Italian course in Trieste, Italy
Our school in Trieste
A beautiful Venetian-style palazzo dating from the 18th century is home to our Italian school in Trieste. The six fully equipped classrooms are based on the first floor of the building, which is in the historic centre of Trieste and just a short walk from the Molo della Pescheria, a pier that separates the yacht club from the dock for cruise ships, where you will find peaceful and beautiful views over the Adriatic Sea and back towards the city.
This boutique Italian language school, which is fully accredited, provides a warm and welcoming environment where students from around the world gather to learn Italian. The school has dedicated and fully qualified native Italian teachers, as well as a friendly, multilingual administration team. Additionally, our Trieste school is an authorised examination centre for the most significant Italian language exams, ensuring the quality of your education amongst the 15 different Italian language levels offered by the school.
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Trieste
Trieste, the ancient city with a complex history of changing hands over the centuries, offers a captivating experience due to its rich cultural and historical heritage. Nestled between the formidable Adriatic Sea and the rolling hills of the Carso plateau, it serves as a unique crossroads where various European cuisines, architectural styles, and customs combine.
With the city tucked away at the northeastern edge of Italy, Trieste is an enticing destination that appeals to both students and travellers alike. It boasts a distinctive blend of history, culture, and coastal charm, making it a must-visit place for those seeking a one-of-a-kind European experience fully immersed in the Italian language.
Wandering through Trieste's cobbled streets, you'll encounter a mesmerising fusion of styles, from grand Habsburg-era palaces to cosy Mediterranean cafes. The beautiful Miramare castle, perched over the Adriatic, is a relic from Trieste’s time in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and offers a glimpse into the opulent life of Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Habsburg. Many other grandiose buildings, a coffeehouse culture, and connections to the Habsburg Empire are all clear reasons why Trieste is known as “little Vienna by the Sea”, which isn’t the only idiom used to describe this fascinating city.
The location for the Italian school is equally impressive. Shielded amongst other palazzos from the bora that rolls off the Adriatic Sea in the winter, the school is still less than 100 metres from the coast, so you can be sitting with an ice-cream overlooking the harbour in no time. Alternatively, after your Italian lessons, take a three-minute walk to the Piazza Unità, a large, elegant square on the seafront, which is the centre of city life. Here you can chat to locals in Italian, admire the eye-catching facades of the Government Palace, or simply soak up the atmosphere of this enchanting university city!
Trieste's place as a centre of learning is evident with the large student population, whilst literary legacy is celebrated here, as it was home to writers like James Joyce and Italo Svevo, who found inspiration in its captivating charm. The bustling markets and seafood-centric cuisine, accompanied by a crisp glass of local white wine, create a culinary delight at any time of year. With its proximity to the sea, you can savour fresh seafood as you watch the waves along the shoreline. The rich cultural tapestry, lively atmosphere, and stunning vistas means Trieste is a hidden gem waiting to be fully experienced.
Courses in Trieste
Available courses
Our school offers various Italian courses, allowing you to choose the pace of learning. The most popular Intensive course of 20 Italian lessons per week can be started every Monday and covers a conversational language course with the more technical side of Italian grammar. Each student in Trieste will take a written and an oral test on the first morning, which guarantees one of 15 levels of Italian, according to your level of competence in the language. On average, there will be just 3-8 students per class on the Intensive course, so you will receive lots of attention from the teachers and learn Italian quickly whilst being fully immersed! With four daily lessons (each 55 minutes) the teaching is divided into two units of two lessons, each with a different teacher and a 20-minute break in between. The schedule is 09:00 - 13:00 or 14:00 - 18:00 Monday to Friday.
