I spent July in Tuscany going to school at La Scuola Toscana, a school that provides not only great…read moreeducation of a beautiful world language, but also of a rich culture. First off, I should let you know that I am not a beginner in my travels or in my personal education, and that I come from the US where we have incredible customer service. I am also an educator. I must say that this administration, as far as European administration goes, is superior in its customer service. They are sensitive, efficient, and genuinely kind even to difficult students. Specifically, there was a clerical error with my tuition. I was panicked as I didn't speak the language fluently and realized how difficult this situation could be. Fortunately I saved all the necessary documents (as one should) showing that I had already payed. As I approached the desk asking about the notification, documents in hand and ready to 'prove' my case, the director simply stated that he was sorry, and that it was a filing error on their end, and there was nothing to worry about. No questions, no proof needed, and nothing but smiles and relief on their end. Also they have a 'welcome' package all ready for their new students. It's full of little tidbits that will help you get through the first few weeks on your own. So thoughtful! They make you feel welcome, are very sensitive to any anxieties you may have about being there, and can manage different levels of fluency in Italian seeing as the administration speaks a great deal of other languages fluently. (I personally witnessed, not only English, but Japanese, Spanish and Hungarian.) Secondly, the scaffolding of the educational system is very well done. There were classes for beginners of all levels, intermediate studiers, and even for those who wanted to master the language. Outside of grammer and conversation, are myriad classes to take, I chose the COOKING class with Signora Fiammetti. I have to say that this cooking course was far superior to any of the cooking courses I attempted to take in France. When I tried to do my research to find a place in France to do this, I found that either the prices were outrageous OR the skill level of the educators in the kitched were disappointing either in the language pedagogy OR in the skills/products used or made in the kitchen. Neither of these were true about the cooking course I took. Signora Fiammetti is a professionally trained chef/caterer, raised in Tuscany/Italy and trained in Paris. Her organization was unbeatable, exceptionally well paced, and her tips on cooking were among the top I have ever seen. I am no stranger to the kitchen, but she was able to give me a very wide range of tips, even on the basics of cutting an onion, or tearing basil. The 4 course meals we prepared were unbelievable in the subtleties of flavors and the colorful presentation of food. If you are a lover of food and cooking, I highly HIGHLY recommend this as an option. I also have to say that our course had about 3-4 people in it, and of different levels of fluency in Italian. No matter! We still spoke whatever level of italian we were equipped with, and her patience and teaching skills still helped us learn while we were cooking! Incredible! Lastly, the teachers were so well adapted for their subject matter. One member of my family was in the beginners level, while I found myself in the advanced group. The instructors for beginners had, for people just getting used to the language, teachers with an unparalleled amount of patience, kindness, organization and genuinity. The advanced group had teachers that were of university-level brilliance in their subject matter (literature, language, etc.) and while at times their pedagogy seemed unfamiliar, I found myself challenged not only on a linguistic level, but an intellectual level as well. The extra tours with Caterina were fantastic!!! Areas of improvement: Air conditioning: During the hot months (and I imagine the same of the cold months) the lack of air conditioning made the learning particularly difficult for everyone in the class. Pedagogy (differentiated instruction for different groups taught) schoolwide is probably needed on a small level. Therefore it might be a good idea for the administration to sit in on all classes from time to time to comment on style of instruction and just to provide feedback. Also, perhaps all the teachers get together periodically to discuss methods. I feel that it would improve the solidarity of the school and increase the available methodologies of instruction between teachers. Strengths of each teacher can benefit the entire school in this way. In summary, I would easily go back to this school. The school is unbelievably rewarding for anyone wanting to learn about not just Tuscany, but Italy in general! Put this on your list!

Hi guys, I were in Florence attendino a 2 week course, everyday Italian classes in the morning and…read moreevery afternoon an activity (as you mention in your question): monday we went discovering the secrets in Florence, tuesday we had a cooking class, wednesday a Chianti tour and Farm visit, thursday we went shopping, then the Uffizi Gallery..great! We attended Scuola Toscana - it is located close to Piazza Santa Croce, something like benci street. Very nice teachers, friendly atmosphere...what else? Ticket included. Do not forget my most important recommendation: do not sit in Piazza Repubblica to drink a cappuccino...10 dollars! Your John!

