Programmes - Faculty of Humanities, first year of the undergraduate course

For the preparation for the admission tests, the following indications will be considered for the different tests.

In general, all the written tests will be assessed taking into account two general parameters: the relevance of the text to the chosen outline: quality of reasoning, clarity of exposition and grammatical and syntactical accuracy. During the oral tests the candidates' critical, expressive and argumentative capabilities will be assessed, as well as the accuracy and relevance of the notions utilised. Overall, the test will attempt to bring out not so much the cumulative possession of notions and information as the ability to deal with individual problems of an interpretative nature.

• Italian literature
• Latin
• Greek
• History
• Art history
• Philosophy

Italian literature

The written test will consist of the stylistic, metrical and historical-literary analysis of a text of the Italian tradition or the writing of an argumentative essay, starting from an outline that usually poses long-term literary questions. For a more precise idea of the texts and topics proposed, you can consult the collection of past test papers. The ability to place the detailed analysis of the text or literary phenomenon in its historical and cultural context will be positively assessed.

The oral test will consist of the reading, paraphrasing and comment on some passages from Dante's Divine Comedy and other classics of Italian literature and the discussion of issues of literary history, possibly extending to the European and international context. The test is designed to bring out not so much the cumulative possession of notions and information as the ability to analyse the text and to deal with problems of a historical-literary nature.

It is indispensable for candidates to prepare a selection of 30 cantos of Dante's Divine Comedy or a complete cantica. Candidates will be presumed to have acquired knowledge of the main authors and movements of Italian literature in their historical context from their high school textbooks, in particular the authors of the classics included in the list below.

For some of these, a complete reading and in-depth knowledge is strongly recommended (you are advised to read at least three of the following texts).

• Dante, Vita nova
• Petrarch, Canzoniere
• Boccaccio, Decameron
• Poliziano, Stanze per la giostra
• Machiavelli, Il Principe or La mandragola
• Ariosto, Orlando furioso (selection of cantos) or Satire
• Tasso, Gerusalemme liberata (selection of cantos)
• Galileo, Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo
• Goldoni, La locandiera or another comedy of your choice
• Parini, Il giorno or Le odi
• Alfieri, Vita
• Foscolo, Le ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis or Dei Sepolcri
• Leopardi, Canti or Operette morali
• Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi
• Verga, I Malavoglia
• D'Annunzio, Il piacere or Alcyone
• Pascoli, Myricae or I canti di Castelvecchio
• Svevo, La coscienza di Zeno
• Pirandello, Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore or Il fu Mattia Pascal
• Saba, Antologia del «Canzoniere»
• Ungaretti, Allegria di naufragi
• Montale, Occasioni
• P. Levi, Se questo è un uomo
• Morante, L’isola di Arturo
• Moravia, Gli indifferenti
• Calvino, La trilogia degli antenati

Also appreciated will be knowledge and direct reading of other texts, freely chosen from outside the list. The oral test may also involve other works in order to test candidates' capacity for personal critical reaction to literary texts.

You are also advised to read in its entirety one text of non-Italian literature; the list that follows contains some examples, although you are entirely free to choose a text not included in the list:

• Cervantes, Don Chisciotte, Part 1
• Murasaki Shikibu, La storia di Genji
• Shakespeare, Amleto
• Da Ponte-Mozart, Don Giovanni
• Goethe, Il primo Faust
• Balzac, Le illusioni perdute
• Baudelaire, I fiori del male
• Whitman, Foglie d’erba
• Flaubert, Madame Bovary
• Dostoevskij, Delitto e castigo
• Ibsen, Gli spettri
• Kafka, Il processo
• Woolf, Al faro
• Kavafis, Poesie
• Beckett, Aspettando Godot
• Garcia Marquez, Cent’anni di solitudine

The reading of two critical essays, chosen from among those proposed here below, will also be appreciated: these reading suggestions are to be understood as a spur to reflection on various literary issues rather than as test subjects.

