One of the three famous names for Bologna is “the Learned.” Easy to guess why! Founded around 1088, Bologna is home to the oldest university in the Western world. Its history is one of great thinkers in the sciences and the humanities, making it an indispensable point of reference in the panorama of European culture. Continue reading Bologna La Dotta (The Learned)
Bologna owes the name “la Rossa” to its famed red buildings and to the fact that it is the birthplace and the home of Italy’s political left. With streets like embroidered cloth threaded with arches of continuous colonnades, now a UNESCO world heritage site, the heart of Bologna is a giant cloister. Above and behind its porticoes, Bologna is a rose-red city of unique churches and undiscovered palaces. The E.C.Co. program’s aim is its students’ cultural and linguistic immersion in the Bolognese and Italian social environment. Continue reading Bologna La Rossa (The Red)
Bologna is renowned for its cuisine. Tortellini, tagliatelle, ragù and many other traditional dishes draw visitors to Bologna from every corner of the world. The E.C.Co. program helps students experience this delicious aspect of the local culture by offering a cooking course.
Bologna has an extraordinary artistic and historical heritage. Aside from its treasure-filled churches, Bologna’s world-renowned Pinacoteca Nazionale is home to some of the greatest Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces in the country, including works by Raphael, Lavinia Fontana, the Carracci brothers, Guido Reni, Guercino, and many others. The E.C.Co. course Renaissance and Early Baroque Art in Bologna: From Vitale da Bologna to Domenichino and Guido Reni takes students out of the classroom and into the churches, palaces, and museums to investigate Bologna’s key role in the art world between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. Continue reading If art is your focus
Bologna is home to a world-renowned institution devoted to the promotion, study and preservation of film, the Cineteca di Bologna. Its Cinema Lumière screens a huge selection of movies throughout the year, with a rich program that features independent movies, rarities, classics, animated and silent films (sometimes with live music). Continue reading For cinema buffs…
Are You a STEM Student? UniBo Has the Perfect Course for You!The University of Bologna has 39 world-class STEM departments and offers hundreds of courses each semester. Popular among E.C.Co. students are Molecular Physiology, and Cognitive Neuroscience. Working with your advisor back home, the E.C.Co. staff can help you find exciting courses appropriate for your major that may incorporate an experience in science labs, which will give you a glimpse into current research at the University of Bologna.
Students who intend to take STEM courses are recommended to complete modules 1 and 2 of the Unibo online courses for Health and Safety Training for Study and Research Areas before their arrival in Bologna. The modules are mandatory for attending laboratories that some STEM courses may have. The courses are available in English and can be completed in e-learning.
For more information, please visit this link.
You can find the courses at these links:
Course: Module 1 – Safety General Training | Virtuale (unibo.it)
Course: Module 2 – Safety Specific Training – Low risk | Virtuale (unibo.it)
Unibo online courses for Health and Safety Training for Study and Research AreasStudents who intend to take STEM courses are recommended to complete modules 1 and 2 of the Unibo online courses for Health and Safety Training for Study and Research Areas before their arrival in Bologna. The modules are mandatory for attending laboratories that some STEM courses may have. The courses are available in English and can be completed in e-learning.
To access the courses, please visit this link.
When you think of Italy, your mind probably goes straight to art, literature, music, and the other liberal arts.But did you know that the University of Bologna has 39 world-class science departments, as well as science museums and specialized libraries? The Department of Computer Science and Engineering in Bologna is no exception. It consists of more than 60 professors, 44 PhD Students, 41 Permanent Research Fellows, 7 Temporary Research Fellows, and 18 Technical and Administrative Staff and promotes scientific research in all areas of Computer Science. Continue reading Major in Computer Science?
With the oldest university in the western world and a unique European Museum of Students (MEUS),“the Learned” Bologna is most certainly a city focused on education. Only a few miles away, the internationally recognized “Reggio method” of early childhood education was developed by Loris Malaguzzi and Continue reading If you are interested in Education
Students interested in human rights and social justice can count on both in-house and UniBo courses, as well as the opportunity to volunteer at one of many local and international organizations.E.C.Co. offers the course Cultural and Social Models in Contemporary Italy, which includes visits to the key sites of the city’s legacy of resistance and struggle for Continue reading Interested in Human Rights and Gender Studies?
