Fellini, Foccacia and Friendship: My Two Weeks Studying at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

This winter, I completed my last communications elective by taking the Italian Masterpieces: Portrayal of a Culture through its cinema course at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. I decided to take this course because I love international films and I am Italian, so I saw it as a good way to practise my speaking and learn more about Italian cinema.

I would highly recommend studying this course at UniCatt. Each day, our tutor Mara, a screenwriter and university lecturer, would deliver presentations that covered various topics. They ranged from an overview of a director’s life and work (such as Federico Fellini) to the history of Italian cinema more generally. Then, we would have one or two of our classmates present on the film that we had watched the day before. Finally, we would watch our daily film which the next individual or pair would present on the next day. We also visited the Interactive Museum of Cinema on a class excursion which was a lot of fun.

Our classes ran from 9am – 2pm each day, and we would have a 10-15 minute break prior to watching our daily film. This was just enough time to run to the café down the road, practise ordering an espresso in Italian (with plenty of praise and encouragement from the lovely barista), and run back to the classroom in time for the film screening. As the class finished at 2pm, we had plenty of time to explore all that Milan had to offer. Some highlights for me were eating at Osteria del Gnoccho Fritto in Navigli (with unlimited fried gnocchi – definitely go on an empty stomach and order less than you think you need), walking around the Duomo area, and taking a trip to the Prada Foundation which has incredible contemporary art. The Prada Foundation café was designed by Wes Anderson!

There were only nine participants which meant that everyone really got involved with the content and the film discussions. I had classmates from UTS, but also from America, the Netherlands, Mexico, the UK and Canada. We all enjoyed going out for meals and drinks after class to get to know each other.

As other blogs have said, Milan is close to locations like Lake Como, the Cinque Terre (a must-see – I went before the course started) and Portofino for weekend trips. The high-speed train is relatively inexpensive and very efficient. I enjoyed visiting Lake Como on my free weekend, however, book ferries out of Como town to other locations like Bellagio in advance. It is nearly impossible to catch one in the height of summer without booking well in advance.

If you enjoy international films, I could not recommend this course any more. Milan is a great city for student living, and there is plenty to do as a student studying a global short program.

Georgia Zocco
Bachelor of Communication (Public Communication)/Bachelor of Laws
Italian Masterpieces: Portrayal of a Culture through its Cinema, Italy
Global Short Programs Travel Scholarship recipient