• E. Auerbach, Mimesis, Einaudi 1956 (only: first part, chapters I, II, VIII, IX and second part, chapters IV, VIII, X)
• L. Blasucci, I tempi dei Canti, Einaudi 1996
• G. Contini, Un’idea di Dante, Einaudi 1970 (only Dante come personaggio-poeta della Commedia, pp. 33-62 of the 2001 edition)
• C. Dionisotti, Geografia e storia della letteratura italiana, Einaudi 1967
• G. Folena, L'italiano in Europa, Einaudi 1983 (only the chapter on Goldoni)
• D. Isella, I lombardi in rivolta, Einaudi 1984 (only Foscolo e l'eredità di Parini, pp. 79-102)
• G. Mazzacurati, Pirandello nel romanzo europeo, Il Mulino 1995
• P.V. Mengaldo, La tradizione del Novecento. Prima serie, Bollati-Boringhieri 1996 (only Da D'Annunzio a Montale, pp. 15-115)
• M. Santagata, I frammenti dell’anima, Il Mulino 1992
• A. Stussi, Breve avviamento alla filologia italiana, Il Mulino 2002
   

↑Top

Latin

The written test will consist of the translation into Italian (or into one of the other modern languages specified in the call) of a passage taken from a text of Latin literature. The passage proposed will present a degree of complexity commensurate with the best high school knowledge. The capacity for lexical, morphological and syntactical interpretation will be assessed. Assessment will be based on the number and type of errors. For the preparation of the written test you are advised to consult the "Translations of past years.

The oral test will consist of the reading and interpretation of various Latin poetry and prose passages and the discussion of issues of literary history. The test is designed to bring out not so much the cumulative possession of notions and information as the ability to deal, under the guidance of the commission, with individual issues of a linguistic and literary nature. The candidate will translate, with the aid of the commission, a passage of Latin poetry and/or prose. Candidates are advised to have some knowledge of the basic notions of prosody and metrics and the capacity for metric reading of the hexameter. Assessment will be made of candidates' knowledge, acquired from their high school textbooks, of the main authors and developments of Latin literature. For the preparation of the oral test, you are advised to consult the exercises on "text analysis".

You are strongly advised to read, in their Italian translation, some of the following texts in their entirety (indicatively three):

• Lucretius, De rerum natura
• Catullus, Carmi
• Cicero, De re publica o De Officiis
• Caesar: De bello Gallico o De bello civili
• Sallust: Bellum Catilinae o Bellum Iugurthinum
• Virgil: Bucoliche o Georgiche o Eneide
• Horace: Odi o Satire o Epistole
• Ovid: Metamorfosi o Heroides
• Seneca: De ira o Epistulae ad Lucilium
• Petronius, Satyricon
• Tacitus: Annales or Historiae
• Apuleius, Metamorfosi

The reading, even in part, of one of the following works will also be appreciated in order to draw from it some points for interpretative reflection:

• G. B. Conte, Il genere e i suoi confini, Garzanti 1984
• La Penna, Sallustio e la “rivoluzione” romana, 2^nd edition Mondadori 2018 (1^st edition Feltrinelli 1968)
• G. Rosati, Ovidio e il teatro del piacere, Carocci, 2022
• Segal, Il corpo e l’io nelle Metamorfosi di Ovidio, in Ovidio, Metamorfosi, Volume I (Books I-II), edited by A. Barchiesi, Valla-Mondadori 2005, pp. XV-CI (the reading is recommended in the same volume of the Introduction by A. Barchiesi, pp. CIII-CLXI)
• R. Syme, Tacito [original 1958 edition], translated into Italian by Paideia 2019 (some chapters of your choice)
• Traina, Lo stile drammatico del filosofo Seneca, Pàtron 1987

↑Top

Greek

The written test will consist of the translation into Italian (or into one of the other modern languages specified in the call) of a passage taken from a text of ancient Greek literature. The passage proposed will present a degree of complexity commensurate with the best high school knowledge. The capacity for lexical, morphological and syntactical interpretation will be assessed. Assessment will be based on the number and type of errors. For the preparation of the written test you are advised to consult the "Translations of past years.

