We are delighted to be able to continue our collaboration with OSHER ONLINE, an educational service that is offered by our "big sister" the Osher National Resource Center (NRC) at Northwestern University. This class is being run and organized by NRC staff. Sessions are live and will not be recorded.
The Southern Italian port city of Naples is home to a rich and complex history stretching back
to its foundation by Greek colonists in the 8th century B.C.E. Across the centuries, Naples
evolved into a vibrant cultural, political and economic center of the Mediterranean world, first
as a part of Magna Gracia, and later, under successive periods of Roman, Byzantine,
Norman, Angevin, and Spanish rule, on route to becoming the capital of the independent
Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1816. In 1861, Naples’s incorporation into the newly
unified Italian nation-state as a part of the Risorgimento initiated an era of modernization and
adaptation that persists to the present day.
In this six-week class, we will examine la storia e tradizioni of bella Napoli—a city famously
pieno di contradizione (“full of contradictions”). Aimed at students and travelers alike, the
course offers a virtual “grand tour” of Naples through a close examination of a dozen
Neapolitan monuments/historic sites reflective of milestones in the city’s historical
development from its origins through today, including: Castel dell’ Ovo, Spaccanapoli,
Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II , Castel Nuovo, the Duomo, Santa Chiara, i musei
Capodimonte e Archeologico Nazionale, Palazzo Reale, Teatro San Carlo, and the Galleria
Umberto I among others (including “side visits” to the city’s best pizzerias, food stalls, pastry
shops and cafes!)
Your instructors:
Dr. Anthony Antonucci is a global U.S. historian whose teaching and scholarship investigates the intersections of foreign relations, literary nationalism, ethno-racial formation and immigration policy in American politics and culture since 1750. Antonucci holds a PhD in U.S. History from the University of Connecticut, an M.A. in American Studies from the University of Southern Maine, and a B.A. in Political Science from Bard College. Antonucci’s scholarship has earned numerous awards, including a Fulbright IIE Research Fellowship based at the Archivio di Stato di Napoli in Italy.
Dr. Hilary Haakenson earned her PhD in Renaissance Art History from Rutgers University. Her teaching interests include: social/political commitment in art, cultural myths and geographies, and the intersections between art and philosophy. Her current research examines early Italian cartography and the grand civic monuments commissioned by several maritime cities in Italy. She explores how these maps and monuments visualized the cultural encounters occurring in and around the Mediterranean Sea, and how, in turn, art shaped the contemporary European visions of the world. She has been the recipient of several awards, including a Fulbright Fellowship.