Buona Pasqua da tutti noi a Madrelingua!

The school will be open tomorrow as normal, given that ‘Venerdì Santo’ is not a public holiday in Italy, but closed on Monday (‘Pasquetta’), which is.

We’re also closed for public holidays on Friday April 25th (‘il giorno della Liberazione’) and on May 1st (‘Festa dei lavoratori’).

Students taking courses of one or two weeks duration which include these dates will pay less for their course to compensate for the missed day or days. The prices of longer courses are already discounted, so not further reduced for public holidays.

The start/end dates of Italian evening clases take into account public holidays, so an 18-hour evening class module always lasts 18 hours.

And talking of Italian evening clases, the Summer session begins at the end of April

The first three-week (18 hour) evening class ‘module’ will begin on April 28th/29th/30th 2025 (depending on the level of the class), after which there’ll be three further three-week modules, so plenty of time for anyone living or studying in Bologna to improve their Italian before the summer vacation!

Planned Summer session groups are:

• A1/A2 (elementary/pre-intermediate), Mondays and Wednesdays, 18.00-21.00, from 28/04/25
• B1/B2 (intermediate/upper-intermediate), Tuesdays and Thursdays, 18.00-21.00, from 29/04/25
• B2/C1 (upper-intermediate/advanced), Mondays and Wednesdays, 18.00-21.00, from 30/04/25

Interested students should please contact us (even over Easter, we always respond to emails and phone calls) so that we can confirm those classes.

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

Prices are on the Prices page.

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

And 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.

Don’t forget to read/listen to EasyItalianNews.com, will you?

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 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!)

The fourth and final ‘module’ of the Spring 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 March 24th/25th 2025 (depending on the level of the class), after which there’ll be a short break before the Summer session, which will comprise four three-week modules beginning on April 28th and ending on July 22nd.

Plenty of time, then, for anyone living or studying in Bologna to improve their Italian before the summer vacation!

Confirmed groups starting next week are:

• A1/A2 (elementary/pre-intermediate), Mondays and Wednesdays, 18.00-21.00, from 24/03/25
• A2/B1 (pre-intermediate/intermediate), Tuesdays and Thursdays, 18.00-21.00, from 25/03/25
• B1/B2 (intermediate/upper-intermediate), Mondays and Wednesdays, 18.00-21.00, from 24/03/25

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.

Just a quick email to publicise the third module of the Spring session of Italian evening classes at our language school here in Bologna.

The next three-week (18 hour) evening class ‘module’ will begin on March 3rd/4th 2025 (depending on the level of the class), after which there will be one more Spring session module, also lasting three weeks – so 36 hours in total – followed by the entire Summer session, comprising four three-week modules beginning on April 28th and ending on July 22nd.

Plenty of time, then, for anyone living or studying in Bologna to improve their Italian before the summer break!

Confirmed groups starting next week are:

• A1/A2 (elementary/pre-intermediate), Mondays and Wednesdays, 18.00-21.00, from 03/03/25
• A2/B1 (pre-intermediate/intermediate), Tuesdays and Thursdays, 18.00-21.00, from 04/03/25
• B1/B2 (intermediate/upper-intermediate), Mondays and Wednesdays, 18.00-21.00, from 03/03/25

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

Prices are on the Prices page.

All dates for the Spring and 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.

But if you’re not in Bologna, or aren’t free in the evenings? 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?

Their 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 (for 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, check your spam/junk folder!)

Not sure? Go here – EasyItalianNews.com – to check out this great free material for Italian learners!

Then subscribe (it really is FREE) here.

My, how 2025 is flying past!

We’re already in February and already advertising the second module of the spring session of evening classes at our Italian school in Bologna.

Anyone who’s living or studying here could take advantage to improve their Italian before the weather improves (and it’s time to hit the beach!)

The next three-week (18 hour) evening class ‘module’ is programmed to begin on February 10th/11th 2025 (depending on the level of the class), after which there will be two further modules, each also lasting three weeks, so 54 hours in total.

Confirmed groups for next week are:

• A1/A2 (elementary/pre-intermediate), Mondays and Wednesdays, 18.00-21.00, from 10/02/25
• A2/B1 (pre-intermediate/intermediate), Tuesdays and Thursdays, 18.00-21.00, from 11/02/25
• B1/B2 (intermediate/upper-intermediate), Mondays and Wednesdays, 18.00-21.00, from 10/02/25

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

The dates of the Spring and Summer evening class modules can be found on the Italian evening courses page of the school website.

Prices are on the Prices 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 in Bologna, or who are not free in the evenings?

Take a look at our other Italian course options:

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

P.S.