The content of the programme depends on your level but will focus on various aspects of Italian language learning, covering grammar structure and rules. Practical exercises such as sentence formation, games, quizzes, and written texts are used to expand vocabulary and teach idioms. The curriculum also encompasses reading texts on diverse Italian cultural topics, including cooking, wine, music, and cinema. Roleplays are also used to act out everyday situations, and various methods of communication are explored, including direct listening and the analysis of different facets of Italy. Intermediate and advanced students will use active newspaper readings and discussions on topics related to art, culture, current affairs, politics, and society. This balanced approach allows language students to immerse themselves in all four key language skills: speaking, understanding, reading, and writing.
The Semi-Intensive course in Italian, which is not suitable for beginners, includes 10 Italian classes per week. The primary emphasis is on improving your conversational Italian. During this course, you'll enhance your communication skills by exploring various spoken language aspects. This involves reading newspaper articles, discussing descriptive texts, building your vocabulary, and addressing a wide range of topics related to art, culture, society, and politics.
The Combined course in Trieste adds six private classes per week to the Intensive course. These extra six lessons will take place in a block of two 55-minute sessions three days a week from 14:00 - 15:50 or 16:10 to 18:00. During the one-to-one lessons, students have the flexibility to choose their specific area of focus. They can delve into topics such as literature, history, cinema, theatre, music, architecture, sculpture, print and TV, law, economics, politics, Italian opera, or even commercial Italian tailored for fields such as finance, tourism, the hotel industry, medicine, and more. Additionally, the Italian Combined course can be seamlessly used to fully personalised your learning experience. Furthermore, these extra one-to-one sessions can serve as an excellent preparation for officially recognised Italian certificates like CILS or CELI.
Choose a course consisting entirely of Private Lessons if you feel that you learn best on a one-to-one basis, prefer extra privacy during your learning, or just need to tailor the full programme to your exact requirements. On the last day of all Italian courses in Trieste, all students receive a certificate confirming their participation.
With the Intensive course as a foundation, you can also combine those 20 Italian group lessons per week with extra cooking, music, or painting on one our school’s ‘Italian +’ courses. During the popular Italian + Cooking course you'll have the opportunity to learn the art of creating Italian dishes and regional specialties from both Trieste and its neighbouring areas. A friendly and professional cooking instructor, hailing from this captivating city, will be your guide on this delectable culinary adventure!
The cooking part of the course comprises three lesson units, with each unit lasting 3.5 hours. The entire course spans approximately 10 hours and commences around 18:00. Please note that the course will be conducted in Italian. Upon your arrival on the first day, you will be provided with a list of recipes and an apron. This special course can be booked for a minimum of one week (equivalent to three evenings) and can extend up to a maximum of four weeks. Our school can also accommodate a maximum of two participants, which can be friends or a couple. However, it's worth noting that this course is also quite popular among solo travellers.
Our Italian + Music course in Trieste lets you combine the intensive Italian language course with lessons at a well-established and closely partnered music school in the Cavana area, just a short 3-minute walk away. The Italian + music package provides a wide range of music experiences, including music discovery, instrumental and singing courses. You can choose between classical/academic or contemporary music styles such as jazz, rock, blues, easy listening, and other modern genres. You will attend music classes in one of the 12 soundproofed classrooms and each class lasts 30 minutes. Our standard package offers two music classes per week, but you can add more than this if required.
The reputable music school is a bustling hub of activity, involving more than 45 individuals, including teachers and assistants. Additionally, it collaborates with numerous renowned international musicians and music professionals to organise special learning programs and specialised seminars. It’s important to note that our Italian + music programme is conducted entirely in Italian, allowing you to immerse yourself fully in the language and culture. The cutting-edge teaching methods will guide you through this journey, making the learning process for both the Italian language and music course highly effective.
The Italian + Painting course in Trieste includes 20 group lessons of intensive Italian per week, along with five painting lessons. Each private painting lesson lasts approximately two hours, giving you a total of 10 hours of painting instruction each week. These painting lessons are held at the Fine Arts School of Trieste and offer various options, such as watercolour, drawing, portraiture, and oil painting. It's the perfect blend of culture, the Italian way of life, and relaxation, all while you learn Italian and improve your painting skills.
