What was the Jewish experience in Italy during the 22 years of Mussolini’s dictatorship? What was the Italian experience of the Shoah? In this course we will address these questions by exploring novels and films, from Primo Levi’s If This Is A Man (1947) and The Drowned and the Saved (1986), to Vittorio De Sica’s The Garden of Finzi-Continis (1970) and Roberto Benigni’s Life is Beautiful (1997). We will remember and shed light on the experience of the thousands of Italian Jews who were arrested and deported to Nazi Lagers. Only few survived. Their testimony is crucial to a full understanding of the present, and it is an important warning against repeating the mistakes of the past. This course will be taught in English.