You, speaking Italian in Italy.
Learn more Italian in a few days than you did in the last few months with our intensive Italian immersion vacations.
To find out more about our next Italian immersion vacation, enter your email address here:
Learning Italian isn’t as hard as you think
Most Italian courses make learning Italian seem harder than it is because they focus too much on theory.
They make you believe that you need to memorise hundreds of verbs or master masculine and feminine forms perfectly before you can have a conversation.
But speaking Italian is a practical skill, like riding a bike or swimming. To learn to swim, you need to jump in and start paddling.
To learn Italian...
Italian immersion vacations:
The best way to practice speaking Italian
The best way to learn to speak Italian is to spend a lot of time speaking Italian.
But you can’t do it with just anyone.
You need to practice with people who put you at ease and encourage you to speak, even when you feel nervous.
People who know it’s normal to speak slowly at first, so they listen patiently and teach you the grammar and vocabulary you need to say what you want to say.
People who celebrate your mistakes, because they’re a sign that you’re making progress (and give you gentle corrections so learn from them).
In our Italian immersion vacations, you’ll spend the whole time with patient Italian teachers whose sole goal is to help you speak Italian.
You’ll:
Get the individual attention you need to make rapid progress in your Italian speaking.
Learn key words and phrases to sound more fluent.
Work with friendly teachers who will help you build phrases and find the right words.
Learn grammar on a need to know basis. No memorising of verb tables or frustrating explanations, just practical rules to help you communicate in real life situations.
And the best bit?
You won’t be sitting in a classroom all day!
Children, the most highly skilled language learners on the planet, don’t learn languages by sitting at desk all day with their noses in books.
They do it whilst playing and exploring the world around them. They learn rapidly because they spend all day interacting with patient listeners who encourage them to communicate in different situations.
This is what you’ll do on our Italian immersion vacations.
You’ll learn to speak Italian the natural way whilst exploring the best of Italy has to offer: from walking in the Alps to sipping Prosecco in a piazza; from shopping in Milan to learning how to make fresh pasta.
“This is the most Italian I’ve gotten to speak compared to all the other times I’ve been to Italy over the years. And it was a lot of fun!”
Tom J Randle
Learn more about our next Italian immersion vacation
Italian immersion vacations
Discover the Italian lakes
Practice speaking Italian whilst exploring the lakes
Go island hopping around the lakes
Relax on the sunny balcony and admire the lake views
Eat artisan gelato
Visit the alps in a cable car and have lunch at the top of a mountain
Taste local wines and cheeses
Learn how to make homemade pasta and pizza
Christmas Markets in Milan
Practice speaking Italian in festive Milan
Take a walking tour around Milan
Visit the Christmas markets
Explore Piazza Duomo and its famous Christmas decorations
Snuggle up with a Milanese hot chocolate
Explore the art, history and shopping districts
Taste local wines and cheeses
Learn how to make homemade pasta
Join Matteo and Katie in their apartment in Milan. You’ll get one-to-one speaking practice while we take you on Italian adventures such as:
A walking tour of Milan
A trip to the Italian lakes
The famous Milanese “Aperitivo”
Tasting local wines and cheeses
Learning how to make homemade pasta
Meeting our Italian friends and Matteo’s family (and speaking to them in Italian of course!)
"I really enjoyed the experience and making new friends in Italian! I think I even dreamed in Italian on the plane back :)"
Riina Udras
Who should join our Italian immersion vacations?
If you want to make rapid progress in speaking Italian and get inside access to Italian culture, our immersion vacations are for you.
You’ll love our Italian immersion vacations if:
You’ve been studying Italian for a little while - you know some of the vocabulary and grammar, but you don’t get enough speaking practice.
You want to speak Italian, but you feel too shy, afraid or nervous.
You love Italy and you hate feeling like a tourist - you want to experience Italian culture from the inside and live like Italians do.
You’re learning Italian so you can chat to Italians. You want to speak correctly, but your main aim is to understand and be understood.
Italian immersion vacations are not for you if:
You just want to pick up a couple of Italian travel phrases.
You already speak Italian fluently.
You’re a stickler for perfect grammar or you love memorising verb conjugations.
Your goal is to pass a written exam in Italian, or become an interpreter/translator.
What sets Italian immersion vacations
apart from other courses?
A unique way to learn Italian in Italy
Most Italian courses in Italy have you sitting in a classroom all day. It’s a waste - you travel all the way to Italy, but you don’t get time to explore the country and meet the locals.
More than just a vacation
Or they’re just package vacations with a tiny language component - you might have a great vacation, but you end up spending lots of money without making much progress in your Italian.
Our Italian immersion vacations give you the chance to make amazing progress in your speaking skills and have Italian adventures at the same time.
