Italian Language schools

I just have a few comments about tangential issues:

• If you hope to do some sightseeing during the part of the day you are not in class, I highly recommend finding a school where you will have morning, rather than afternoon, classes. I found it a lot easier to head out right after class and see some sights--even perhaps going to a neighboring town--than to get up really early so I could do my sightseeing before an afternoon class. I was always nervous about making it back to the class on time, so I limited my out-of-town trips to times when I had a morning class and was free by early afternoon. In some areas museums and other key attractions may not open until 10 AM, and that definitely doesn't work so well if you are due in class at 1 PM or 2 PM. (I had a lot of yogurt lunches.)

• I would prefer not to be marooned in a small, isolated town for a month. Even if staying in a fairly large city like Catania, I'd really dig into transportation schedules (bus as well as train) to see what side trips would really be possible during the 1/2 day you will probably have free. Bus schedules can be very patchy. There might be two buses between noon and 1:30 (when you might just be getting out of class) and then none until 4:30 PM or later.

• Some schools (probably the larger ones) offer fairly active schedules of extra-curricular activities. If the school provides transportation for those trips, it can significantly extend the list of possible side-trips available to you. In addition, the only language you'll have in common with some of your fellow students will be Italian, so those trips will offer opportunities for additional language practice.

• Since the students come from many different countries and speak many different native languages, your textbook will be 100% in Italian. This makes for a somewhat different experience from a high school or college class using a book with some material (vocabulary, grammatical explanation, etc.) in the students' native language. At the very least, I urge you to take with you a decent-quality paperback English-Italian / Italian English dictionary. I have twice had the experience of teachers skipping around in the textbook (because they had just one or two students, both of them ambitious), which meant that we missed the introduction of some vocabulary. With no glossary in the back of the book, there was nowhere immediately at hand to figure out the meaning of new words. Looking up words on the Internet is slow.

• My online research on language schools has given me the distinct impression that it is a very common (perhaps universal) practice to charge for holidays when classes are not held. In other words, if you are scheduled for a two-week lesson package that bridges a holiday, you will pay the same price for 9 days of classes as someone else pays for 10 days at a different time of year. During the time period you cite, you risk running into Easter Monday.

If you're open to schools in all parts of Italy, you could also look in....

• Florence
• Siena
• Assisi - http://aliassisi.it/en/
• Orvieto

Good luck!

The Apulian accent is funny, the Sicilian one is trendy but if you want to learn standard Italian you need to look for the classy Tuscan accent. Go and wash your clothes in the Arno river, as a famous Italian writer used to say.

Afternoon Bus schedules in middle sized towns are taylored to the needs of students that live in even smaller villages and are going back home after school. You'll run the risk of being one of them.

I learned of this one from someone else and have not experienced it myself: Cultura Italiana Arezzo.

My husband and I spent a week in an apartment in Arezzo and enjoyed it very much.

In 2010, I did a beginner course at the Koine School in Florence for a week, and absolutely loved it.
Two years later I took another week long course at the Koine School in Lucca, and didn't really enjoy it.
I found the grammar incomprehensible, and the instructor not too sympathetic.
A couple of people in different classes in the same week told me the same about their own instructors.
One woman quit after 3 days, and another played hooky for a few days out of her three week course.
The Florence school was wonderful, and we had a lovely instructor who spoke not one word of English to us until the very last hour of the course!

I had a good experience a few years ago with Scuola Leonardo da Vinci language school in Rome. I spent five weeks there. The year before that, I spent six weeks in Florence at the Michelangelo language school. That was not as organized as the school in Rome, so I preferred the one in Rome.

