English and Italian

English and Italian is a combination built around the insight that the English and Italian literary traditions are not separate islands but part of a shared European conversation that has been running for centuries. Dante's influence on Chaucer, Petrarch's sonnets shaping the English lyric tradition, Shakespeare drawing on Italian novellas, and Byron and Keats seeking the south are only the most obvious threads in a web of influence and exchange. Studying the two literatures side by side, with the language skills to read Italian texts in the original, gives you a much richer understanding of both.

At Warwick you will study this four-year programme full time, following a degree with a strongly comparative approach. Italian may be studied from scratch, meaning the course is open to those with no prior knowledge of the language as well as to those with existing Italian. The programme includes a sandwich year and a work placement, giving you professional experience alongside your academic study.

You will develop your Italian language skills across all four years, moving from foundation level towards fluency, while also engaging deeply with Italian literature, culture, history, and film in parallel with your study of English writing. The comparative framework throughout the degree asks you to think about how the two traditions speak to each other, producing a more sophisticated literary understanding than either could alone.

Graduates of English and Italian find their combination of linguistic and literary expertise valued in translation, publishing, journalism, arts administration, cultural diplomacy, education, and any career that requires both analytical depth and communicative range. The ability to work fluently in two literary traditions and two languages is a distinctive qualification in a competitive graduate market. Many graduates continue to postgraduate study in comparative literature, Italian studies, translation, or English literature, building on the dual expertise the degree develops.