Italian, BA, Concentration

There are innumerable reasons why people should learn Italian. Italy is one of the founders of the European Union, it enjoys the world's sixth-largest economy, and its geographic position in the Mediterranean has a strategic role in worldwide diplomatic and political relations.

The Italian language is not only a means of communication. It also expresses the soul of a people: its roots, its history, its culture. In the modern world where globalization tends to level and homogenize different cultures, it is vital to keep alive, through the study of the Italian language, a culture that has always played a prominent role in the Western tradition.

Italy has always been the country of la dolce vita, of a relaxed lifestyle, of natural and artistic beauty, of superb regional cuisine. Italy is the ideal place to enjoy a vacation. Therefore people study Italian to visit its beautiful cities, to know its enormous artistic patrimony — the richest in the world — to find a more humane dimension in this chaotic, frenetic, materialistic society. Italian is the language of Dante, Petrarca, Machiavelli; it is the language of poetry, music and opera, of dolce far niente. That's why it is the fourth most taught language in the United States and the fifth in the world.

At a college where most students spend a semester of their sophomore year in Rome, the Italian program at the University of Dallas is particularly useful. Our permanent campus at Due Santi has brought to our university many students from all over the United States and gives them one of the most memorable experiences of their formative years.