The oral test will consist of the reading and interpretation of various Greek poetry and prose passages and the discussion of issues of literary history. The test is designed to bring out not so much the cumulative possession of notions and information as the ability to deal, under the guidance of the commission, with individual issues of a linguistic and literary nature. The candidate will translate, with the aid of the commission, short passages of ancient Greek poetry and/or prose taken from Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Plato or Plutarch. Candidates are advised to have some knowledge of the basic notions of prosody and metrics and the capacity for metric reading of the hexameter and of the iambic trimeter (you are advised to consult M. C. Martinelli, Gli strumenti del poeta: elementi di metrica greca, Bologna 1997). Assessment will be made of candidates' knowledge, acquired from their high school textbooks, of the main authors and developments of Greek literature, from its origins up to and including the second century A.D. For the preparation of the oral test, you are advised to consult the exercises on "text analysis".

You are strongly advised to read in their entirety, even if only in the Italian translation, five from among the following texts:

• Homer, Iliad: a book of your choice (the Mondadori edition, edited by F. Ferrari, is recommended)
• Homer, Odyssey: a book of your choice
• Pindarus, Olimpiche or Pitiche (in their entirety)
• Aeschylus: a tragedy of your choice
• Sophocles: a tragedy of your choice
• Euripides: a tragedy of your choice
• Herodotus: a book of your choice
• Thucydides: a book of your choice
• Aristophanes: a comedy of your choice
• Lysias, Contro Eratostene
• Plato: a work to be chosen from among Apologia di Socrate; Fedro; Simposio; Repubblica ( of the latter, a book of your choice)
• Demosthenes, Prima Filippica or Per la corona
• Aristoteles, Poetica
• Callimachus, Inni
• Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautiche: a book of your choice
• Plutarch: a Life of your choice from among Vita di Solone; Vita di Licurgo; Vita di Pericle; Vita di Alcibiade; Vita di Alessandro
• Longus, Dafni e Cloe: a book of your choice
• Nonno di Panopoli, Le Dionisiache: a book of your choice (the BUR edition is recommended)

The reading, even in part, of one of the following works will also be appreciated in order to draw from it some points for interpretative reflection:

• E. Dodds, I greci e l'irrazionale (the BUR edition of 2009 is recommended)
• M. Fantuzzi, R. Hunter, Muse e modelli. La poesia ellenistica da Alessandro ad Augusto, Laterza 2002
• B. Snell, La cultura greca e le origini del pensiero europeo, Einaudi 2002
• B. Williams, Vergogna e necessità, Il Mulino 2007

↑Top

History

The written test will consist of the writing of a historical essay on one of the titles proposed by the commission. The titles, which may cover the entire chronological span from the fall of the Western Roman Empire up to the present day, will present a degree of complexity commensurate with the best level of secondary high school knowledge. Linguistic competence and lexical properties will also be assessed. To this end, consultation of the past text papers is advisable.

The oral test will be aimed at assessing the candidates' level of knowledge of the main events and chronological frameworks of medieval, modern and contemporary history, from the fall of the Western Roman Empire up to the present day. The test is designed to assess not only the candidates' possession of notions and information but also their capacity to tackle, with the guidance of the commission, individual problems of a historical and historiographical nature. Candidates' capacity to collocate images and historical documents in their context will also be assessed.

For the study of the major issues of medieval history, the following text is recommended:

• Storia medievale, a cura di L. Provero e M. Vallerani, Le Monnier 2022 (2^a ed.)

For the study of the major issues of modern history, the following text is recommended:

• F. Benigno, L’età moderna, Laterza 2005 (o successive ristampe)

For the study of the major issues of contemporary history, the following texts are recommended:

• G. Sabbatucci, V. Vidotto, Storia contemporanea. L’Ottocento, Laterza 2018
• G. Sabbatucci, V. Vidotto, Storia contemporanea. Dalla Grande Guerra ad oggi, Laterza 2019

The reading in its entirety of at least one of the following works will be assessed (reference may be made to any edition):

• M. Bloch, Apologia della storia, Einaudi
• E.H. Carr, Sei lezioni sulla storia, Einaudi
• P. Veyne, I greci hanno creduto ai loro miti?, Il Mulino

Also assessed will be the reading in their entirety of at least two of the works listed below, chosen from different groups (reference may be made to any edition), and the candidate's capacity to collocate the author in his or her historical context.

