The lectures and tutorials were both incredibly engaging, due in no small part to the course coordinator Marco Duranti, who has a unique talent for using personal, intimate stories, whether his family's or otherwise, to connect to the broader historical context and discussion. The content of the course was very interesting and covered modes of historical inquiry outside the realm of traditional political history, offering a more multifaceted and complex understanding of the emergence of fascism throughout Europe. Although the last few weeks were stagnant in terms of progression, this was largely due to COVID related issues and not the course content itself.

Anonymous, Semester 1, 2022

The lecturer, Marco Duranti, was really engaging, especially during tutorials. It's very nice to have the same lecturer be your tutor, so you build a relationship with them and by the end of the semester he knew most of our names. His own family went through fascism in Italy under Mussolini, so he'll add some anecdotes from his own family's past during lectures. I emailed him a few times and he was always very nice and seemed to care about his students. He'll grant simple extensions without need for further explanations and is quick to respond to emails. A part of the grade is discussion posts, just by posting any thoughts on the reading (no minimum word count) you get a participation grade—which he averages between you coming to lectures, tutorials, and the disc. posts on Canvas (we didn't do attendance or roll call but if he knows your face by the end of semester I'm assuming you're fine, can't speak with certainty because I haven't received my score back). This rating would've been a 5 but the last couple classes were a bit off, unfortunately. Understandably, his family got COVID during the penultimate week so classes were cancelled and we were assigned a movie to watch. During our very last lecture, we also were just screened a movie. We didn't really discuss either one at all so it just left us wanting more. I wish the last couple lectures would've overviewed the main themes of the course, so we can look at the big picture heading into our finals instead of having it be another case study (although I understand it's hard to fit all the content in there). All in all, I enjoyed Marco as a lecturer and the way he taught the course content.

Anonymous, Semester 1, 2022