Learn Italian in Only 4 Weeks!!! 

 

De Rada is one of the best program in Italy to learn Italian at the elementary level.  You can arrive to San Demetrio Corone knowing just how to say "ciao" and after four weeks you will be able to understand and to handle a conversation in Italian. The secret is our excellent teaching techniques, our "real-life" activities and your full immersion experience. In fact, your Italian new friends and all local people in a small community such as San Demetrio Corone, will talk to you day and night only in Italian. In town some people can also speak English, but they prefer to use Italian with the students.

 

 

Talk Italian-Eat Italian

The Art and Taste of Italian Cuisine

Cooking is one of the finest art in Italy and, as a recent survey says, is the main reason why tourists from all over the world visit our country.  Students taking Italian language courses will have the opportunity to study and learn the Art of Italian Cuisine through labs, seminars, cooking classes, readings, field trips, and of course a taste of Italian food. The 100-level students will study the vocabulary and the grammar related to the Italian cuisine, while discovering the secrets of traditional recipes and preparing delicious Italian dishes. The 200-300 level students will read Italian short stories, poems, essays and articles about the history and tradition of Italian cuisine while preparing incredible Italian meals.

Special Cooking Lab- During our Special Cooking Lab students will prepare and taste exquisite Italian home made food with our mammas and experts: pasta dishes such as fusilli, tagliatelle, gnocchi, lasagne, cannelloni, spaghetti carbonara, etc.; second dishes of eggplants (parmigiana, caponata, melanzane ripiene, etc.), zucchine (ripiene, fritte), meat (meatballs/polpette, vragioli, ragù), fish, etc.; side dishes of potato croquette, fried potatos and peppers; green salad and tomatos, bruschetta, etc.; dessert such as cannuoli, deliziose, torta moretto, etc. Each dish is made with local organic olive oil. Each Special Cooking Lab will be accompanied by our traditional home made wine.

This will be a unique opportunity to learn Italian and to discover Mediterranean culture, tradition, and cuisine. For pictures of our Cooking lessons please visit the Photo Gallery.

 

Learn Italian While Making a Real Movie

 

Students will have the opportunity to learn Italian while working on the pre-production of an international feature movie, which will be filmed both in the US and in Italy. Our activities include preparation of a treatment and a storyboard, locations scouting, casting and shooting of a film trailer.

                    

 Our school at Villa Marchianò

 

Program Director 

Michelangelo La Luna, Ph.D., Harvard University. Associate Professor of Italian, University of Rhode Island. Winner of the 1998 Travel Study Prize for Excellence in Teaching at the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, Harvard University. Professor La Luna is the author of four books on Girolamo De Rada.

 

Faculty 

 

All of our faculty is comprised of highly qualified professionals with backgrounds and expertise in various fields.

 

Seminars & Lectures    

There are also seminars and lectures held by prominent scholars, poets and writers.

 

Subjects include:

• Dante and the Divine Comedy 

• Contemporary Literature

• Renaissance Art and Literature

• Foreign Travelers in Southern Italy

• Local Greek History and Culture

• Mediterranean History, Anthropology and Culture

• Italian-Albanian History and Culture

• De Rada's Life and Work

• Italian Journalism

• European Union

• Greek Byzantine Religion

• Medieval History and Philosophy

• "Mens Sana in Corpore Sano" (Health and Wellness)

• History of Italian Architecture 

• Poetry, Novels, and Creative Writing

• Italian-American Writers

• History of Italian Theater