Reading and listening to thrice-weekly bulletins of news in Italian is 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.

To subscribe (for FREE) 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 this free content each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. If you don’t see that, check your spam/junk folder.

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

Then subscribe (for FREE) here.

Madrelingua opened again last week after the two-week Christmas/New Year break. Morning classes are running as normal, and all levels have space, if anyone’s interested in a last-minute Italian course.

And starting on Jan. 20th/21st 2025 at our Italian school in Bologna we have the spring session of evening classes.

Anyone who’s living or studying here could take advantage of the gloomy months from January to March/April to improve their Italian an entire level!

The first three-week (18 hour) ‘module’ is programmed to begin on 20th/21st January 2025 (depending on the level of the class), after which there will be three further modules, each also lasting three weeks, so 72 hours in total.

Confirmed groups are:

• A1/A2 (elementary/pre-intermediate), Mondays and Wednesdays, 18.00-21.00, from 20/1/25
• A2/B1 (pre-intermediate/intermediate), Tuesdays and Thursdays, 18.00-21.00, from 21/1/25
• B1/B2 (intermediate/upper-intermediate), Mondays and Wednesdays, 18.00-21.00, from 20/1/25

All the dates of the Spring session modules (twelve weeks in total) can be found on the Italian evening courses page of the school website. Prices are on the Prices 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 in Bologna, or who are not free in the evenings?

Follow these links to find out more about our other Italian course options:

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

P.S.

Another fantastic, FREE way to improve your Italian is to subscribe to EasyItalianNews.com, which offers simplified news bulletins in Italian, three times a week (text plus audio).

Reading and listening to their thrice-weekly bulletins of news in Italian will help you maintain your skills and/or act as a supplement to your Italian course, even 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 this free content 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!

Stefi and Daniel, along with all of the teachers at Madrelingua Italian Language School, join to wish you, your family and your community:

“Auguri di Buon Natale!”

We hope to see you at our school in Bologna in 2025, in particular all our old friends, but also many, many new faces!

‘Mille grazie’ to the many people who’ve already taken advantage of our ‘best offer of the year’ to save 20% on their next course.

The offer ends at midnight tonight (25th Dec. 2024), so it’s still not too late to secure this great discount on your 2025 Italian course.

• Save a fifth on any group Italian course, of any length, starting in 2025!
• No need to decide the dates now – just let us know the period you want to study when you’ve decided
• TODAY IS THE LAST DAY to get your 20% discount by paying a deposit of just €120
• No more to pay until the first day of your course

CLICK THIS LINK NOW – it takes just seconds to pay your course deposit with a credit card or Paypal account.

Lock in your discount before the offer expires at midnight tonight. Go here to pay your €120 deposit.

Questions? Need more info?

Full details of this offer are here: 2025 Italian Course Offer: Save 20% From Today!

Stefi and I will be eating lunch with her parents, our children, and Bug, in Rimini, on the Adriatic coast.

But thanks to the wonders of smartphones, she’ll still be able to answer any questions you might have.

Contact her any time up until midnight tonight: info@madrelinguabologna.com

Or go here, now, to complete your deposit payment.

Contact us | Prices | Italian Courses | How To Book | FAQ | Save 20%!

There are just thirty-six hours left to take advantage of the ‘best offer of the year’!

So, in case you’ve been too busy to read your emails, here’s a summary of what you’re missing:

• save 20% on your next Italian course at our school in Bologna
• the discount is good for any GROUP course (not for individual lessons)
• you can start your Italian course on any date in 2025
• your saving applies to courses of any length – the longer you study, the more you save!
• you DON’T need to decide the dates, or the length of your course, right now
• just let us know once you’ve finalized your plans
• secure your 20% discount by sending a deposit, by midnight on Dec. 25th!

And here’s the summary summary:

• take two minutes to pay a small deposit by midnight on Christmas Day & save €€ on your 2025 Italian course!

As the kids say, this is a no-brainer.

But you’re probably pretty busy right now, right?

So here are step-by-step instructions on exactly what you have to do.

It’s a low-stress process that’ll take just minutes, promise.

Ready to go?

1. Click this link to visit our ‘How to book your Italian course’ page
2. If you’re not sure when in 2025 you’ll be coming, skip the booking form and go directly here
3. Click ‘Add to Cart’, then ‘Proceed to Checkout’
4. Fill in the form with your details
5. Choose your payment method – card, Paypal, etc.
6. That’s it – see you in Bologna in 2025!

P.S.

We have real people ready to help you, or answer your questions about our Italian courses.

Just e-mail Stefi on info@madrelinguabologna.com – she’ll sort you out with whatever help you need!

Even on Christmas Eve – try us!

Save 20% Now!

