L’insegnamento dell’italiano in Danimarca

The article examines the history and the present situation regarding the teaching of Italian in Den-mark. In the 18th and 19th centuries, it was common for Danish artists and aristocrats to take a Grand Tour and often stay in Italy for several years. However, at that time language studies in Denmark were dominated by another language of culture, namely French. But since the 1960s, Denmark has experienced a veritable boom as regards the teaching of Italian. In the sixties and seventies, Italian became an independent subject at the universities of Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense (it was later abolished in Odense), as well as at the Copenhagen Business School; since then, the number of students and teachers has increased steadily. It was introduced in upper secondary school on an experimental basis in 1967, but is now a regular alternative to French, Spanish, German and Russian there. It is also in great demand in evening classes and in the adult education system, normally occupying the fourth or fifth place after English, French, Spanish an, usually, German.