The Middle Ages:

• M. Bloch, I re taumaturghi, Einaudi
• C. Casagrande, S. Vecchio, I sette vizi capitali. Storia dei peccati nel Medioevo, Einaudi
• G. Chittolini, La formazione dello Stato regionale e le istituzioni del contado. Secoli XIV e XV, Unicopli
• J. Le Goff, La nascita del purgatorio, Einaudi
• E. Le Roy Ladurie, Storia di un paese: Montaillou, un villaggio occitanico durante l'inquisizione, 1294-1324, Rizzoli
• J.P. Maire Vigueur, Cavalieri e cittadini. Guerra, conflitti e società nell'Italia comunale, Il Mulino
• G. Tabacco, Sperimentazioni del potere nell'alto medioevo, Einaudi

The Modern Age:

• R.H. Bainton, Lutero, Einaudi
• F. Braudel, Civiltà e imperi del Mediterraneo nell’epoca di Filippo II, Einaudi
• L. Colley, L'odissea di Elizabeth Marsh, Einaudi
• J.H. Elliott, La Spagna imperiale 1469-1716, Il Mulino
• F. Furet, Critica della rivoluzione francese, Laterza
• C. Ginzburg, Il formaggio e i vermi. Il cosmo di un mugnaio del Cinquecento, Einaudi
• G. Lefebvre, La rivoluzione francese, Einaudi

The Contemporary Age:

• A.M. Banti, La nazione del risorgimento. Parentela, santità e onore alle origini dell’Italia unita, Einaudi
• C. Browning, Uomini comuni. Polizia tedesca e “soluzione finale” in Polonia, Einaudi
• P. Dogliani, Il fascismo degli italiani. Una storia sociale, Utet
• I. Kershaw, All'inferno e ritorno. Europa 1919-1949, Laterza
• D.L. Landes, Prometeo liberato. Trasformazioni tecnologiche e sviluppo industriale nell'Europa occidentale dal 1750 ai nostri giorni, Einaudi
• S.A. Smith, La rivoluzione russa. Un impero in crisi (1890-1928), Carocci

↑Top

Art history

The written test presupposes a basic preparation in Italian art history commensurate with the best high school knowledge, from the Paleochristian Age up to and including the last century, based on the study of one of the more widely used high school textbooks currently in circulation. Depending on the era dealt with, these texts tend to widen the geographical horizon, going beyond Italy (including for example the French Gothic architecture or Impressionism): candidates will seek guidance from the textbooks also regarding this aspect. The test will consist of a single written answer developing an outline of your choice from among three or four proposed by the commission, with or without the aid of a selection of images (depending on the chosen outline). You are advised to consult the past test papers.

The oral test will start by referring to the written test, which will be submitted to further comments and possible in-depth scrutiny. The rest of the interview will consist of the reading and interpretation of various reproductions of artworks of differing type, chronology and geography proposed by the commission.

Recommended textbooks:

• S. Settis, T. Montanari, Arte. Una storia naturale e civile, several volumes, Mondadori 2019
• P. De Vecchi, E. Cerchiari, Arte nel tempo, several volumes, Bompiani 1995 (or subsequent editions)
• C. Bertelli, G. Briganti, A. Giuliano, Storia dell’arte italiana, several volumes, Electa-Mondadori 1986 (or subsequent editions)

Also very useful is the reading of this classic introduction:

• La storia dell’arte raccontata da Ernst H. Gombrich, Leonardo Arte 1995

In addition to the textbook or textbooks, the reading will be much appreciated of two or three texts of detailed study and of a methodological nature chosen from among those listed here below.

