The Gerald & Beverly Bocciardi Undergraduate Conference

The annual Gerald & Beverly Bocciardi Undergraduate Conference showcases UC Berkeley Italian Studies undergraduate students’ original creative work related to Italian culture, literature, art, history or language.

Participating students compete to present their work at the conference and to win the Gerald & Beverly Bocciardi Prize, generously funded by the Bocciardi family.*  Participation is open to all undergraduate students currently registered in one of the courses offered by our Department and to students who took an Italian Studies course in the spring semester of the same calendar year.

FALL 2023 PARTICIPANT INFORMATION:

This year’s conference topic is “Environmental Sustainability in Italy and Italian Culture”.
We welcome any original project focusing on this theme, either in English or in Italian. The use of multimedia formats (video, animated presentations, etc.) for your project is encouraged..

Participants are required to enroll in Italian Studies 98/198 (directed group study: 1 unit, P/NP) directed by Dr. Perco.

Italian 98, Section 1 #21717 (for first- and second-year students)

Italian 198, Section 1 #21724 (for third- and fourth-year students)

If you are interested in participating in the conference, but your course load does not allow you to register for IS 98 or IS 198, contact Dr. Giuliana Perco

Complete projects are due the week before Thanksgiving.

The 2023 Bocciardi conference will be held in an hybrid format in the morning of Saturday December 2, 2023. Participants must be able to attend the conference in order to be awarded the Prize*.

If you are interested in competing to participate in the conference and to have the chance to win the Gerald  & Beverly Bocciardi Prize*, please complete this participation form by September 11th, 2023

With questions, please contact Dr. Giuliana Perco.

*Please note: winning monetary awards may only be available to students who are determined to be eligible by the UC Berkeley Financial Aid office.

 

WARM CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR PAST STUDENT WINNERS:

 

 

 

  • Fall 2021:
    • Rhea Sood for “The Tenth Circle of Hell” [Italian 130A: Dante’s Inferno]
    • Arman Baradaran for “Il rifugiato immortale”/ “The Immortal Refugee” [Italian 120: “Crossing Italian Borders: Migrations, Identity and Citizenship”]
    • Elizabeth Girling, and Connor Fitzpatrick for “I Nuovi Circoli della Divina Commedia”/ “The New Circles of the Divine Comedy”  [Italian 1: Elementary Italian 1].

 

  • Fall 2020
    • Armen Aprahamian for “P is for Poet” [Italian 130A: Dante’s Inferno]
    • Emily Mantaro for “Arte, Amore ed Antifa: Graffiti ad Aosta” [Italian 2: Elementary Italian 2]
    • Sharon Burk and Julia Francisco for “I gialli attraverso il tempo: il rapporto tra colore e contenuto” / “The ‘Gialli’ through Time: Relations between Color and Content” [Italian 160: “Il giallo: Murder Mystery Italian Style”]
    • Valeria Garnica Urdaneta for “Vogue Italia Throughout the Years” [Italian 4: Intermediate Italian]

 

  • Fall 2019
    • Alessia Belsito-Riera, Maddison Brown, Sofia Dallarda, Myriam Grzybek, Sarah Kersting, and Giancarlo Tucci-Berube for “L’Italia imperiale e la storia storta” [Italian 160: Narratives of Italian Colonialism and Its Aftermath];
    • Sharon Burk, Shivani Sundaram, and Yuanqi Zhou for “Dante’s Inferno: Communicating Body and Soul” [Italian 130A: Dante’s Inferno];
    • Hannah Peregrino, Sebastián Yáñez Buvinic, and Gianfranco Centeno for “La riunione” [Italian 1: Elementary Italian 1].