The course is dedicated to the fundamentals of the discipline, in particular to the analysis of the processes that lead to the birth of the Romance languages ​​and to the study of the cultural phenomena that characterize the origins of Italian literary history. Knowledge: Students will learn the history of the formation of Romance languages ​​and the birth of literatures written in those languages, the main linguistic changes that characterize the transition from spoken Latin to Romance languages ​​and some of the distinctive characters that identify them, the elements that characterize the Romance poetry compared to the tradition of classical Latin poetry and Middle Latin and will be familiar with the history of the troubadour and Italian literary tradition of the origins. Application of knowledge and development of critical thinking: At the end of the course they will possess the fundamental philological and linguistic tools for the in-depth study of languages ​​derived from Latin (in particular Italian, Provençal, French, Spanish and Portuguese) and they will know how to orient themselves in the literary history of medieval Europe and in the thematic, linguistic and formal analysis of a medieval text. Communication of knowledge: class reports and ongoing tests will allow them to directly practice written and oral communication techniques. Self-learning: In the in-depth activities, they will deal directly with bibliographic and historical, linguistic and literary research tools.