Questions of method:

• F. Antal, Classicismo e Romanticismo, Einaudi 1975, pp. 204-221
• E. Castelnuovo, Di cosa parliamo quando parliamo di storia dell’arte?, in Id., La cattedrale tascabile, Sillabe 2000, pp. 69-84
• E. Castelnuovo, Arte, industria, rivoluzioni, Einaudi 1985
• H. Focillon, La vita delle forme, Einaudi 1990
• O. Pächt, Metodo e prassi nella storia dell’arte, Bollati Boringhieri 1994
• E. Panofsky, La storia dell’arte come disciplina umanistica, in Id., Il significato nelle arti visive, Einaudi 1996, pp. 3-28
• M. Schapiro, Stile, Donzelli 1995
• E. Wind, Arte e anarchia, Adelphi 1986

Detailed study of the Middle Ages and the Modern Age:

• La scultura raccontata da Rudolf Wittkower. Dall’antichità al Novecento [1977], Einaudi 1985
• E. Kris, O. Kurz, La leggenda dell’artista: un saggio storico [1937] with a presentation by E. Castelnuovo, preface by E.H. Gombrich, Bollati Boringhieri 2013
• G. Previtali, La fortuna dei primitivi: dal Vasari ai neoclassici, Einaudi 1964 (or a re-edition with an introductory note by Enrico Castelnuovo, Einaudi 1989)
• M. Baxandall, Pittura ed esperienze sociali nell’Italia del Quattrocento, Einaudi 1978 (or one of the reprinted editions of subsequent years)
• J. Shearman, «Arte e spettatore nel Rinascimento italiano. «Only connect...», Jaca Book 1995
• R. Wittkower, Arte e architettura in Italia, 1600-1750 [1958], Einaudi 1972 (or subsequent reprinted editions)
• H. Honour, Neoclassicismo [1968], Einaudi 1980

Detailed study of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries:

• F. Rovati, L’arte dell’Ottocento, Einaudi 2015
• F. Rovati, L’arte del primo Novecento, Einaudi 2015
• Del Puppo, L’arte contemporanea. Il secondo Novecento, Einaudi 2013
• M. Schapiro, L’arte moderna, Einaudi 1986
• Scharf, Arte e fotografia, Einaudi 1979
• T.J. Clark, Addio a un’idea. Modernismo e arti visive, Einaudi 2005
• M. Schapiro, L’Impressionismo. Riflessi e percezioni, Einaudi 2008
• K. Varnedoe, Una squisita indifferenza. Perché l’arte moderna è moderna, Johan & Levi 2016
   

↑Top

Philosophy

The written test will consist of the analysis of and comment on a passage taken from a classic philosophical work or the discussion of one philosophical issue. The passage and the philosophical problem will present a degree of complexity commensurate with the best high school knowledge. You are advised to consult the past test papers.

The oral test will consist of the analysis and interpretation of works by the classic authors, chosen by the candidate from among the texts in the list presented here below, and the discussion of specific philosophical issues. Also assessed will be the candidate's basic knowledge, acquired through a good high school textbook, of the trends and the key figures of philosophical thought. The oral test of the admission competition will be based on the entire philosophy programme of the last three years of high school. Hence candidates will be considered as having acquired a knowledge of a textbook on the history of general philosophy.

During the test candidates must show that they possess a good knowledge of the history of Western thought, a suitable command of the philosophical lexis and an adequate analytical capacity. The test is designed to bring out not so much the cumulative possession of notions and information as the ability to deal, under the guidance of the commission, with individual issues of a philosophical nature.

For the purposes of the oral test, you are strongly advised to read in their entirety, even if only in the Italian translation, of at least three classical authors, one for each historical section, chosen from the list here below. Also appreciated will be knowledge and direct reading of other texts, chosen freely from outside the list.

Ancient and medieval philosophy

• Plato, Repubblica (Laterza)
• Plato, Teeteto (BUR, Laterza or other)
• Plato, Simposio (Laterza or other)
• Plato, Fedro (Laterza or other)
• Aristotle, Metafisica: books 1-3 (Utet, Rusconi or other)
• Aristotle, Etica Nicomachea (BUR or other)
• Aristotle, De anima (Laterza or other)
• Aristotle, Politica (Laterza or other)
• Augustine, Confessioni (Einaudi or other)
• Saint Thomas Aquinus, L’ente e l’essenza (Rusconi or Bompiani)

