Students who wish to get the Certificate must take at least five courses dealing with Italian topics. The choice of courses depends on the student's needs. These courses can be taken all in one department (in order to work on a particular skill or area) or in different departments (in order to acquire broad background for research project or future teaching).

Students also participate in lectures and colloquia organized by the certificate program (alone or in conjunction with other units). Every student in the Certificate program is required to introduce a speaker at least once; to do so the student will need to read the speaker's work and write a short text that analyzes and situates it. Students also meet for a one-hour follow-up seminar with each one of the speakers.

Required competency in the Italian language, as appropriate for the individual student's training and area of expertise, is usually satisfied through prior graduate or undergraduate course work, a stay in Italy, or examination.