The course fee covers all private painting lessons, painting materials (paint, paper and canvas), a certificate of participation, and upon request, an “artistic critique” of your completed work.
Finally, click on the link below to read more about the special Club 60+ course offered by our Trieste school.
Special courses in Trieste
Accommodation
Available accommodation
For the duration of your Italian course in Trieste, stay either in a shared apartment, a private studio apartment or with an Italian host family.
Staying with an Italian host family or a single Italian host provides full immersion in Italian culture. All students have their own single room furnished with a bed, table, chair, and wardrobe. The bathroom is typically shared with the host family. Weekly cleaning and a change of linens, as well as a basic Italian breakfast, are all included in the price, along with standard utility expenses (electricity, water, gas, heating). Additionally, students have the option to book half-board for an extra fee. All prospective host families are thoroughly vetted by our school, and regular checks are made to ensure that their accommodation is of the required standard.
Our school can also arrange accommodation for you in centrally located shared apartments. Located on the 3rd floor of an 18th-century building in the city centre, our school shared apartment offers easy access to nearby restaurants, cafes, and bars. The school is a leisurely 10-minute walk away, with a small supermarket and the market close by. Completely renovated in early 2013, the 200-square-meter shared apartment has four bathrooms, a fully equipped kitchen, and six bedrooms. Each room includes a 32" flat-screen TV with satellite TV and free Wi-Fi. Rooms in shared apartments can be singles or doubles, and you can also book out more than one bedroom or the entire apartment if necessary.
For added privacy and independence, you can choose a studio apartment, which includes a private bedroom, bathroom, and kitchenette. Each studio comes equipped with a TV, air conditioning, washer/dryer, dishwasher, and Wi-Fi. Cleaning of the studios is scheduled once a week. Our school's studio apartments in Trieste are situated in the city centre, just a 4 to 20-minute walk from the school. In the vicinity, you'll discover a plethora of restaurants, cafes, bars, and grocery stores.
If none of these accommodation options above are suitable or available at the time of booking then please contact us for special requests or other options such as local hotels, hotel apartments and bed and breakfasts.
Activities
There’s much to enjoy in Trieste and the surrounding area, and our school aims to introduce you to the best of it! The school’s weekly activity programme offers numerous chances to fully immerse yourself in Italian culture and lifestyle. This includes guided tours of Trieste, museum visits, castle tours, Italian film nights, and seminars on Italian culture and customs. Additionally, we offer practical workshops to enhance both your oral and written communication skills as part of your language course.
In the "Le Venezie" region (covering Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, Veneto, and Trentino), there are numerous UNESCO World Heritage Sites, providing a diverse excursion programme. The standard weekend tour takes you to Venice, where you'll explore the "City of Gondolas" with its art treasures and architectural marvels. Other culturally significant destinations include Aquileia, the Lombard town of Cividale, Udine, Palladian Villas, and more. You can also enjoy wine and "Prosciutto" tastings, bicycle tours, boat trips, and nature hikes organized by the WWF, all of which complement our Italian language courses. If that’s not enough you can also visit the amazing Grotta Gigante cave system, the castles of Duino, the scenic town of Muggia and nearby beaches on half-day trips. You could also spend a full day at the ancient Roman city of Aquileia and the Collio vineyards, amongst other places. The school is always available to provide guidance and can organise both complimentary trips and tours and paid activities and excursions.
How to get there
Everyone who books accommodation with our school in Trieste will get an escorted transfer from the airports Trieste, Venice, Treviso or Ljubljana included for free on arrival. A representative of the school will meet you and take you to your accommodation, which takes approximately 40 minutes from Trieste and longer from elsewhere. Transfers from Trieste central train station can be arranged for free either by the host family (if you've booked that accommodation) or by a school representative (if you're staying in a shared apartment).
Location of our school in Trieste
Prices for Trieste
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Company Number: 08311373
