Studying Italian at Stanford allows students to explore the many facets of Italian culture from a literary, historical, philosophical, and, more generally, interdisciplinary perspective, drawing it into an active dialogue with contemporary global culture. While receiving a strong foundation in the Italian tradition, students are encouraged to contextualize it with coursework from philosophy, political science, anthropology, film and media studies, art history, history of science, and medical humanities. The program is committed to forming PhD graduates capable of teaching Italian literature and culture at all levels but also articulate public intellectuals, able to connect their academic pursuits to real-world problems.