Subject guide to Italian

Italian at Manchester

From Dante's The Divine Comedy, written in the fourteenth century, to Federico Fellini's ground-breaking films in the 1960s, Italian culture has shaped western civilisation. Our degree courses enable students to develop an in-depth understanding and appreciation of Italian culture, as well as the country’s history, and political landscape. Selected optional course units in linguistics also provide the opportunity to explore the history of the Italian language and regional dialects.  

Learning Italian is an integral part of the degree, enabling students to directly access a wide range of contemporary and historical sources, news, and social media content. Whether students want to use Minerva AI LLM, the first Italian-centric Large Language Model or access historical manuscripts and records, dating from the fourteenth century, held in the University of Manchester’s special collections, they develop the language skills to do so.  

In the third year, students live in Italy. They can apply for a work placement, such as teaching English through the British Council's English Language Assistants programme, or they can apply to study at one of our prestigious partner institutions in Bergamo, Bologna, Naples, Palermo, Pisa and Turin.

I am a big fan of big cities with lots of character, and I knew I wanted to be in a linguistically diverse place with lots going on for my university experience. Manchester was the most enticing city for me, and I don’t think you can ever really get bored of it.

Anya Whiting / Modern Languages, 2026.

Video: Discover more about studying here 

Courses - 2027 entry

Italian is available as a specialism in the following 4-year degree courses:   

  • BA Art History and Modern Languages  
  • BA Linguistics and Modern Languages  
  • BA Modern Languages and Business and Management  
  • BA Modern Languages  
  • BA Politics and Modern Languages  
  • BA Sociology and Modern Languages  

BA Modern Languages has 3 pathways for Italian and students on this course must choose one:  

  • Italian  
  • Italian with Digital Humanities  
  • Italian and a language chosen from French or Spanish   

The degree title on the graduation certificate will state the language(s) that have been studied. For example: BA Art History and Modern Languages (Italian), BA Modern Languages (French and Italian), BA Modern Languages (Italian) and Business and Management. 

For information about entry requirements, tuition fees, scholarships and bursaries, please visit the online prospectus.   

Course structures

Degree courses in Italian provide students with a range of choices. When considering the choices you’d like to make, please note:  

  • Italian has 2 language learning pathways – beginner and intermediate. 
  • Each year, all students study a total of 120 credits. Each course unit is 20 credits unless indicated. 
  • The course unit titles for each year of study have been listed.
  • Joint honours. In Year 1 students take 60 credits from Italian. In Years 2 and 4, students can take 40, 60 or 80 credits from Italian. The remaining credits are taken from the other subject or language.
  • Single honours. In Year 1 students take 80 credits from Italian. In Year 2 students can take 80 or 100 credits from Italian. In Year 4 students can take up to 120 credits from Italian. Each year, students can choose up to 40 credits from a range of subjects in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, including digital humanities, or the University College for Interdisciplinary Learning.
  • Digital Humanities. Students on BA (Hons) Modern Languages that take 40 credits of digital humanities course units each year will graduate with BA (Hons) Modern Languages (Italian) with Digital Humanities.
  • Essential course information for students studying a 4-year degree.

Course content

Our courses

See our Modern Language courses for 2027 entry.

Course listings

Italian Studies

Find out more about the Department, teaching staff and our research.

Discover more