Learning a foreign language like Italian can be a life-transforming experience: your self-confidence will improve, and your view of the world, and your place in it, may change radically.

But there’s also no doubt that getting to the point where you’ll be able to speak and understand Italian can be a slow and frustrating process.

Which is why, sooner or later, you may find yourself considering whether you should take a more intensive course at an Italian language school in Italy.

Perhaps you would learn a lot, quickly.

But maybe you’d be better attending Italian classes in your home town?

Before you make up your mind, here’s what you need to know to decide if studying in Italy is the right option for you. [Read more…]

See this painting in Bologna, for FREE!

‘La ragazza con l’orecchino di perla’ has come to Bologna!

The exhibition ‘Il mito della Golden Age’ (The Myth of the Golden Age) starts today, and guess what?

It’s just a street away from Madrelingua Italian Language School, at Palazzo Fava in Via Manzoni. Two minutes walk, max.

The exhibition features Vermeer’s masterpiece ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’, which is on loan from the Mauritshuis gallery in The Hague.

Its full title (translated) is:

The Myth of the Golden Age
From Vermeer to Rembrandt
Masterpieces of the Mauritshuis

Guess that means there’ll be lots of other great art to see, too!

You can catch the ‘mostra’ at any time from February 8th to May 25th 2014 (more details here), but…

How to get in FREE! [Read more…]

SI!!!!!

It’s December again!

Time for the biggest discount of the year on all Italian group courses!

Twelve months ago, way back in 2012, many of you took advantage of this very same offer to save 20% on your Italian course at our school in Bologna, Italy.

Well, now you can do it again, and so speak and understand Italian even better, for even less!

For the next two weeks, save 20% on your 2014 Italian course, and you don’t even have to decide now when you’ll be coming!

Deposit now, details later

This is how it works: [Read more…]

It’s time to book a place for the Madrelingua staff Christmas lunch.

Wanted: somewhere near the school and not too pricey.

Above all though, the food has to be good.

Yesterday, Stefi and I checked out one of the options, the Osteria Bocca Buona (pictured), which offers a fixed lunch menu for €9.

Usually in Italy you’d expect your meal to be divided into “primo” (pasta, rice or whatever) and “secondo” (meat, fish…).

Bocca Buona instead offers a “piatto unico”, that strange foreign habit of combining both courses on “one plate”.

The €9 includes the “piatto unico”, plus bread, water and coffee.

Cheaper lunch menus like this one, which are aimed at office workers, will often have no additional service charge to worry about (but check!)

Note also that, in Italy, away from the extreme tourist hotspots, nobody tips.

So you needn’t, either: no one will think less of you. [Read more…]

This is possibly the weirdest thing I’ve ever done, inviting total strangers to dinner.

Let me explain.

You know how teenagers are? Competing friendships, ever-changing plans, group dynamics, that sort of thing?

Well, I was supposed to be cooking for my eldest daughter’s friends this evening. But now it’s just “friend”.

The fish was already defrosting. And I got a bit carried away at the supermarket and came home with vegetables for at least eight.

We’re six.

Seems a shame really, but who accepts dinner invitations for Saturday night on Saturday afternoon?

Certainly no one we know.

So, just on the off-chance, if you happen to be in Bologna this evening (Saturday 16th November), and don’t have anything better to do… [Read more…]

Surely everyone HATES taking exams?

Well, no.

Most people SAY they don’t like exams, and it can certainly be hard work preparing for a CILS Italian language exam, and stressful on the actual day.

But secretly, lots of people love the whole process.

And why not? There are lots of great reasons to include an exam in your Italian study program: [Read more…]

128 people have signed up for our “Great Offer”. Two unsubscribed right after. Well, I guess it wasn’t really their thing.

People have been writing to me saying stuff like this can’t be serious, right? It’s not really free, is it? What’s the catch??? There must be a catch!

No catch.

The braver ones on our mailing list have already booked their flights. Stefi told me we have 6 people starting their free courses on Monday.

The rest of you are thinking, no, this can’t be real. No way Madrelingua will let me take a week’s course absolutely free and download an e-book worth €19.99 for nothing, just for giving my email address (which they already have anyway because they emailed me this offer.)

It can’t be real. It’s one of those tricks. Like you have to pay for four weeks and then you get one free, or something like that. Right?

Wrong. It’s a genuine offer.

