Italy has long been a place of fascination for non-Italians and this fascination has made it the leading country for two types of writing: travel writing and fictional writing set in the country but written by non-nationals. In this course we will read and discuss some of this literature attempting at the same time to place it in its appropriate historical and geographical setting. We will start with Goethe's Voyage in Italy, and work our way through Stendhal, Mark Twain, Henry James, D.H. Lawrence and others. For the more recent past we shall look at some contemporary American travel writers and journalists as well as several British and American movies set in Italy. The course will be conducted primarily as a colloquium and class time will be basically devoted to three activities: lectures by the instructor (about one per week), discussions of the week’s reading assignment (preceded by short factual quizzes), and discussion of the students’ written assignments.