Italian studies: useful websites

This page lists useful, free internet resources for Italian studies. See databases for Italian studies for key online sources purchased by the University to help you find information in this subject.

Guides and tutorials

• Internet for Modern Languages
  One of a series of tutorials written for the Intute Virtual Training Suite, it is designed for students of Modern Languages and aims to improve Internet information skills, knowledge of key Internet sites, Internet search skills and critical thinking skills.
  
  
• Evaluating websites: a guide 
  Hints on assessing the reliability of information you find on the Internet.
  
  
• The web 
  A brief guide to finding information which includes links to the main search engines.

General Italian studies-related sites

• Italian Studies Web
  Many links to resources for Italian Studies compiled by Western European Studies Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries.
  
  
• Italica
  Italica was created in 1996, under the auspices of RAI International, the 'world service' of the Italian national broadcaster RAI (Radio Televisione Italiana). The objective of the site is to be a "Virtual campus of Italian language and culture on the WWW", and to promote and disseminate Italian language and culture worldwide. The site makes use of the vast documentary heritage in the RAI archives, so that users can read, watch, and listen to, archive texts, film/TV footage, and radio broadcasts.
  
  
• ReadingItaly - Italian Studies Postgraduate Forum
  A forum aimed particularly at Italian studies postgraduates, led by University of Reading research students, it gathers contributions from people working in the field of Italian studies, covering various aspects of Italian culture (literature, history, cinema, art, etc.)
  
  
• Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies
  The Subject Centre aims to support learning and teaching in languages, linguistics and area studies in UK higher education. It provides links to a variety of resources relating to the study of modern languages. Some are general or multi-lingual, others relate specifically to Italian Studies. It is part of the Higher Education Academy.
  
  
• Italian Language News and Magazines
  List of links to online newspapers and magazines, both regional and national.
  
  
• Internet culturale
  An online gateway providing access to digital resources on all aspects of Italian culture and literature, which is sponsored by the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali.

History

• Europeana
  Europeana is an authoritative single access point to millions of books, paintings, films, museum objects and archival records that have been digitised throughout Europe, courtesy of a number of European cultural and scientific institutions. Search results can be displayed as a grid, on a timeline or on a map.
  
  
• H-Italy discussion network
  H-Italy is an online resource focusing on scholarly topics in Italian history and culture. The website is concerned with the period ranging from the Middle Ages to the present and it is aimed at scholars and graduate students in Italian studies. Its primary purpose is to 'bring historians together electronically to discuss current research'. It provides links to reviews of new articles, books, papers, methods and tools of analysis, information about useful resources and primary sources as well as announcing calls for papers, seminars, fellowships, jobs and grants.
  
  
• WWW Virtual Library - Italian History
  The Italian History Index contains links to virtual resources produced in Italy and elsewhere in the world, which relate to the history of Italy.

Literature

• Biblioteca digitale della letteratura italiana
  

  This website gives access to the full-text of a number of works in Italian literature, taken from the publisher Einaudi's 10 Box CD-ROM on Italian literature.
  
  

• Biblioteca italiana
  The Biblioteca Italiana is a freely-accessible online library of cultural and literary Italian texts (numbering over 1,000). Specific searches by name, title and period may be conducted, or users may simply browse by author, period or genre.
  
  
• Italinemo
  Italinemo (italianistica nel mondo) is a fully searchable bibliographic database that contains over 6,000 records (with abstracts), indexing 287 issues from 75 journals in the field of Italian studies. The records refer to journals published since 2000, with regular updates to the database.
  
  
• Italian women writers
  The Italian Women Writers project (IWW) preserves and provides access to an extensive corpus of literature written by Italian women authors. It brings together information on and texts by both famous and less well-known Italian women writers from the late 12th century to writers born in 1945. The range of texts includes: autobiographies; children's literature; diaries; histories and chronicles; interviews; letters; novels; poems; reviews; and travel literature.
  
  
• Dante Alighieri on the web
  Online resource for studies of Dante Alighieri. This site will be of interest to Dante scholars as well as those interested in Italian history and the medieval culture. It includes links to all of Dante’s works, audio clips to assist with pronunciation (requires Real One Player), famous Dantean quotations and glossary.

Language

• I Love Languages - Italian
  The site brings together information about the world’s languages and provides a selection of the Italian language resources. Sources include dictionaries and glossaries, language tutorials, some electronic texts and newspapers.

Cinema

• Internet Movie Database (IMDB)

Library resources in Italy

• AIB (Associazione italiana biblioteche)
  An excellent site providing information about Italian libraries and links to their  catalogues . The site also maintains a directory of serials held in Italian libraries.
  
  
• Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale (SBN)
  

  The National Library Service is a network of Italian libraries providing access to catalogues of various state, university, public, private and other libraries.

  
  
• Catalogo italiano dei periodici
  Online catalogue of periodicals originating from the Archivio Collectivo Nazionale dei Periodici (ACNP) and run by the University of Bologna.

• Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze
  
  
• Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma
  
  
• LIBDEX - The library index - Italy
  Directory of library catalogues and web sites in Italy.

Organisations & institutions

• Society for Italian Studies
  A UK academic society, which produces a yearly journal. The website includes news and information items as well as links to various resources.
  
  
• The Association for the study of modern Italy
  Aims to bring together scholars and organisations with interest in Italy from the 18th century to date, from whatever discipline. The Association publishes journal "Modern Italy".
  
  
• Italian Cultural Institute in London
  "The official Italian government agency for the promotion of cultural exchanges between Great Britain and Italy". Organises language courses and various cultural events.
  
  
• Embassy of Italy in London
  Provides information about Italian organisations in the UK, government, the media and Italian affairs in general.
  
  
• European Union

Please note: our site descriptions are based on information available on the site described at the time it was evaluated.

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