As I mentioned last week, December is the month when we run our popular ‘Best Offer Of The Year’ on Italian courses over the coming twelve-month period.

And the waiting is over!

Starting today you can save a full 20% on group Italian courses of any length starting in 2026 at our school in Bologna, Italy.

This is what you need to know:

• Pay the ‘Winter Offer – 20%’ course deposit (just €120 instead of the usual €150)
• You’ll save 20%, not just on the deposit, but on the whole cost of your course
• The offer applies to group courses only, not to individual or online lessons
• Your course can be of any length: the longer you study, the more you learn

Read more in our online shop.

This promotion runs from today until Christmas Day (25th December 2025).

But why wait? Start making your plans today!

1. Choose your Italian course and check the price
2. Check out flights to Bologna and accommodation
3. Read about our simple booking process
4. Then over to our online shop to pay your course / accommodation deposit
5. That’s it – you’ve saved 20% on your 2026 Italian course!

Of course, you may not yet know when exactly in 2026 you’ll be able to devote some time to improving your Italian…

No problem!

There’s no need to decide the details of your course right now. Pay the deposit to lock in your discount (this offer won’t be repeated for another twelve months.)

Then just send us an email with the start and finish dates when you’ve finalized your plans.

So, you’ll have some questions, I expect.

Write to Stefania, who’ll be happy to help you! Her email is: info@madrelinguabologna.com (or reply to any email you receive from us.)

Here are some links to pages on our site where you can find out more.

Contact us | Prices | Italian Courses | How To Book | FAQ | Pay the 20% discount deposit now!

Just a quick announcement to all current, former and perhaps future Madrelingua students – our annual 20% discount promotion is coming soon!

The 2026 Italian Course Offer will begin on Thursday 18th of December 2025 and end at midnight on Christmas Day, which is the Thursday of the week after.

During that period you’ll be able to save a full 20% on group Italian courses OF ANY LENGTH at our school in Bologna in 2026.

A lot of our regular students pay a small deposit during the annual December offer, then decide later, depending on their circumstances, when to do their course and for how long.

That’s just fine!

That way, there’s no need for you to spend time making definite plans during this busy period before Christmas. While we get an idea of how many people are interested in courses for the coming year, and can therefore more confidently plan staffing and so on

Anyway, there’ll be full details of the 2026 Italian course promotion on Thursday 18th.

In the meantime, I want to alert anyone who is NO LONGER INTERESTED IN LEARNING ITALIAN that now would be the ideal time to unsubscribe from our email list, so ensuring that you won’t be bothered in future.

Articles that we publish on the school website (like this one) are emailed out automatically. But there will always be an ‘unsubscribe’ link, either at the top or the bottom, or both.

To remove your email from the list, just click that link and follow the simple instructions. It should take just seconds.

But if you are, definitely, still interested?

Remember, the offer doesn’t begin until Dec. 18th, so don’t go booking your course immediately (someone always does…), unless you don’t care about the discount, of course.

Instead, you could check out the Italian courses page on the website, look at course prices (remember to mentally deduct 20%), read the FAQ and, if your questions are not answered there, contact us.

My wife, Stefi, will be happy to respond to your email, talk to you on the phone, or welcome you if you decide to come by the school to take a look around.

Two final comments – firstly, anyone who has previously paid a course deposit but has not actually come to do a course (perhaps because of the pandemic), absolutely need not pay again. Your deposit will remain valid. All you need to do is email the dates you intend to study. You could even do that now…

And secondly, what if you KNOW YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO DO A COURSE IN 2026 but still want to learn or improve your Italian?

Some of the school staff and teachers also work on other projects that might interest you.

For example, EasyItalianNews.com, which offers FREE audio + transcript ‘easy’ news broadcasts three times a week.

And of course there’s OnlineItalianClub.com, which features thousands of pages of FREE exercises and practice material, plus articles about learning Italian.

You could even take some Italian lessons online, without ever leaving the comfort of your home or office!

That’s everything, I think.

Buona giornata, allora.

P.S.

Don’t forget, if you’d rather not hear about the 2026 Italian course promotion, look for the ‘Unsubscribe’ link, at the bottom of any bulk email you receive from us.

The Christmas/New Year festivities are just three weeks away!

But that can seem like a long time if you’re waiting for Santa to come down the chimney with a jute sack over his shoulder…

To keep you busy, we’ve scheduled our 2026 Italian Course Offer for the week before holidays!

You’ll be able to save 20% on 2026 group Italian courses at our school in Bologna.

Study for as little as a week, or as long as a year, at a fantastic discount!

You don’t even have to decide WHEN in 2026.