Some people DO click the link & read the offer. But then, they smile to themselves as they realise that it’s gotta be a fake. Gotta be.

70% of those who viewed our offer this week decided right off that they really didn’t want a free course or e-book about Italian tenses.

Well who would?

The other 30% downloaded their e-book no probs, got the e-mail with the voucher for a week’s free course, and are now looking for cheap flights to Bologna. Hopefully not all at once.

Wonder which group you were in?

Anyway, this post/e-mail is just to let you know I’m closing this offer down at midnight today. Saturday 7th September. That’s Italian time.

So, if you’re not the hyper-suspicious type, or maybe in jail or paralysed, click the link to view the offer.

And remember, just looking at it won’t get you anywhere. You actually have to fill in the form with your name and e-mail to get your voucher and free download.

Whether you go then ahead and study the e-book is up to you. Nobody’s forcing you to learn Italian. But it’s an excellent product, really good, with integrated audio and exercises.

Also entirely optional is whether you ever actually come to Bologna to do your free course. Lots of people just dream of doing stuff like that, but never actually get round to it. They have jobs, partners, kids and so on to worry about.

But clicking the link and filling in the form, at least keeps your options open, right?

OK, assuming you’re NOT at the beach this afternoon, click the link, fill in the damn form (it won’t bite, and you can unsubscribe at any time with just one click), and I’ll send you your e-book and free course voucher.

Midnight Italian time, the page comes down. The offer will be over, and my wife will cease complaining about all the emails she has to answer.

P.S. Apologies to anyone who hates getting reminders about special offers. Stefi says I shouldn’t send them. I say that there must be people out there like me who really mean to do these things, but just don’t get round to it. And so might appreciate a last minute reminder (click the link).

Since I posted on Wednesday about the great offer we’re currently running (it really is unmissable), we’ve had 86 people sign up…

For what? More on that in a moment.

But as the offer has been SO successful, we’ve got to end it very soon. Depending on the response, probably today, or tomorrow at the latest.

So what’s the deal?

Well, as I said in the last article… I’m not going to explain it here. There’s a webpage which explains what we’re giving away, and how to get it (no catches, this REALLY IS A GREAT OFFER).

If you’re one of the 86 people who’ve already signed up, sorry to have bothered you again.

But if you didn’t open the last mail, or didn’t click the link, do it now.

I really don’t want you to miss out on this.

Find out more.

P.S. Don’t forget, this is time limited, so PLEASE visit the webpage to find out more. In a short time, the page will be taken down and our next promotion is not scheduled until December of this year.

Find out more

Thought you might like to know about a fantastic promotion we’re running at the moment on our Italian courses.

This hasn’t been publicised on our site or through our mailing list (until now, that is), and may not be available for long.

In fact, it’s such a great offer, I’ll probably be forced to take it down in a day or two.

We’re looking at people who want to learn Italian, but wouldn’t normally think of coming to Bologna or trying our school.

Basically, we’re trying to attract new clients, the ones who would unthinkingly go to Rome or Florence to study, without even considering wonderful Madrelingua in wonderful Bologna.

But don’t worry if you’re not a new client. Even if you’ve already studied with us in the past, you can profit from this.

We’re generous like that.

So what’s the deal?

Well… I’m not going to explain it here, as I just got done writing a great webpage which says it all. And to get the offer, you HAVE to visit the webpage,

Let me just assure you, that this really IS a great offer.  Trust me, click the link. You’ll be missing out, if you don’t.

Click here to find out more.

Got a question? Leave a comment. I’ll be happy to give you more details.

P.S. Remember, this page may be taken down at any time, especially if demand is more than we expected. So don’t hang about:

Link to fantastic offer

by Agata Bubrowiecka (Poland)

Studying Italian at a language school in Bologna is ideal for many reasons, not least because, as a major rail hub, it makes the perfect base for visiting many other wonderful Italian cities.

When I’ve finished my homework, that is!

So, today’s Saturday and I’m off to “La culla della Rinascimento”: Florence.

My Bologna-Florence high-speed rail ticket costs about 25 euros and the journey is less than an hour, city-center to city-center!

Florence is totally charming! I hardly know which way to look because there are so many beautiful things to see and I really don’t want to miss a thing!

My tour starts from “Piazza di Michelangelo”, a large, quiet square above the city, from which there’s an unmissable view of the old town.

From there, I head directly to the most exciting and interesting part of the city [Read more…]