About L’Italiano Porticando and Turin, Italy’s city of magic
Imagine discovering a city different from all others, a place where you can appreciate Italian history, culture, and cuisine from a distinctive and authentic viewpoint.
Now picture yourself learning Italian outdoors, rather than only in a classroom, practicing your conversation skills while you explore the piazzas and streets, and digging into the local heritage and culture to uncover the soul of words and idioms.
Wouldn’t it be exciting?!
Learn, explore, discover, and enjoy
Well, I’ve got a surprise for you, dear Studentsville blog readers: what we describe above is, actually possible! Read on, and we’ll tell you all about an unconventional Italian language school located in a less-renowned, but incredibly fascinating, Italian city.
How to expand your horizons in 2023
Here we are, rolling into February 2023, and trying our best to make our lives better and happier. What can you do to broaden your outlook, gain insight, and enhance your life? At Studentsville we firmly believe that traveling and learning a foreign language can make your life better. That’s why we do what we do: provide students and young professionals from all over the world with useful tips and information about Italy and the great opportunities our country offers.
Especially those you may not know about, like a school where learning rhymes with exploring.
Wanderlust and learning opportunities
Being a student in 2023 means having the luxury to design your learning path as you wish, maybe spending three months, a semester, or a year studying abroad, experiencing a different culture firsthand, learning the language, and meeting fabulous new people.
Why choose Italy
Choosing Italy, rather than another country, allows you to do all the above while enjoying a soul-pleasing lifestyle and scrumptious food surrounded by mesmerizing art and friendly inhabitants. Tourists, travelers, and students know it, and yearly flock to Venice, Rome, and Florence, to sample a taste of la Dolce Vita and admire the sights.
But there’s more to Italy than these major cities, exactly like there’s more to learning Italian than mastering the grammar.
The road less traveled
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- / I took the one less traveled by / And that has made all the difference” wrote Robert Frost. This great poet’s conclusion proves to be true for a lot of situations, first and foremost when it comes to traveling and finding new, different, ways to learn. There are fascinating towns and cities in Italy that foreigners never get to, and students hardly consider when picking their study-abroad location. Take Turin, for instance.
About Turin
Albeit somewhat off the beaten mass tourism track, Turin, Torino in Italian, is one of Europe’s most fascinating up-and-coming destinations. Capital of Piedmont and the birthplace of icons such as gianduiotti (arguably the world’s most delicious chocolates), FIAT cars, and the Italian aperitivo, Turin boasts a vibrant contemporary art and performing arts scenario, alongside inspiring museums, airy piazzas, parks, palaces, and theaters. It’s a polychrome city, where history and tradition go hand in hand with innovation and creativity, architectural grandeur blends with white magic, and the nearby Alps offer skiers memorable moments.
Turin by night
As the moon rises and truffles and Barolo wine enrich the tables of fine restaurants, throngs of millennials converge in Turin’s brightly lit squares, charming bistros, and eclectic clubs. River-view discos and restaurants stretch all the way from Valentino Park to Corso Moncalieri, Piazza Vittorio Veneto houses a number of cool bars and clubs specialized in aperitivi (pre-dinner cocktail get-togethers) and apericena (aperitif+dinner). Plus, the Roman Quadrilatero and Borgo Dora are filled with vibrant live music clubs, and the university and San Salvario neighborhoods offer food and drink way until sunrise.
A city where you can have fun and feel the vibe 24/7
If you’re looking to have fun and feel the vibe, in Turin you’ll be spoiled for choice both by night and by day. In fact, whatever the weather, you can always take a nice long walk, meet friends, and have a drink or meal without ever opening your umbrella. Why? Because the city boasts Europe’s largest pedestrian area, and it’s… weather-proof!
Turin’s porticoes
Turin’s amazing porticoes, i.e. beautiful historic covered archways lined with shops, cafés, and restaurants are 18 kilometers, roughly 11.184 miles, long! They’re the city’s most distinctive symbol and, needless to say, a perfect place to socialize and chat away. In perfect Italian of course!
“L’Italiano Porticando”, the school where you learn while you explore
L’Italiano Porticando, namely “(learn) Italian walking through the porticoes” was founded back in 2005 to provide foreign students with the opportunity to learn Italian in an area of Italy where, at the time, there were no specialized language schools and, at once, offer an authentic insider’s view of the local heritage.
Learning Italian is fun!
What the school’s founders – three forward-thinking Turinese professionals experienced in teaching the Italian language and culture – had in mind was a school where learning Italian could be engaging and even entertaining. A place where students could experience the local lifestyle and legacy firsthand while they mastered the Italian language’s grammar, syntax, and beautiful idioms.
More about the founders Rosaria, Caterina, and Laura, and Porticando’s faculty.
Captivating classes and amazing experiences
And that’s what they did. For 18 years now, L’Italiano Porticando has been welcoming students from all over the world, captivating their attention and interest, and taking them behind the scenes to appreciate Turin’s fascinating heritage while teaching them to speak, read, and write Italian.
The courses
The school’s faculty and management burn the midnight oil to provide their students with brilliant learning opportunities, and indeed the selection of courses, classes, and experiences offered by L’Italiano Porticando is nothing short of extraordinary. You can choose to attend a “classic” Italian language course, which can be a group course or a private one, or online classes, or long-term courses, or opt for a combined language and culture course, or then again select one of the special topic courses.
Italian movies, music, and more
The combined culture+language study programs and the special topic classes focus on significant, fascinating, aspects of the local history, culture, and lifestyle. Options range from literature, art, and history to Italian music and cinema, to Italian language and tango culture classes.
Porticando’s “tools”
An engaging, effective teaching approach, exceptionally skilled teachers, and priceless learning materials are L’Italiano Porticando’s “tools. Right from the start, the school’s founders chose to adopt the direct communicative teaching method, a technique that focuses on stimulating conversation and includes enticing real-life reenactments. Also, they speak only Italian from the very first lesson and craft much of their learning materials in-house. Out-sourced material is carefully selected to provide pupils with varied, inspiring stimuli, and includes present-day articles, songs, and movies.
Learn Italian outdoors
Now, you may probably be wondering where “learning Italian walking down the porticoes” comes in… well, that’s what attracted the Studentsville team in the first place! L’Italiano Porticando offers two unconventional, and definitely appealing, learning activities targeted to those who want to practice their Italian language and perfect their skills in a different way: outside a classroom!
Explore the city and master the Italian language
Enrolling in the Outdoor Conversation Classes or Percorsi Torinesi you’ll be able to practice your Italian, and polish your speaking and understanding abilities while exploring Turin, seeing its museums, and learning about its history. What about beginners taking a standard course? They can participate in Porticando’s cultural afternoon activities free of charge!
There’s no day like today to start learning and exploring… check L’Italiano Porticando’s website out!