This is a busy period, after all.

Watch out on Thursday 18th December 2025 for more details about the offer…

In the meantime, take a look at these articles about learning Italian.

For instance:

‘Why can’t I understand spoken Italian?’

and if you have time…

‘Ever wished for the super power of learning languages?’

There’s even…

Will an Italian course make me richer and more attractive?’

You’ll find more like this on our ‘best articles’ page.

Plus, Madrelingua also has a FAQ.

Suppose reading’s not your thing?

No worries!

Whatever you want to know about Italian courses in Bologna in 2026, just ask Stefi!

Ready to answer your questions!!

The fourth and final ‘module’ of the Autumn/Fall session of Italian evening classes at our language school here in Bologna will begin on Monday or Tuesday (depending on the level) next week.

The three-week (18 hour) evening class ‘module’ will begin on December 1st/2nd 2025, depending on the level of the group, after which there’s the Christmas/New Year break, so we’ll be doing other things with our evenings – until January!

Evening class groups for the fourth modules starting next week are:

• A1 (elementary), Tuesdays and Thursdays, 18.00-21.00, from 02/12/25
• A2 (pre-intermediate), Tuesdays and Thursdays, 18.00-21.00, from 02/12/25
• B1 (intermediate), Tuesdays and Thursdays, 18.00-21.00, from 02/12/25
• B2 (upper-intermediate), Mondays and Wednesdays, 18.00-21.00, from 01/12/25

Each group currently has space for newcomers or returning students. Ask us for details!

All dates for the Autumn/Fall evening class modules can be found on the Italian evening courses page of the school website.

And/or contact us to find out more, and to arrange a level test, if you don’t already know yours.

Prices are on the Prices page.

But what if you’re not in Bologna, or aren’t free in the evenings? Then take a look at our other Italian course options:

Italian Courses | Prices | FAQ | How To Book | Contact Us

P.S.

Do you regularly read/listen to EasyItalianNews.com? If not, you really should!

The thrice-weekly bulletins of news in Italian are a fantastic, FREE way to improve your knowledge of the language, as well as being valuable skills (reading/listening) practice, so ideal to supplement a more traditional Italian course.

Go here – EasyItalianNews.com – to check out this great free material for Italian learners!

Then subscribe (for FREE) here.

The third ‘module’ of the Autumn/Fall session of Italian evening classes at our language school here in Bologna will begin next week.

The three-week (18 hour) evening class ‘module’ will begin on November 10th/11th 2025, depending on the level of the group, after which there’ll be one further three-week module before the Christmas/New Year break.

There’s still time then for anyone living or studying in Bologna to improve their Italian in 2025!

Evening class groups for the third modules starting next week are:

• A1 (elementary), Tuesdays and Thursdays, 18.00-21.00, from 11/11/25
• A2 (pre-intermediate), Tuesdays and Thursdays, 18.00-21.00, from 11/11/25
• B1 (intermediate), Tuesdays and Thursdays, 18.00-21.00, from 11/11/25
• B2 (upper-intermediate), Mondays and Wednesdays, 18.00-21.00, from 10/11/25

Each group currently has space for newcomers or returning students. Ask us for details!

All dates for the Autumn/Fall evening class modules can be found on the Italian evening courses page of the school website.

And/or contact us to find out more, and to arrange a level test, if you don’t already know yours.

Prices are on the Prices page.

But what if you’re not in Bologna, or aren’t free in the evenings? Then take a look at our other Italian course options:

Italian Courses | Prices | FAQ | How To Book | Contact Us

P.S.

Do you regularly read/listen to EasyItalianNews.com? If not, you really should!

The thrice-weekly bulletins of news in Italian are a fantastic, FREE way to improve your knowledge of the language, as well as being valuable skills (reading/listening) practice, so ideal to supplement a more traditional Italian course.

Go here – EasyItalianNews.com – to check out this great free material for Italian learners!

Then subscribe (for FREE) here.

Below is a copy/paste of the ‘evening classes starting soon’ article we published a couple of weeks ago, when we first opened enrollments.

And the update?

Enrollments are still open, no surprise there.

A number of people have asked about the days of the week/levels of the class. Well, with more than two weeks to go before the scheduled start dates we’re keeping the days flexible to try to meet students’ needs.

If you’re interested in an evening course this ‘trimestre’ (= three month period i.e. an academic term), or next for that matter, don’t hestitate to contact us. Details and links are in the article below.

That way we can try to make sure the days of the classes (Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday) match your needs.

+++

Enrollments are open for the autumn/fall session of evening classes at our Italian school in Bologna.

