

  The Lecture Series current schedule.

• Study Abroad

  Hofstra in Venice (January Session) The city of Venice is the uncompromising setting for a three-week interdisciplinary program offered in January. Join us as we celebrate this city’s artistic and historical richness and explore her timeless myths and paradoxes. Features of the study abroad program include:

  • Two afternoons a week devoted to cultural tours around Venice.
  • Two free weekends to enjoy travel to other cities such as Florence, Rome and Milan.
  • Day boating excursion to Venice’s outer islands of Burano, Murano and Torcello.
  • Exclusive hotel accommodations at the San Giorgio and Mercurio hotels.

  For more information visit hofstra.edu/venice or email Professor Maria Fixell.

  Hofstra in Florence (Summer Session I)

  Become a citizen of the world in the heart of beautiful Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance and, historically, Italy’s most famous city of art, commerce, music, architecture, literature, and food. Florence is the ideal place to enrich your studies, your life, and your resumé with the global literacy skills required of students in the 21st century, all while earning 6 Hofstra credits at a reduced rate! For more information please visit https://www.hofstra.edu/about/administration/provost/abroad/abroad-hclas-florence.html or email Professor Simone Castaldi

  • Visits to Pompeii, Herculaneum, the volcano Vesuvius, the islands of Capri and Ischia, and the Amalfi coast.
  • Classes at the Sorrento Lingue Centro Linguistico Internazionale, located in the heart of historic Sorrento in a former convent, the Istituto Sant’Anna. The school is steps from the dramatic coastline. For more information visit hofstra.edu/studyabroad or email Professor Gregory Pell at or Professor Lori Ultsch.