‘Italian Study Vacations’ 4: Where will I stay?

If you’re an experienced traveller, you may not be too concerned about where you stay during your Italian study vacation, but if you don’t travel frequently you could feel anxious about making the right choice of accommodation, in which case, this article is written for you!

You’ll typically find four accommodation options being offered by Italian language schools, which are:

• homestay
• shared appartment
• your own appartment
• hotel

Homestay means a room in an Italian person’s home. It could be a family with children, but as families tend not to live in the historic center of the city where our clients want to be, it’s more likely to be a single person, perhaps a younger person who needs help meeting the rent, or a retired person who likes the company.

You should bear in mind that while we choose our hosts carefully, we have no control over who our students are and what they (you!) are like, so it’s probably best to think of homestay accommodation as a good-value-for-money form of accommodation which offers a possibility of meeting Italian people and experiencing how they live, rather than guaranteeing it. You may have a great relationship with your host, or you may never see them.

Unlike many schools, Madrelingua doesn’t offer rooms in shared appartments (shared with other clients, that is). We couldn’t be sure that you would be happy: your flatmates might be noisy, for example. And there’s every likelihood that you’d all end up speaking English together rather than Italian, which would be a shame.

If you value your privacy, we can rent an appartment just for you. Plenty of landlords cooperate with us, so we can usually find something that will meet your specifications, even for just a week or two. Just tell us when you are coming and what size of appartment you’d like and we’ll find out what’s available for you and let you know what the cost will be.

Staying in a hotel means having everything there for you, WiFi, TV, your room cleaned, no security worries, and so on. There are many hotels near our school, so you won’t have to walk far! Please note that Bologna does not have many budget hotels (maybe none…) so you should expect to pay a lot more for a hotel room than you would for a homestay.

Whatever option you choose, Stefi, our Accommodation Officer, will be happy to answer your questions and make the arrangements for you. And there is no extra charge for this accommodation booking service, which is free for all enrolled students!

In the next article in this series, find out how we verify your level in Italian before you arrive, and what happens on the first day of your course!