The University of Bologna is home to a prominent Department of Political Science and International Relations. With students coming from many countries around the world and its prestigious faculty, it is one of the best departments of its kind in Italy. Within SPBO (Scienze Politiche Bologna), E.C.Co. students can choose from a wide range of courses in Continue reading Opportunities in International Relations
In 1806, the British writer George Tappen wrote in his description of Bologna: “The most remarkable feature in this city are the arcades on which the houses are built. In rainy weather the inhabitants may walk from one end of it to the other without the least annoyance Continue reading If you are interested in Urban Studies/Architectural History
The course Italian Workshop Laboratorio Italiano is designed to provide you with cultural, methodological, and linguistic competencies to enhance your intellectual and academic life in Italy and at the University of Bologna. Through this course, you will explore topics spanning various disciplinary fields (literature, art, cinema, history, science) that can enrich your understanding of Italian culture and society over time.
During the first part of the semester, the Laboratorio Italiano lessons introduce you to themes related to the history of the city of Bologna. Our course of study begins with medieval society, progresses through Renaissance and Baroque art, and culminates in the ideology of the anti-fascist Resistance in Bologna. Continue reading Italian Workshop – Laboratorio italiano
Any understanding of the basic character and cultural models of a nation must begin with an examination of the rights that have been established and of the social pact that has been established and updated between citizens and State. Continue reading Cultural and Social Models in Contemporary Italy
The course focuses on the theme of disobedience from the second half of the 18th century to the opening decades of the twentieth. Observing how literature, science and the press approach acts of disobedience to societal norms allows to us to understand by way of contrast how the ideal rules of behaviour for men and women—”the good Italian”—in the pre-and post-unification periods were defined. The texts studied in the course illustrate the birth of an ideology that sets out to establish in Continue reading The Disobedient, the Abnormal and the Criminal in Italian Literature of the Long Nineteenth Century
The goal of the course is to trace a path through Italian artistic production, with a chronological span encompassing the second half of the nineteenth century through the end of the twentieth century. The focus on Italy will be presented in close relationship with European and extra-European experiences, as contemporary art is not confined to a single geographic location. Continue reading Modern Italian Art: 1860-2000
The rich artistic patrimony of Bologna is a powerful testament to the city’s great cultural importance over the centuries.Due to its favorable location, as well as to the presence of its ancient and distinguished university, Bologna has always been recognized for its great geo-political importance as a place from which many new ideas were diffused Continue reading Renaissance and Early Baroque Art in Bologna: From Vitale da Bologna to Domenichino and Guido Reni
Italy occupies a central position in the Mediterranean area and most of its territory is characterized by Mediterranean ecosystems. Mediterranean ecosystems are subject to strong anthropic pressures and are particularly sensitive to climate change which causes drought, fires, and sea level rise, resulting in losses of biodiversity and habitats, pollution and degradation of ecosystems and negative socioeconomic effects. Continue reading Mediterranean Ecosystems in Italy: Ecology, Vulnerability, and Protection
The course has two components: a first part in which students view and discuss Italian films featuring cities in Emilia Romagna, including Federico Fellini’s “Amarcord” (Rimini), Florestano Vancini’s “La lunga notte del ’43” (Ferrara), Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Il deserto rosso” (Ravenna), Renato De Maria, “Paz” (Bologna), and Pupi Avati, “Gli amici del bar Margherita” (Bologna). Continue reading The Cities of Emilia-Romagna on film
Students will explore the offerings in theaters in Bologna and possibly in other cities. This course helps prepare students for the performances of specific plays that are on in Bologna in the Spring semester. The course unfolds in three discrete steps that correspond to its title: (1) study and discussion in the classroom of the dramatic text (if one exists, for the performance; if not, a text in relation to the subject of the performance); (2) field trips to the theater; and (3) evaluation of the performance through classroom discussion and writing assignments. Continue reading From Page to Stage and Back Again
Based on the study of selected Italian cities in the north-central region, the goal of this course is to provide the tools to identify the historical and urban factors that have shaped the region Emilia-Romagna and its urban centers, primarily Bologna. Thanks to its well-preserved ancient historical center, Continue reading To Read a City: Urban History of Bologna since the Medieval Period (not offered in Spring 2025)
This course traces the history of Western science from the late Middle Ages to the scientific revolution from an Italian perspective. It aims to account for the transformations of scientific discourse over nearly six centuries by integrating the traditional narrative of epoch-making discoveries and advances with an exploration of the contexts within which science was not only practiced and disseminated, but also criticized and opposed. Continue reading History of Science in Italy from the Late Middle Ages to the Enlightenment