Anyone who’s living or studying here could take advantage of the months from September to December to improve their Italian an entire level!

The three-week (18 hour) ‘modules’ are programmed to begin on 29th/30th September 2025, after which there will be three further modules, each also lasting three weeks, so 72 hours in total.

We hope to open three or four classes, at different levels from beginner to upper-intermediate.

Read more about Italian evening courses in Bologna (including the scheduled dates for all four autumn/fall term modules) on the Italian evening courses page of the school website.

Details of course costs are on the Prices page – scroll down to the second section, ‘Italian Language Evening Classes’. You might also want to look at the Discounts page.

And/or contact us to find out more, and to arrange a level test if you don’t already know yours.

So what about those of you who are not free in the evenings, or who aren’t in Bologna? Here are links to explore our other Italian course options:

Italian Courses | Prices | FAQ | How To Book | Contact Us

P.S.

If you’re learning Italian, don’t forget to subscribe (for FREE) to EasyItalianNews.com, which offers simplified news bulletins in Italian, three times a week (text plus audio).

There’s no better way to improve or maintain your Italian, as a supplement to your local Italian course, or if you aren’t able to travel to Italy right now.

Enter your email address on this page, then look out for the ‘please confirm’ email, which contains a link to click to verify that you wish to receive the simplfied news bulletins (text + audio) each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. If you don’t see that, check your spam/junk folder!

Browse EasyItalianNews.com to check out this great free material for learners!

Enrollments are open for the autumn/fall session of evening classes at our Italian school in Bologna.

Anyone who’s living or studying here could take advantage of the months from September to December to improve their Italian an entire level!

The three-week (18 hour) ‘modules’ are programmed to begin on 29th/30th September 2025, after which there will be three further modules, each also lasting three weeks, so 72 hours in total.

We hope to open three or four classes, at different levels from beginner to upper-intermediate.

Read more about Italian evening courses in Bologna (including the scheduled dates for all four autumn/fall term modules) on the Italian evening courses page of the school website.

Details of course costs are on the Prices page – scroll down to the second section, ‘Italian Language Evening Classes’. You might also want to look at the Discounts page.

And/or contact us to find out more, and to arrange a level test if you don’t already know yours.

So what about those of you who are not free in the evenings, or who aren’t in Bologna? Here are links to explore our other Italian course options:

Italian Courses | Prices | FAQ | How To Book | Contact Us

P.S.

If you’re learning Italian, don’t forget to subscribe (for FREE) to EasyItalianNews.com, which offers simplified news bulletins in Italian, three times a week (text plus audio).

There’s no better way to improve or maintain your Italian, as a supplement to your local Italian course, or if you aren’t able to travel to Italy right now.

Enter your email address on this page, then look out for the ‘please confirm’ email, which contains a link to click to verify that you wish to receive the simplfied news bulletins (text + audio) each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. If you don’t see that, check your spam/junk folder!

Browse EasyItalianNews.com to check out this great free material for learners!

The third ‘module’ of the Summer session of Italian evening classes at our language school here in Bologna will begin later this week.

The three-week (18 hour) evening class ‘module’ will begin on June 11th/12th 2025, after which there’ll be one further three-week module.

There’s still time, then, for anyone living or studying in Bologna to improve their Italian before the summer break.

Evening class groups starting this week are:

• A2 (pre-intermediate), Mondays and Wednesdays, 18.00-21.00, from 11/06/25
• B1 (intermediate), Tuesdays and Thursdays, 18.00-21.00, from 12/06/25
• B2 (upper-intermediate), Mondays and Wednesdays, 18.00-21.00, from 11/06/25

Each group has space for newcomers or returning students. Ask us for details!

All dates for the Summer evening class modules can be found on the Italian evening courses page of the school website.

And/or contact us to find out more, and to arrange a level test, if you don’t already know yours.

Prices are on the Prices page.

But what if you’re not in Bologna, or aren’t free in the evenings? Then take a look at our other Italian course options:

Italian Courses | Prices | FAQ | How To Book | Contact Us

P.S.

Do you read/listen to EasyItalianNews.com? (If not, you really should!)

The thrice-weekly bulletins of news in Italian are a fantastic, FREE way to improve your knowledge of the language, as well as being valuable skills (reading/listening) practice, so ideal to supplement a more traditional Italian course.

Subscribe (it really is FREE) by entering your email address on this page, then clicking the link in the ‘please confirm’ email to verify that you wish to receive the free bulletins via email each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

(If you don’t see the ‘please confirm’ email, be sure to check your spam/junk folder!)

Go here – EasyItalianNews.com – to check out this great free material for Italian learners!

