Italian ITAL

Axinn Center Commencement 2026 Departmental Reception

Please join the departments of Black Studies, Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies, and Italian for a reception celebrating graduates in these disciplines. 

The following departments invite grads and their guests to join them in the locations listed below.

Black Studies | Abernethy Room (AXN 221) | 2:45-3:30 pm
Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies | AXN 220 | 2:45-3:30 pm
Italian | Abernethy Room (AXN 221) | 3:45-4:30 pm

Axinn Center

International Karaoke

International Karaoke is back!

The evening will begin with performances from student groups representing each language department - so come cheer on your department and help them win!

After the competition, the stage opens to everyone to sing a non-English song during Open Mic.

Come celebrate language, culture, and community at Middlebury College!

McCullough Wilson Cafe

A book cover featuring St. Francis and a shadow image of Mussolini.

Saint Francis and Mussolini, Fascist Appropriations of a Beloved Italian Saint

St. Francis of Assisi is celebrated as the patron saint of animals and is also recognized as a symbol of pacifism and brotherhood. How then could the figure of St. Francis end up serving the Fascist political project, most tellingly by being declared the Patron Saint of (Fascist) Italy in 1939? Why, and how, would this scrawny Saint become the emblem of a nation dedicated to war?

Axinn Center Abernethy Room (221)

Open to the Public

Italian Colonialism: A Forgotten History

Kwanza Musi Dos Santos is an italian-afrobrazilian activist raised in Rome, co-founder of the cultural association QuestaèRoma that has been operating since 2013 to erase any type of discrimination through culture and art. Her talk will focus on colonial-era public art in Rome, and its relationship with current erasure of Italian colonial past.

Twilight 201

International Karaoke

Join us in singing songs in a foreign language! You won’t be able to sing in English but there is still a variety to choose from: Russian, German, Portuguese, Chinese, Italian, French, Japanese, Spanish, Arabic, and others. The details will follow up in the Language House Instagrams: @russianhousemidd @midd_chinese_house @deutschhaus_middlbry @casadeespanol @arabichouse2 @jhouse_diary @casaitalianamidd @lamaisonfrancaisemidd @casadeportuguesemidd

McCullough Wilson Cafe

Closed to the Public

How Equality Helped Italy Fight Corruption

The Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs Program in Global Political Economy presents “How Equality Helped Italy Fight Corruption” with Lucia Manzi, SUNY Plattsburgh. Organized by Gary WInslett, Assistant Professor of Political Science.

In 1992, the “Clean Hands” anti-corruption operation resulted in hundreds of convictions and permanently changed the Italian political landscape. How was this breakthrough possible? Prof. Manzi shows how egalitarian changes in prosecutorial institutions helped the Italian government more effectively fight the Mafia as well as terrorist organizations.

Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room

Open to the Public