About two hundred expressions cover the vast majority of a traveller’s interactions in Italy. This guide groups them by communicative situation, with notes on pronunciation and pragmatic use, that is, on how and when to say them. Why vocabulary “by situation” Action-oriented language teaching, the basis of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), treats…
Introduction: language training as a fundable investment An Italian course in Italy can be funded, fully or partly, through public schemes that many adult learners overlook. Across Europe, the right to lifelong learning takes the form of study loans, paid educational leave and mobility programmes, each with its own rules. Second language acquisition research agrees…
The prevailing assumption links studying Italian in Sicily to the summer season. However, an analysis of the climatic, economic, pedagogical, and socio-cultural factors that shape the learning experience presents a more nuanced picture, in which the October–November period emerges as particularly favorable. This article examines the question systematically, month by month. Climatic factors Sicily’s Mediterranean…
Taormina is one of Sicily’s most beloved destinations, perched between the crystal-clear Ionian Sea and the slopes of Mount Etna. But it’s also something more: the ideal place to learn Italian, immersed in authentic culture and breathtaking scenery. Here are the 10 things you must do during your stay in Taormina and how to make…
“I’m too old to learn a new language.” It’s the sentence we hear most often at Babilonia’s front desk from people enrolling in a course after turning 50 — usually said with a smile, right before they go ahead and start anyway. It’s also one of the most mistaken things you can say about language…
There’s a reason Sicily keeps coming up whenever people talk about world heritage. Greek temples that have defied time for over two thousand years, an active volcano towering over the entire island, Roman mosaics that stayed intact underground for centuries, cathedrals where Arab, Norman and Byzantine art merge into a single unmistakable style: few places…
Every year, more European companies face the same question: how do you truly integrate an international team that operates even partially in Italian? Whether it’s a German manager relocating to a Milan office, a Spanish team managing Italian clients, or a multinational opening a new branch in Turin, the answer is almost always the same:…
There’s a precise moment, for anyone learning Italian, when something shifts inside. It isn’t the first time you order a coffee without hesitating, or the first time you catch a joke on the fly. It’s something subtler: the instant you realize you’re thinking in another language, even for a single sentence, even for a single…
There’s a reason writers, artists and travelers have kept arriving in Taormina for over two centuries and struggled to leave. Goethe called it a piece of paradise, D.H. Lawrence lived here for years, and to this day, anyone arriving in Taormina for the first time stops, turns toward the sea, and understands why this small…
Language travel Italy over 50: because there’s no right age to fall in love with a new languageIt’s never too late to learn Italian. In fact, for people over 50, studying a language in Italy can become an experience of personal growth, socialising and cultural discovery that goes far beyond grammar. More and more people…
