I would like to spend from 4 to 6 weeks in Italy, preferably not in Rome or Florence (athough I love both) taking Italian language classes and cooking classes. I learn languages easily and have a working tourist level of Italian now. I am over 50 and don't mind college students, but would like to be in classes with some adults. I would like to stay in a place where I can rent an apartment (with A/C), not a hotel in order to control costs. Has anyone done this? I am reluctant to just pick a school or program on the web.
Posted by
Florence
362 posts
Nancy this school is run by 2 women I know - http://www.cordonbleu-it.com/
The teachers are all Italian and the courses are given in a mix of languages. As to apartments there are hundreds in Florence and the price for a month will be much better than a hotel. Depending on how close you want to be to the school and the level of amenities, if this is just for one person you can probably find something for around 1,000 euro for the month, maybe a little less, to a lot more depending on what you want. You can find some places on the following couple of sites, which again are both run by people I know - I am sure others can suggest many more:
http://www.tuscanyrentdirect.com/
There are many language schools in Florence also - molto! I let someone else chime in there as I have never been to one!
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
I don't have a particular program in mind, but Bologna might be the place for you. It's rightly famous for its food and has lots of international students as well. Try googling. Good luck. The catch is that Bologna might get kind of old after a couple of weeks. It's not as tourist-friendly as Rome/Florence/Venice.
Posted by
Singapore
354 posts
Ciao Nancy, yes it can be hard to just pick a school or program on the web. The two language schools I'm more familiar with, are the Universities for Foreigners (Universita per Stranieri) in Perugia and Siena, but it's likely there will be many European college students taking courses there with you. Exams and recognised certificates are offered. There's also the Scuola Leonardo da Vinci (locations in Rome and Florence, however) which has been around a long time. The Dante Alighieri School in Siena has language and cooking classes. Both schools offer certification for language courses too. All these schools arrange accommodation for their students. As for cooking programs ... well ... one program on many people's dream list is the one started by famous cookbook author Lorenza de Medici at her estate Badia a Coltibuono in Tuscany, with a price to match its fame!
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Nancy, I will second Anthony's recommendation of Scoula di Arte Culinaria Cordon Bleu in Florence. My wife and I took a class from Cristina Blasi and Gabriella Mari (the two women friends mentioned by Anthony). No shopping at the market. Just more time cooking and eating what you cook. The class was mostly in English and we understood the rest as it was quite visual. An excellent and memorable experience.
By the way, we still get occasional emails from Gabriella with great Tuscan recipes. The recipes are in Italian and repeated in English.