Contact us | Prices | Italian Courses | How To Book | FAQ | Save 20%!

Have you saved 20% on your 2025 Italian course, yet?

If not, well perhaps you still have some questions?

Our FAQ should deal with a lot of them – read Frequently Asked Questions.

You could check out the Google reviews people have left. I always do that before making a big decision.

What if you STILL have doubts?

Why not email, phone or even visit us?

Our reception staff speak excellent English.

We’ll be happy to take your call and/or respond to questions in an email.

Contact us

All questions answered?

All doubts resolved?

Then it’s time to…

Save 20% on your 2025 Italian course!

Fifty Italian-learners from around the world have already saved €€€ with the ‘Best Offer of the Year’ promotion!

Why shouldn’t you be the fifty-first???

Full details can be found in this article: 2025 Italian Course Offer: Save 20% From Today!

The deadline to save 20% on your course is midnight on Dec. 25th.

That’s Wednesday night.

But why wait?

Get it done today, while you think about it.

It’ll take just a minute or two!

No need, even, to decide when, or for how long, you’ll be studying.

Let us know the dates later, once you’ve finalised your plans.

Today, all you need to do is to lock in your saving with a small deposit.

And you’re done!

Save 20% on your 2025 Italian Course

A domani!

Contact us | Prices | Italian Courses | How To Book | FAQ | Save 20%!

(Seen this email before? I send it on the same day every year. But nothing much has changed, so I keep uisng it!)

Since our seasonal offer began, I’ve published articles about ‘Why learn Italian?‘, ‘Why Study Italian in Bologna?‘ and ‘Why Study Italian at Madrelingua?‘

Today then, I’m assuming that you’ve already decided to learn Italian, that you’ve picked out Bologna as an appropriate destination, and that you’ve selected Madrelingua as your choice of Italian language school.

Brava!

Or ‘Bravo!’ if you’re a guy.

If there’s two of you, and one’s male, that would be ‘Bravi!’

‘Brave!’ if you’re twin sisters and make this type of decision together.

Anyway, having decided to study and where, naturally you might be wondering what to expect from your Italian course.

So that’s today’s topic.

But, as it’s been a busy week, I’m planning to cheat a little and, rather than try to cover everything in one article, link to lots of things on the school website that you might find helpful.

For example, this article from way back in 2014:

‘What should I expect on my first day at your Italian school?‘

Liked that?

There are LOADS of articles in a similar vein in our archive ‘Best Articles About Learning Italian‘.

Suppose you’ve done your background reading but still can’t quite visualise yourself, sitting in a language classroom in the center of historic Bologna?

Check out this webpage with pictures of our school and its immediate surroundings.

Still got questions?

Hah! That’s why we have a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page.

Personally I’ll always read the FAQ when I buy something, though perhaps that’s just me.

Plenty of people just email us with their questions.

Yesterday (actually ‘yesterday’ several years ago when I originally wrote this) somone from Israel phoned. Yes, we speak English. No, not Hebrew, sorry!

Here’s how to contact us.

That’s it for today – short and sweet, as the kids are back from college and I’ve meals to prepare and dishes to wash.

A domani.

2025 Italian Course Offer – Save 20%!

Act this week to save 20% on 2025 group Italian courses in Bologna!

• The ‘Winter Offer – 20%’ course deposit is just €120 instead of the usual €150…
• … which ‘locks in’ a saving of 20% on the whole price of your course!
• N.b. This offer is good for group courses, not individual or online lessons
• Your course can be of any length, from a week to a year!
• No need to decide the dates now – email us when you know
• As every year, this offer ends at midnight on Christmas Day. But why wait?

For more information:

Italian Courses | Prices | How To Book | FAQ | Contact us | Save 20%!

(Seen this email before? I send it on the same day every year. But it’s still true now, perhaps more so, so I keep using it!)

The 2025 Italian Course ‘Save 20%!’ offer is proceeding, with a good number of people from around the world having already paid a small deposit to lock in a great saving on their next Italian course!

Yesterday I wrote about why Bologna is a great place (maybe the best!) to study Italian.

So today, in all modesty, let’s consider which school to choose in Bologna.

Madrelingua is a member of the national association of Italian Schools, ASILS, as you can verify by clicking through to their website.

And as you will see there, two other Bologna schools are also members. Both are respected and valid associates. Either is worthy of your consideration.

So what makes OUR school, the newest of the three, actually, the final choice for a lot of students?

Perhaps it’s the price? We’re neither the most expensive, nor the cheapest. Though from a marketing point of view, that’s a perilous position to be in.

