Ideas for Italy and Surrounds - Maybe a Language Immersion Program?

[DonPolo]

I did a 10-day immersion with Luisa in Bologna—small group, tons of conversation, and great cultural extras. If you lean toward Emilia Romagna, it’s a perfect fit for both language and food lovers!

I'm locked into a program in Viareggio on the coast near Pisa, East of Liguria. Thank you for your advice however. I'm sure it will help others, and Emilia Romagna is next on my list! Thank you.

 

[Georgia & Zig]

Thanks all. Some good suggestions, but for me the idea of being surrounded by the language with someone to guide me would be awesome. Half a day tuition and then the rest of the day/evening wandering and practicing sounds good to me. I just wondered if anyone had had some experience with this sort of program good or bad?

Yes, I took a 3 week Spanish Immersion class and lived with a local family. We had total immersion classes, no English, n the mornings and field trips in the afternoons or evenings. It was wonderful.
I’m looking into an Italian one in Turin next year. There are at least 2 there. Just Google “Italian Immersion schools in Italy.”

 

[Georgia & Zig]

In the end I have booked a Monday to Friday course with Scuola Leonardo Da Vinci and have taken the accommodation package. As we say in Australia, I think the accommodation is a bit of a Lucky Dip (Lottery) since it is very cheap. They have said it is very basic. I'll have my own room and I'll be sharing a kitchen with 4-5 others. But hey, I've stayed in some interesting places before. There's at least one excursion to another village/city and a pizza night planned for the Thursday night. I'll let you know how it goes.

That’s the school I’m thinking of going to in Torino. Let me know how you like it.
Georgia

 

[DonPolo]

That’s the school I’m thinking of going to in Torino. Let me know how you like it.
Georgia

I will!

 

[DonPolo]

Just left Viareggio where I attended the Italian language school.. The town was amazing and the language school, its teachers and its students were fantastic. It was great to learn something until 12.30 and then hang out with the other students of all ages on the excursions they organised. And of course friendships were made and you could hang out informally or suit yourself. We went on three excursions in 5 days during the 11am to 12.30pm conversation part of the day. There were also three 'after school' get togethers, one at an outdoor restaurant, an excursion to the town of Sarzana and a pizza party in the 'Bagno' that the school has an arrangement with. A Bagno in this town means a kind of a beach club (there are about 50 Bagnos) that you have access to their private beach facilities; the prices for the bagno were very reasonable with the school discount. The school also have arranged a discounts with a bicycle rental company. Viareggio is very flat and it has miles of dedicated bike lanes separated from cars. It's a great way to get around. Finally the price was really reasonable. I stayed in a four bedroom apartment with two other guys sharing a bathroom, kitchen and a wonderful large terrace looking towards the Apennine mountain range. The cost was about 36 euros per day. At that rate if figure that the course was almost free, because had I just stayed in a similar AirBnB it would cost me the same! Staying in a share house is not for everyone but the school can arrange for you to stay with a host family, private apartment, hotel or you can organise your own accommodation. Overall I think this sort of tourism is great for those not only wanting to learn a bit of the language where you are travelling through, but you are put together with people with similar interests with whom you can socialise in a way that would not be possible otherwise. We had of all ages: Australians, Swiss, Germans, Austrians, Brazilians, French, Americans, English, Romanian, Irish (one of whom had a Masters Degree in Spanish - her story was interesting in itself). We had married couples, single people and people just travelling alone to follow their interests.I want to use this theme in the future in Germany, France etc. Duolingo can only take you so far; you can't make friends with an app.

 

[IslaWanderlight]

I've found these forums excellent for solving problems and getting ideas. The current one is this: a large group of my friends, but mostly from Australia are meeting up in Camogli in Liguria for a reunion of sorts in from 15 to 18 September. Most of the people have already planned trips to Europe and Camogli will be just one of their stops on their journey.

I'll be travelling alone at this stage and have already travelled a fair bit in Italy/Sicily but it's a big country and there's always things to explore. I've never visited Napoli or Pompeii for example.

However, I hit upon the idea of combining my interest in languages and the country by taking part in some sort of language immersion program.

There are literally hundreds of these programs and I was thinking that some people here may have some recommendations.

I'm an experienced traveller so don't really need a program to book me accommodation etc. but if that is part of the deal so be it. I have to back in Australia around the end of September, it I guess would be looking at a week or ten days prior to the 15th.

Any ideas for immersion programs?

If I don't to a language program I'm probably leaning towards Emilia Romana, Puglia, Calabria or maybe Piedmonte.

That sounds like a fun plan. Language programs in Italy can be a great way to dive in for a week or so, and lots let you handle your own accommodation if you want. If you skip it, Emilia Romagna, Puglia, Calabria, or Piedmont all have amazing food, culture, and scenery to enjoy before your reunion.