The Graduate Program in Italian in the Department of Romance Languages at the University of Pennsylvania offers students a range of curricular options that provide a broad academic base in Italian literature, film, cultural studies, and critical theory, as well as the most current pedagogical theory and practice. Students are encouraged to shape a curriculum that will prepare them in a primary period of interest as well as a secondary focal area. Students may complement their studies with up to four courses outside the Italian Studies section--for example, in another Romance language, Comparative Literature, English, and History. Certificate programs in the areas of Women's Studies and Urban Studies are also available. Interdisciplinary study is encouraged through participation in the wide range of seminars, lectures, and colloquia sponsored by the various Graduate Groups and affiliated research institutes and centers at Penn, including the Center for Italian Studies and the Latin American Cultures Program, and at the many cultural institutions in the Philadelphia area.