I haven't any experience with Italian language schools, but I will briefly mention the challenges of language schools. For me, it is French. In Canada, 'French' can be taught by a Franco-Ontarian, a Quebequois, a New Brunswick Acadian, someone from Morocco, french Africa, french Caribbean countries, or France. Though supposed to teach 'proper' French, they all come with their own vocabulary ---and accents. The accents for me meant many sessions trying to get my ear around what they were saying.
As to Italian, it is based on Florentine Italian. If you study in southern Italy, it might not be that understood in northern Italy. Study the language of where you want to be, or by default, in northern Italy for a more classic take of the language.
Here is a funny little snippet from Rick Steve's Italy guide Sarah Murdoch and her blog.
Not as many years ago, I was working on book research, heading to the island of Capri. As I boarded the boat, I couldn’t help but notice the captain. He was muscular and tan, with an oily Julius Caesar haircut. He was like some sort of absurd Hollywood stereotype of a Roman God. He took my ticket and looked me up and down. A few minutes after departing, the hot captain came over and sat himself down next to me, handing me a beer and two plastic cups. Me? Hot guy wants to sit with me?Seriously? And then he spoke….
Italian is actually Florentine dialect. Italy is a relatively new country, and 100 years ago each region had its own unique language, sometimes indecipherable to other Italians. The dialects still persist in many parts of Italy, particularly in the south.
This is to explain that when the hot captain opened his mouth, out came a stream of deeply accented gibberish that made him sound like he had marbles in his mouth. I strained to listen and understand what he was saying. Nothing. Nada. I felt so stupid, I could not catch even a single word. He was obviously frustrated, and gestured at the beer. I split it between the two glasses and smiled apologetically. I told him “mi dispiace, non ho capito…” and he tried again and again to talk to me. Still couldn’t understand Neapolitan. “Inglese?” I offered. Eventually we both sat in awkward silence and drank our beer. I think that silence lasted about 10 years, or that’s what it felt like. Exasperated , he gave up and went back to work and I sat through the rest of the ride turning several shades of red.

If you study in southern Italy, it might not be that understood in northern Italy

This isn't true, or maybe it was true in rural Italy before WWII. There is a difference between speaking Italian with a southern accent and speaking a dialect.

Italians love that they can understand the region others are from and beeing able, at the same time, to have a conversation.

One must be a real idiot to speak his own dialect with somebody that's abviously from somewhere else. Given the oily haircut, I suspect the captain was a real one.

Florentine dialect became standard italian in the 19th Century because members of the upper classes had been able to understand Florentine for 4 Centuries. Guess why? Dante, the Father of the Language. Being a writer, Sarah Murdoch should know it. Just like she should know that dialect is much more common in rural areas of northern Italy than in Southern big cities.

Sadly it was Cinema, Radio and State TV that finally accomplished the mission in the 20th Century.

I spent two weeks studying at the Lucca Italian School (https://www.luccaitalianschool.com/) and had an absolutely wonderful time.

Classes are held in the mornings, leaving the afternoons and evening free for you to explore or you can arrange additional one-on-one tutoring. The school organizes group activities most days so there is always something to do. During my time there, they arranged a walking tour of Lucca, a cooking class at a winery in the nearby hills, a trip to a local festival, a walking tour of Pisa, a visit to the Grotta del Vento in the Garfagnana mountains...the list goes on. There is a charge for some of the afternoon activities but it is always great value and the excursions are always done in Italian so you can to practice your language skills even as you are having fun with your classmates. Alternately, you can do your own thing. There's lot to do right in Lucca itself and the train and bus connections to nearby Pisa and Florence are great.

There were numerous students in the advanced classes who apparently come back each year they love it so much, and I can easily understand why.

The school can also help arrange your accommodation. I ended up living with a family within the city walls, eating breakfast and dinner with them most nights. It was a great way to get to see Italian family life and the meals I had with them were the best I've ever had in Italy!

Check out Il Sasso in Montepulciano Tuscany (https://www.ilsasso.com/eng/index.php). They offer many different levels and times for their classes. We have had nothing but great experiences with them!

I recommend Madrelingua in Bologna and ABC School Firenze. I have been to Madrelingua 3 times and 2 times to ABC. I have nothing but positive things to say about both schools. As a veteran language student and teacher.... I highly recommend them.