Caterina Pizzigoni

I adored this class and it may very well be my favorite taken. Taught jointly by Professor Pizzigoni and her husband Professor Baics, the course material is a focus on urban history, beginning pre-conquest and up to the 18th century. I found myself motivated to put in a lot of effort in this class because I loved the content, professors, and organization of class assignments.

Caterina's gold nugget is well deserved. As others have said, she loves her subject matter and that shows through her lectures. She engages with students and takes the time to get to know them on a personal level. The content itself is interesting, definitely a good review of early Latin American civilization that challenges existing narratives with a critical lens. If you have any interest in Latin America or history this class will be especially enjoyable. Definitely take this course (or any with her) if possible! Also worth noting that she is extremely understanding, we've had readings reduced because she noticed we looked a bit tired the lecture before. Cannot express how much I love her, I will definitely miss this class.

Caterina Pizzigoni is an absolute angel. She cares about every single one of her students and her kind spirit shines through in every class. She genuinely wants you to do well and will do anything in her power to help you. I can't recommend her enough.

I don't care what class she's teaching, take whatever you can with Caterina Pizzigoni. Her passion for the subject, ability to make the subject interesting, and level of attention/care given to her students are absolutely unrivaled. Don't care about Latin America or Spanish/Portuguese history? You will. Have a tough time dealing with accents? So do I, but it wasn't a problem. Don't like reading a lot? Good, because you won't have to in this class (relative to other global cores). Register now, thank me later.

Dr. Pizzigoni is an extremely knowledgable professor and it's obvious that she truly loves her job. Dr. Pizzigoni is one of the few professors at Columbia -- at least in my opinion -- that is prepared every single class. She clearly has a direction that she wants to take the class in and points to make along the way. As a graduate student, I was unsure if I wanted to analyze 'colonial' documents. Walking away from Pizzigoni's class, I have decided to write a thesis using exclusively colonial documents. I do caution graduate students to err on the side of caution with Dr. Pizzigoni when deciding deadlines for final papers as she is not very flexible, despite understanding that graduate students are writing papers in every course (which was really disappointing). Regardless, I highly recommend Dr. Pizzigoni as she really opened doors and changed the way I approach all forms of written history.

Caterina is wonderful! She is new this year from Italy and isn't used to the system so the class was disorganized but her animated and engaging lectures more than make up for having to stakeout on the reading assignments (there are A LOT) on Courseworks. While undoubtedly scatterbrained, Caterina is extremely knowledgeable and knows what she's talking about. Besides, the absentmindedness is endearing rather than an annoyance. Take any class with her if you get the chance. She's very interested in both what she teaches and her students' view.

amazing! caterina's the best 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Spring 2024 Course: HISTGU4660_001_2024_1-IndigenousWorldsinEarlyLatinAmerica : HISTGU4660_001_2024_1 - Indigenous Worlds in Early Latin America Instructor: Caterina Pizzigoni

Deeper discussions on certain points from the lecture course. Practice close reading historical sources and critically analyzing them.

I think there are better global cores to take if you want something interesting and not too demanding. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Spring 2022 Course: HISTUN2660_001_2022_1-LATINAMERICANCIVILIZATIONI : HISTUN2660_001_2022_1 - LATIN AMERICAN CIVILIZATION I Instructor: Caterina Pizzigoni

A new course for this semester, Colonial Cities has absolutely blown me away. It is taught by two professors who are adorably married. Professor Pizzigoni is a Latin American history scholar, while Professor Baics is an urban studies scholar. I have thoroughly enjoyed how their two minds combine, in a form greater than their sum, to provide us with an interdisciplinary perspective of how the colonial urban form has developed and differed across civilizations. The class progresses chronologically, beginning with the Maya and transitioning towards medieval European, Aztec, and Incan societies. We study how cities form in North America, analyzing the differences between Spanish, British, and French development, and South America, again seeing how different cultural, economic, and political systems between the Spanish, Portuguese, and other colonial powers defines how a city forms. Both professors are brilliant scholars and lecturers. I have been so impressed with how every lovely nugget of knowledge which leaves their beautiful minds ties back to the larger themes of the course. I am...almost inspired (?) by their lectures. I'll find that my notebook lay blank because I have become so enraptured with what they have to say. As I mentioned earlier, they are also so cute - they'll each take notes on the other's lecture + will smile whenever an interesting point is made. The class is…