CULTURAL HISTORY

Academic year
2025/2026 Syllabus of previous years
Official course title
STORIA CULTURALE
Course code
LT5320 (AF:576069 AR:323163)
Teaching language
Italian
Modality
On campus classes
ECTS credits
6
Degree level
Bachelor's Degree Programme
Academic Discipline
M-STO/02
Period
1st Semester
Course year
3
Where
VENEZIA
Moodle
Go to Moodle page
The aim of this course is to study the European early modern history through the cultural and political uses of information and its influence in Western society, literature and culture. Long before the invention of printing, let alone the availability of a daily newspaper, people desired to be informed. In the pre-industrial era news was gathered and shared through conversation and gossip, civic ceremony, celebration, sermons, and proclamations. The age of print brought pamphlets, edicts, ballads, journals, and the first news-sheets, expanding the news community from local to worldwide. This groundbreaking book tracks the history of news in ten countries over the course of four centuries. It evaluates the unexpected variety of ways in which information was transmitted in the premodern world as well as the impact of expanding news media on contemporary events and the lives of an ever-more-informed public.
Based on arguments described above, the student is expected to be
- able to consolidate the acquisition of the key concepts of modern history
- able to critically interpret the use of theoretical concepts in the study of specific realities and in the interpretation of sources.
General knowledge of European modern history.
The content will concern the relations between information, book market, society, culture and politics in early modern history. In particular
1) how news was gathered and shared through conversation and gossip, civic ceremony, celebration, sermons, and proclamations
2) the birth of the age of print brought pamphlets, edicts, ballads, journals, and the first news-sheets, expanding the news community from local to worldwide

For all students:
1) Andrew Pettegree, "L'invenzione delle notizie. come il mondo arrivò a conoscersi", Torino, Einaudi 2015 (available in English edition)

2) Antonio Trampus, "Giacomo Casanova. il mito dell'avventuriero", Roma, Carocci, 2025
Oral examination. International students please contact the professor for further details and English texts.
oral
0-17/30 = failing grade
18-22/30 = sufficient rating
23-26/30 = good
27-30/30 = more then good / very good
30/30 e lode = excellent
Frontal lesson, PowerPoint, online sources, Moodle, Podcast design

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development

Definitive programme.
Last update of the programme: 15/06/2025