COURSES AND CREDITS
LAS COLLEGE SEMESTER IN FLORENCE
Fall Semester, 2009

Many of these courses may be taken for Honors Program Credit.
Please see Honors Advisor for more information.

Group I
Arts and Humanities
[Students may enroll for up to 12 hours credit in this group]

Transfer # <-- Will transfer to ISU with a transcript showing a generic 300 or 400 number plus a course designator
Humanities
400		 The Tones of Florence
(3 credits – Dr. Carl Bleyle, ISU)
This is an interdisciplinary survey of the masterpieces of music, literature, painting, sculpture, architecture, mathematics, science and theology that made Florence, Italy the  center of humanism in the Renaissance.
Art History
300		 Dawn of the Renaissance
(3 credits – Dr. Kevin Murphy and staff, British Institute of Florence)
This is an introduction to the artistic innovations of painters, builders and sculptors of 14th century Tuscany - focusing on figures including Cimabue and Giotto, Duccio and the Lorenzetti brothers, the Pisano sculpture workshop and the architecture of Arnolfo di Cambio. Students will explore the artistic rivalry between the two cities of Florence and Siena and broaden their understanding of the art through consideration of the religious and social spheres of the period.
Music History
300		 Opera
(1 Credit – Dr. Matteo Sansone, NYU)
This course offers an interdisciplinary approach to the study of Italian opera and follows the evolution of the musical theatre from its earliest beginnings in Florence through to the 19th century. This historical survey concentrates on the most significant operas of Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini and will also consider the works of composers ranging from Jacopo Peri, Monteverdi and the masters of opera buffa, Cimarosa and Rossini. Each course consists of a series of lectures totaling twelve hours and the relationship between musical form and layout of the libretto is studied. Excerpts from different operas are first analysed as written texts and then presented on video recordings. Musico-dramatic features are evaluated with regard to specific productions.
Studio Arts
300		 Landscape watercolours
(1 credit – Artist Alessandra Raggionieri)
The course consists of eight classes, which will explore the different techniques and expressive possibilities used in watercolour painting. These will be applied and practised by the students, observing and portraying different locations within and around the city, in order to understand the city’s make up through the actual works painted. Each class will examine and apply a particular technique drawing on site in different locations.
Students must provide their own materials.  A list of what is required is available from the Admissions Secretary.
Art History
300		 Early Italian Renaissance Art
(3 credits) – staff, British Institute of Florence
15th century Florence: The city of the Virgin, dazzling monuments and pictures, the city driven by trade, commerce and banking, the city that defines the Renaissance. This course will examine this glorious period in art from 1400-1500 by considering the artistic inventions and styles, the religious and philosophical thought, the patrons, artists and humanists that contributed to the ‘material wealth’ of the Florentine Renaissance.
Painters: Masaccio, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Fra Angelico, Leonardo 
Sculptors: Donatello, della Robbia, Verrocchio
Architects: Brunelleschi and Alberti
Art History
300		 High Renaissance Art in Florence (3 credits – Dr. Kevin Murphy and staff, British Institute of Florence)
This course explores the period known as the High Renaissance in Florence, Rome and Venice and will broadly cover the period 1480-1580. It will focus on the cultural, religious and political context, the role played by patronage, the impact of classical antiquity, the artist as genius and artistic methods and approaches. Students will consider the work of the most prominent artists of the period including Cellini, Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Titian, Tintoretto and Bramante.
Humanities
300		 Special Problems: Humanities
(1-3 Credits – staff, British Institute of Florence/Iowa State University)
Political Science
300		 The Medici – The Politics of Power
(2 credits – Dr. Kevin Murphy and staff, British Institute of Florence)
Group II
Verbal Communication
[Students may enroll for up to 12 hours credit in this group]
WLC 100 Standard Beginning Italian
(4 credits – staff, British Institute of Florence)
WLC 200 Intermediate Italian
(4 credits – staff, British Institute of Florence)
WLC 300 Advanced Italian
(4 credits – staff, British Institute of Florence)
Group III
Natural Sciences and Mathematical Disciplines
History 300 Renaissance Science through the Arts, Architecture and Artifacts
(3 credits – Dr. Kevin Murphy, British Institute of Florence)
A close examination and discussion of scientific concepts as manifested in art, architecture and scientific instruments now housed in Tuscan museums. The works of Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Toscanelli, et al. will be studied for their scientific and mathematical content. The Society for the Study of Arts and Science is located in Florence and there is an observatory and astrophysics department at Arcetri (detention center for Galileo during his final years). This course is taken along with students from Bristol University.
 Group IV
Social Sciences
Political Science 300 Civic Politics in Florence
(3 credits – Dr. Niccolò Capponi)
Past courses have focused on Machiavelli and Politics, Galileo and Politics, and War and Politics. Dr Capponi’s The Victory of the West (The Battle of Lepanto, 1571) was published in 2006 by Macmillan.
This Additional Short Course may not transfer to ISU
[C]  Tuscan Cooking (offered every two weeks) ISU students are allowed to register for this free of charge;