Who are your Italian teachers?
Katie and Matteo are the team behind the popular 5 Minute Italian podcast.
Founder of the Joy of Languages blog, Katie's wants to help you learn Italian the fun way.
With an MPhil in Linguistics from Cambridge University and an MRes in speech, language and cognition from University College London, she has worked with leading language learning companies around the world.
But Katie wasn’t always such a language nerd.
Like most people, she struggled with languages at school. In fact, she almost got kicked off her Italian course at university!
It was only after moving to Italy that she realised she could learn Italian faster (and have more fun) by going to the pub with native speakers than by sitting in a classroom.
After years of struggling with courses and books, this was a revelation!
So she vowed never to attend another language course in her life. Instead, she put herself in situations where she could practice having real conversations in Italian.
Before she knew it, she’d made friends with the locals and was conducting her entire social life - from long-tabled lunches to heart-to-hearts - in Italian.
A few years later, she met and fell in love with her future husband and business partner, Matteo.
Since then, she’s learnt French, Spanish, Chinese and German, all without stepping foot in a classroom.
Together with Matteo, she set up Italian immersion vacations to give you the opportunity to learn Italian like she did, by having real conversations and getting up close to Italian culture.
Katie
Naples born and bred Matteo is on a mission to share the Italian language and culture with people from all over the world.
After years of studying English grammar at school and not getting very far, he discovered a passion for languages after practising speaking English with Katie's friends and family. That’s when he realised languages are meant to be lived, not studied.
In many ways, Matteo’s a typical Italian. He’s a fantastic cook, knows a lot about wine and loves being by the sea.
But not always - he’s soft spoken, always arrives early and doesn’t talk with his hands.
Matteo wants to help you get off the beaten tourist track, discover the real Italy and of course, speak Italian!
Matteo
Our goal is to help you speak Italian
We know how rewarding it is to speak a foreign language.
Nothing beats that feeling of knowing you can get by in Italy using your language skills, having small talk with a little old nonna on the bus or surprising your friends by ordering a meal in fluent Italian.
Our goal is to help you have these kinds of experiences as quickly as possible.
FAQs
What if my Italian level isn’t good enough? Our immersion vacations are aimed at people who have been learning Italian for a little while at home or in class. If you've picked up a few grammar rules, phrases and vocabulary (even if you don't remember them all!) and you'd like to practice having conversations in Italian, our immersion vacations are for you.
To come along, all you need are some basics and a willingness to have a go at speaking. If you’re unsure about your level, we can set up a Skype call to help you decide if our Italian immersion vacations are right for you.I’m a complete beginner, can I come on an Italian immersion vacation? In future, we will be running special beginner vacations with the aim of getting you speaking Italian as soon as possible. To find out more, sign up to the waitlist and we’ll let you know as soon as subscription opens.
Where will I sleep? You’ll have a private room and share a vacation apartment with an Italian teacher and 2 - 5 other students.
Do I have to speak Italian all day? To get the most out of the Italian immersion vacation, we encourage you to speak Italian with us and the other participants as much as possible. But we understand that it can be quite taxing for the brain! You're free to take a timeout whenever you need one.
How much does it cost? The last Italian immersion we ran cost $1850, which included accommodation, Italian immersion tuition, breakfast, a few meals and group activities for the week. The price depends on location, how long the vacation lasts, the activities we do and the type of room you stay in. When you join the waitlist, we’ll send you the details for our next Italian immersion vacation.
What’s included in the price? Accommodation, breakfast and the Italian immersion tuition are included, together with some meals and activities. When you join the waitlist, we'll send you the details.
Can I bring a partner or friend? Of course! If your friend/partner is learning Italian and they’d like to join us, they’re welcome to come along. We are unable to offer discounts as we limit the students to 6 per group, in order to make sure each person gets enough individual attention from the Italian teachers.
"I loved this experience for learning Italian and making new friends - I really hope I can come back soon!"
Basil Hussein
Learn more about our next Italian immersion vacation
Learn more about our next Italian immersion vacation
Private immersion experience in Milan
You need to practice speaking Italian
But it’s not always easy to find people to practice with. And nerves can hold you back.
You wonder...
What if I make a mistake and people laugh at me?
What if I freeze up?
Why can’t I remember things when need them in conversation?
They probably don’t want to talk to me anyway!
Even if you do manage to start a conversation with an Italian, when Italians see you struggling they switch back to English, which cuts your chance to practice short.
Or maybe you don’t feel ready to start speaking yet. You want to prepare for conversations by memorising more phrases, grammar and vocabulary. But this holds you back because best way to remember phrases, grammar and vocabulary is to practice using them in conversation!