Maybe it’s the fact that we have the ugliest website? I’m a great believer in home-made marketing tools. ANYONE can have a nice-looking website – just throw enough money at a graphic designer – but it takes time and patience to put together something that looks like it’s run by a bunch of (sniff) ‘language teachers’.

Besides the website, one reason people sign up to study Italian at Madrelingua is because my wife, Stefania, valiantly answers the phone and responds to emails seven days a week, three hundred and sixty five days a year.

On any given Thursday evening or Sunday afternoon, a potential student might be pondering the search results chucked up by Google and, at a loss as to which to choose, decide to shoot off an email to all of the schools they see in Bologna.

An hour or so later, despite it being out of normal office hours, they get a reply, patiently answering their questions. (Try it!)

What else?

Last Friday, by the way, was our staff Christmas lunch.

It was at the end of the morning, just over a week before the Christmas/New Year holiday, which is the only period of the year when we close (though Stefi still answers the phone and replies to emails!)

It’s traditional at these events for the boss (that’s me) to stand up and make a speech, the contents of which must include heartfelt thanks to everyone for their hard work, self-sacrifice, and so on.

We’ll all drink too much wine, Secret Santa gifts are exchanged, and the company credit card takes a hit when it’s time to pay the bill.

Everyone then winds their way home to sleep it off – another Christmas lunch over and done with, nothing very remarkable having happened, little being different from similar events attended in many previous years.

Mostly it’s the same faces each time – Stefi and I, and our team of permanent Italian teachers: Francesca, Paola, and Giula, but also whichever of the regular or more-occasional freelancers happens to be available and up for a free lunch – Giovanni, for instance.

Many of them have been with us since the early days.

Paola was, I recall, the first ever ‘permanent’ employee we hired (a daunting and complex process under Italian law). Francesca came not much later, a refugee from a competitor, then Giulia, all fresh-faced and just starting out after uni (now she’s a mum, and complaining about a mid-life crisis!)

Freelancer Giovanni was MY Italian teacher (at a competitor school) twenty years back, before we’d even considered opening Madrelingua, which was started in 2005.

And here we all still are!

Between you and me, the staff certainly have SOMETHING to do with the school’s success. It can’t be just the fantastic marketing… I’m just not sure what it is, exactly.

It’s not so much that we have permanent teachers, which in theory should lock in experience and lead to ‘better’ teaching.

Neither is it that the teachers have decades of experience – and not between them, either – each!

I’ve worked in other schools with permanent staff who’ve been there for years, and many of them haven’t given a fig (so to speak) about their clients.

It’s not so much that the teachers are particularly talented, compared, say, with other Italian teachers in other schools. Nor that they are necessarily any kinder, or more interesting.

I just think it’s that each and every one of them, in some small way, views their job as to actually CARE about the students who study with us.

So they know their names, where they’re from, and why they’re learning Italian. And they DO THEIR BEST to help clients reach their goals, whatever those may be.

This work of ‘caring’ goes on week after week, year after year. And as a consequence, time after time, former clients come back to study with us again – a second, third, fourth, or fifth time!

Other reasons to choose Madrelingua for your Italian course? Here’s a list – some points are trivial, but anyway:

• Check on Google Maps and you’ll see that we’re absolutely the most CENTRALLY-LOCATED
• Madrelingua is on the first floor of a historic building, right alongside the cathedral
• Every classroom has air-conditioning, which is vital in the summer
• We all speak English (though it’s better for you if we communicate in Italian)
• The school is a family business, run by an English/Italian husband and wife team. Got a problem? Talk to the owners
• And no, we DON’T offer ‘third age’ courses. We have a good mix of ages and nationalites and everyone gets along just fine

What else can I add? People really do learn Italian, and to a good level, at that!

Assuming they stick with it long enough, of course. In the end, it’s just a question of time – the human brain is programed to learn foreign languages, given the need and the opportunity.

The important thing is that you feel SAFE, comfortable, and interested enough to keep at it, until the magic happens!

We want you to feel at home, but more stimulated, if you see what I mean…

2025 Italian Course Offer!

Just a reminder: this week, save 20% on group Italian courses of any length beginning in 2024 at our school in Bologna!

• Pay the ‘Winter Offer – 20%’ course deposit (€120 instead of the usual €150)
• That ‘locks in’ a saving of 20% on your whole course!
• This promotion is valid for group courses only, not individual or online lessons
• Courses can be of any length: the more you study, the more you learn!
• Don’t worry about deciding the dates of your course now – just email us when you know
• The offer ends at midnight on Christmas Day – 25th December 2024

Pay the €120 deposit / Save 20%!

For more information, check out these pages on the school website:

Italian Courses | Prices | How To Book | FAQ | Contact us | Save 20%!