Some five hundred years ago, Sandro Botticelli, a painter of humble origin, was commissioned to illustrate all one hundred cantos of The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.

We will dig into what makes Rome so unique through tales of its illustrious past and learn about the importance of an ancient city in a modern world.

Alfred R. Crudale, Ph.D., a professor of Italian at the University of RI., is the author of “Love and Civitas: Dante’s Ethical Journey in the Vita Nuova.” His article “Versi d”Amore e Prose de Romanzi: Are the Poets of the Dolce Still Nuovo still Relevant?” was published in The International Journal of the Humanities, and his latest article “Canzone…t’ho alievato per figiliuola d”Amore: Three Songs of love in Dante’s Vita Nuova,” can be found in the Proceedings of the Dante and Music Conference. In this presentation, Dr. Crudale reflects upon his new book about Italian language newspapers and radio programs in Rhode Island. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

Galileo's persecution by the Inquisition has often overshadowed his contributions to developing and legitimizing the scientific method.  Peter Nightingale, Ph.D, theoretical physicist, the University of Rhode Island, shares thoughts about commonalities between Galileo and Albert Einstein; Galileo's motion experiment in relation to his and his family's musical background; Galileo's attempts to solve "that great problem of finding the longitude of a given place on the earth's surface"; and his explanation of factors limiting the size of land animals. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.