Modern philosophy

• N. Machiavelli, Il principe (Einaudi or other)
• G. Galilei, Dialogo dei massimi sistemi (Mondadori or Einaudi)
• R. Descartes, Meditazioni metafisiche (Laterza)
• T. Hobbes, De Cive (Editori Riuniti) or Leviatano, books 1-2 (Laterza)
• G.W. Leibniz, Discorso di metafisica (Laterza or BUR)
• B. Spinoza, Ethica: books 1-3 (Sansoni, Laterza or other)
• D. Hume, Ricerche sull’intelletto umano (Laterza)
• J.-J. Rousseau, Discorso sull’origine e i fondamenti della disuguaglianza fra gli uomini (BUR, Laterza or other)
• Kant, Prolegomeni a ogni metafisica futura (Rusconi or other), or Fondazione della metafisica dei costumi (Laterza or other)
• G.W. Hegel, Fenomenologia dello Spirito: Introduction and Preface (La Nuova Italia), or Enciclopedia delle scienze filosofiche, Introduction (Laterza or UTET)
• K. Marx, Manoscritti economico-filosofici del 1844 (Einaudi or Feltrinelli)
• Schopenhauer, Il mondo come volontà e rappresentazione (Mursia, Laterza or other)
• F. Nietzsche, La nascita della tragedia oppure Genealogia della morale (Adelphi, Laterza or other)

Contemporary philosophy

• H. Bergson, Saggio sui dati immediati della coscienza (Cortina)
• G. Frege, Senso, funzione e concetto (Laterza)
• M. Weber, Il lavoro intellettuale come professione (Einaudi or Mondadori)
• E. Husserl, Filosofia prima (Rubbettino or ETS)
• M. Heidegger, Che cos’è la metafisica (Le Monnier or Adelphi), or Logica. Il problema della verità (Mursia)
• S. De Beauvoir, Il secondo sesso (Il Saggiatore)
• J.P. Sartre, L'immaginario (Einaudi)
• W. Benjamin, L'opera d'arte nell'epoca della sua riproducibilità tecnica (Donzelli)
• H. Arendt, Vita activa (Bompiani)
• L. Wittgenstein, Ricerche filosofiche (Einaudi)
• M. Merleau-Ponty, L'occhio e lo spirito (SE)
• T. Kuhn, La struttura delle rivoluzioni scientifiche (Einaudi)
• W. van O. Quine, Da un punto di vista logico (Cortina)
• M. Foucault, Discorso e verità nella Grecia antica (Donzelli) or La volontà di sapere (Feltrinelli)

The reading of two critical essays, chosen from among those proposed here below, will also be appreciated: these reading suggestions are to be understood as a spur to reflection on various philosophical issues rather than as test subjects.

Ancient and medieval philosophy

• E.Havelock, Cultura orale e civiltà della scrittura (Laterza)
• J.-P. Vernant, Le origini del pensiero greco, Feltrinelli
• L. Strauss, Lezioni sul Simposio (ETS)
• E. Berti (edited by), Aristotele (Guide ai filosofi, Laterza)
• P. Porro, Tommaso d'Aquino (Carocci)

Modern philosophy

• Koyré, Dal mondo del pressappoco all’universo della precisione (Einaudi)
• E. Scribano, Angeli e beati. Modelli di conoscenza da Tommaso a Spinoza (Laterza)
• M. Heidegger, La questione della cosa (Guide)
• E. Cassirer, La filosofia dell'illuminismo (La Nuova Italia or Ghibli)
• La Rocca, Soggetto e mondo in Kant (Marsilio)
• R. Bodei, La civetta e la talpa. Sistema ed epoca in Hegel, Il Mulino, or Illetterati - Giuspoli - Mendola, Hegel (Carocci)
• K. Löwith, Da Hegel a Nietzsche, Einaudi

Contemporary philosophy

• M. Dummett, Origini della filosofia analitica (Einaudi)
• E. Nagel, J.R. Newman, La prova di Gödel (Bollati)
• S. Rosen, La questione dell'essere (ETS)
• H.G. Gadamer, Il movimento fenomenologico (Laterza), or R. Sokolowski, Introduzione alla fenomenologia (Ed. Santa Croce)
• H. Jonas, Organismo e libertà (Einaudi)
• P. Ricoeur, Il conflitto delle interpretazioni (Jaca Book)
• S.S. Wolin, Politica e visione. Continuità e innovazione nel pensiero politico occidentale (Il Mulino)

↑Top