D A R I O . D E L . P U P P O

The following feature story appeared in the campus publication Mosaic in February, 1996.

Dario Del Puppo

Discovering a universe in two lines of poetry

When Dario Del Puppo asks his students to "work intensely with small things," it is not because he wants to limit them. On the contrary, like a scientist who uses a microscope to find a world of life not visible to the naked eye, Del Puppo, associate professor of modern languages, wants his students to use their intellects to focus on what is hidden behind the words of a text. He wants them to see "how much of a universe two lines of a poem can be."

Trinity's only tenured professor in Italian studies, Del Puppo teaches a variety of classes, coordinates the Lectura Dantis series and other Barbieri Endowment activities, and participates in Italian Club events and the weekly Italian table at the dining hall. He brings scholars in Italian studies to Trinity and brings Trinity students to libraries, museums, and Italian cultural events in Connecticut and beyond. Professor of Economics Diane Zannoni, who has been both a student and colleague of Del Puppo's, says that thanks to his efforts "the Italian studies program is a program, not just a collection of courses."

As a teacher, Del Puppo wants students to learn a skill, that of speaking Italian. "Language is the key to experiencing culture," he says. Italian studies classes are often small, and Del Puppo favors group discussion and dialogue.

Del Puppo also wants to instill in his students "a passion for ideas." He says, "I want students to be sensitive to the fact that literature is a window on history...How does literature reflect life experiences? What does a work of literature mean to us today? What did it mean to the people back then?"

Learning to read historically
Exposing students to primary sources is one way to encourage them to "read historically." The zealous Del Puppo has been known to use slides of medieval manuscripts sent from the Vatican. Often he brings students to rare book libraries, where the exploration of the volumes begins with "nuts and bolts." What are a book's dimensions? Who is the illustrator? What do you see, he demands, and when the students report their findings to him, he tells them to go back and look again. In this way, he challenges students to view volumes as "documents of the period." In doing so, he says, they often "see a world they never saw before."

Del Puppo's commitment to intellectual and academic endeavors is obvious, but his approach is also very warm and personal. He and his wife often have students to their house in Hartford. Doug Smith '96, a senior Italian studies major, describes a dinner at the Del Puppo home with the journalist and writer Alexander Stille, who was on campus to give a lecture. Del Puppo seated Smith and another student right next to the writer, and they were thrilled. "This was a person who was writing what we were reading in class," says Smith.

Born and raised in Hartford, Del Puppo has a small but detectable inflection in his voice that hints the Italian language is never far from his lips. This is not surprising, since his father is from Italy, as is his wife. Del Puppo has made the small world of the Trinity campus a rich, flourishing universe of Italian studies, but Italy is his spiritual home, and he visits at least once or twice a year. "Being with him in Italy is really seeing him in his element," says Borden Painter '58, professor of history and director of Italian programs. During the summer, Del Puppo has taught at Trinity's Rome campus, which is now celebrating its 25th anniversary and is very much a part of the entire Italian studies program.

Del Puppo's specialty is 14th and 15th century literature, and as a scholar he seeks to "promote and rediscover texts that have been ignored" in recent times. He has published many articles and his writing and editing projects include a book on medieval Italian author Niccolo Soldanieri, to be published next fall, and a work-in-progress about poet Giacomo Leopardi, co-authored with Trinity colleague John Alcorn, assistant to the director of Italian programs.

The development of dialogue
Del Puppo says that one of the best things about Trinity is the opportunity for dialogue with students and faculty alike. Del Puppo enjoys, for example, discussing with colleagues in all disciplines how to "hook" students and get them to think about challenging concepts. The creation of a dialogue was one of the primary motivations for beginning the Lectura Dantis series, a remarkable 12-year-long cycle of readings, scholarly talks and discussions that moves systematically through Dante's entire Divine Comedy.

Each month, Del Puppo and the guest scholars, faculty, students and community members who participate gather to discuss one canto. On March 4 the group will gather to mark the mid-point on an intellectual odyssey that has carried it through Hell and into Purgatory on their way to Paradise, and to, perhaps, a greater understanding of the human condition. While the lectures-so out of step with the pace of modern life-are part of an Italian tradition of public reading that dates back to the 14th century, Del Puppo admits they are mainly "an excuse to have a discussion on everything in the universe."

- Leslie Virostek

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