HISTORY OF CONTEMPORARY SICILY
Academic Year 2026/2027 - Teacher:
MARGHERITA BONOMO
Expected Learning Outcomes
1. Knowledge
and understanding
Students must demonstrate that they have acquired a
general understanding of the major issues in the contemporary history of
Sicily, by identifying the key turning points and the main political, social
and agrarian/territorial transformations covered in the course texts.
2. Ability to
apply knowledge and understanding
Students must demonstrate the ability to critically
apply interpretative categories and tools of historiography (interpreting
historical breaks, causal reconstruction, connections between contexts) by referring
to the adopted texts and the themes they address (including Fascism, the
reorganisation of power and the 1950s, etc.).
3.
Independence of judgement
Students must demonstrate the ability to develop
reasoned assessments of the crucial turning points in contemporary Sicilian
history, distinguishing between facts, lines of argument and historiographical
interpretations; they must also be able to critically evaluate, by comparing
the texts, the soundness of the proposed reconstructions and their explanatory
power.
4.
Communication skills
Through seminar discussions and written assignments
(short essays/critical readings), students must demonstrate that they have
acquired specific communication skills: mastery of the subject-specific
vocabulary; the ability to reconstruct events and processes clearly; a
structured presentation of cause-and-effect relationships; coherent
argumentation and the appropriate citation and reuse of knowledge gained from the
course texts.
5. Learning
skills
The completion and drafting of assignments will enable
students to manage their academic workload in a sustainable manner and to
develop independent learning skills, improving their ability to read historical
literature critically, select relevant information and process that knowledge
in their own way
Course Structure
Attendance of Lessons
Attendance is not compulsory
Detailed Course Content
The course aims to introduce students to the main causes and
developments in the history of contemporary Sicily, tracing the key turning
points and breaks that mark the transition from the Fascist political project
to the transformation of the region and its society, the reorganisation of the
1950s, and the major issues of the 1960s to the 1990s.
Textbook Information
G. Barone, L’isola-mondo. Breve storia della Sicilia, Laterza,2025, capp. 6-8
L. Dufour, Sotto il segno del littorio, Edizioni Lussografica, 2005,
parte IV
S. Lupo, Il mito del grande complotto. Gli americani, la
mafia e lo sbarco in Sicilia del 1943, Donzelli, 2023.
A. Micciché, La Sicilia e gli anni cinquanta, FrancoAngeli, 2017
* Documenti e bibliografie per approfondimenti
saranno indicati durante il corso
Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its
amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their
content can be copied.
For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning
photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla
Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i
Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on
Copyright).
The teachers undertake, within the limits of the financial resources, to
ensure as far as possible that a copy of the adopted texts is available in the
departmental library or (in the case of hard-to-find texts, articles and
essays) to make them available on Studium, in accordance with the applicable
copyright laws.