Then subscribe (for FREE) here.

The second ‘module’ of the Summer session of Italian evening classes at our language school here in Bologna will begin next week.

The three-week (18 hour) evening class ‘module’ will begin on May 19th/22nd 2025 for the lower levels and on June 4th for the more advanced class, after which there’ll be two further three-week modules.

There’s plenty of time, then, for anyone living or studying in Bologna to improve their Italian before the summer break.

Evening class groups starting next week are:

• A1/A2 (elementary/pre-intermediate), Mondays and Wednesdays, 18.00-21.00, from 19/05/25
• A2/B1 (pre-intermediate/intermediate), Tuesdays and Thursdays, 18.00-21.00, from 22/05/25
• B2/C1 (upper-intermediate/advanced), Mondays and Wednesdays, 18.00-21.00, from 04/06/25

Each group has space for newcomers or returning students. Ask us for details!

All dates for the Summer evening class modules can be found on the Italian evening courses page of the school website.

And/or contact us to find out more, and to arrange a level test, if you don’t already know yours.

Prices are on the Prices page.

But what if you’re not in Bologna, or aren’t free in the evenings? Then take a look at our other Italian course options:

Italian Courses | Prices | FAQ | How To Book | Contact Us

P.S.

Do you read/listen to EasyItalianNews.com? (If not, you really should!)

The thrice-weekly bulletins of news in Italian are a fantastic, FREE way to improve your knowledge of the language, as well as being valuable skills (reading/listening) practice, so ideal to supplement a more traditional Italian course.

Subscribe (it really is FREE) by entering your email address on this page, then clicking the link in the ‘please confirm’ email to verify that you wish to receive the free bulletins via email each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

(If you don’t see the ‘please confirm’ email, be sure to check your spam/junk folder!)

Go here – EasyItalianNews.com – to check out this great free material for Italian learners!

Then subscribe (for FREE) here.

Taking online Italian lessons?

If you and your teacher use Skype, read this. It’s important!

Microsoft will be ‘retiring’ Skype on 5 May 2025, which is just two weeks away.

Skype users should agree with their online teachers to switch to one of the free alternatives listed below.

You and your teacher should allow a few minutes during your next lesson to try out a new video-calling solution (why not do that IN Italian??)

It should be simple, and will usually take just a few minutes, but not everyone is great with technology, so better get it done before Skype ‘retires’, if possible.

If you need help, ask your teacher for suggestions and support.

If things are still unclear, email us at info@madrelinguabologna.com

Skype Alternatives to use from May 5th 2025

Zoom

Many of us used Zoom during the pandemic, so this is one of the most straightforward Skype alternatives.

If your teacher has an account, all you’ll need to do is click on the link sent to you before your online lesson, and follow the prompts to install the necessary (free) software on your device.

Zoom’s free plan allows online lessons of up to 40 minutes. If you wish, you can sign up for an account at https://zoom.us/it/signup#/signup in which case you’ll be able to use it for other things, not just lessons.

Or just wait for your teacher to send you the lesson link, in which case you don’t need an account.

Google Meet

This is also very easy, as long as you already have a Google/Gmail account. The only hard part is finding the app…

From inside your Gmail, look for the grey icon comprising nine dots. On my PC, it’s in the top right-hand corner of the screen.

Click on the nine grey dots to view the various apps that are included with your Google account. The one you want is called ‘Meet’ and the icon is a multi-coloured square with an overlaid green triangle, presumably a movie camera. I had to look carefully to find it, but it’s there!

Click on the ‘movie camera’ to open a new window on your PC (or download the Meet app from your device’s app store). Using it should be simple, assuming your teacher also has a Google account (check with him/her first…)

Google accounts are free, and in any case, useful. Lessons on Google Meet can last up to  60 minutes. For more details: https://meet.google.com/landing

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft’s alternative to Skype is  ‘Microsoft Teams’. As with Google Meet, ‘Microsoft Teams for home’ allows online meetings of up to 60 minutes on the free plan. Find out more at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/teams-for-home

You’ll need to make sure you have the app on your device. Here’s the link for PCs: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/download-app Or check your device’s app store.

Once you have the software, you should be able to log in with your Skype username and password, assuming you still know them.

That’s handy, as your Skype contacts (i.e. your teacher, but also any friends you’ve called in the past) will automatically be transferred to Teams.

WhatsApp

And of course there’s WhatsApp, which most people will be familiar with from their smartphones.

Besides being the most popular messaging app, you can also use it to make audio and video calls.

And if you’re not happy about doing lessons on a smartphone, there’s a free app for your computer or tablet: https://www.whatsapp.com/download