My wife and children have attended twice during the summer. It is a fabulous place to learn about…read moreRenaissance art, the Medicis, Florence, Italian culture and the language. It does this all at an extremely reasonable price. My kids love the main lecturer Jeremy. The tours to different beautiful sites such as the Uffizi, the Pitti Palace etc etc is truly memorable. Highly recommended program.

From the owner: The British Institute of Florence, established in 1917 promotes the cultural exchange between Italy…read moreand the United Kingdom. We offer a comprehensive English language programme, courses in Italian language, history of art, life drawing, and support various university study abroad programmes. We are the principal centre for Cambridge ESOL(English for Speakers of other Languages) exams in Tuscany. More information can be found on our website. Il British Institute of Florence, fondato nel 1917 per promuovere gli scambi culturali tra l'Italia e il mondo anglofono, organizza e offre un vasto programma di corsi di lingua inglese, lingua italiana e storia dell'arte in lingua inglese e organizza numerosi eventi culturali dì varia natura. Uno dei punti di forza di questo storico istituto fiorentino è la Biblioteca Harold Acton, visitabile liberamente in Lungarno Guicciardini, 9.

I can not praise this school highly enough. Owner Elisabetta (with her husband Mirko) brings a…read moresense of fun to the language learning process, and yet never forgets to emphasize grammar and vocabulary. Debora and Lavinia are both fantastic teachers, and the extensive curriculum includes lots of seemingly fun games and quizzes that have you learning without pain. Best of all, you can set your own goals and style of learning. I did mostly one-on-one lessons, which has been very very helpful for me when combined with a religious devotion to Duolingo and a fun podcast called "Stories in Slow Italian." Whenever I visit Florence, I squeeze in a few lessons and then keep it up occasionally via Zoom. As a result, I feel like a part of the warm, Monnalisa family! If you get a chance to study Italian in Florence, this is without doubt your best choice! Buona Fortuna!

After my husband and I settled in Florence I knew it was time to get serious with learning Italian…read more I had already attended 3 weeks of Italian courses at a different school, but wanted a change of scenery for the longer haul. I found Monnalisa School through a FB group message board and decided to give it a go. I am incredibly glad I did!! I signed up for an 8 week course for the summer to keep my mind as far from the heat as possible and hopefully learn some Italian. I can definitely say that my skills in Italian have come a long way thanks to my amazing teacher Elisabetta. She has a great deal of experience teaching, awesome resources and she has a firm grasp on English. Elisabetta has truly helped me fill in gaps of misunderstandings, given me the opportunity to ask unanswered questions, and I especially appreciate that she takes the time to explain something to me in English when I cannot understand the Italian version. Elisabetta and her friendly husband happen to be the founders of Monnalisa School. Together they have and have completely refurbished and transformed the space in an old Santa Croce quartiere building to create an amazing learning center. The school is bright, inviting and everything in it is brand new. I plan to continue attending Monnalisa School until I have a firm grasp on the Italian language. I cannot say enough good things about my experience with Monnalisa School, and HIGHLY recommend it to anyone hoping to learn some Italian!!!

I had the opportunity to live in Firenze for a semester and the privilege to work at Centro…read moreMachiavelli. Every time I walked into the building, I was greeted with smiles and Ciao Patrizio's from the entire staff. Their hospitality and can-do attitude was a breath of fresh air in a work environment which I look back on with fondness to this day. The employees care so much that even after returning to the U.S., they still made it a point to stay in contact and even went out of their way to go out, get an authentic Florentine gift, and ship it to my university in the states. If that does not exemplify a level of care and authenticity that is worth commending, I don't know what does. 100% would recommend.

Informal school, motivated teachers who try to make you feel comfortable. The school takes care of…read moreyou for all your problems. I am very pleased to have attended an Italian course here. Ciao!!! Mi manca Italia e soprattutto Firenze ;-)

From the owner: Parola is an Italian school in the historic center of Florence. Parola Italian language school has…read morea wide variety of language programs to learn Italian in the city center of Florence. In addition to extracurricular lessons on Italian culture and society, Parola also offers guided activities in the center of Florence and Tuscany at no additional cost for the language course. The school offers online Italian courses in the morning and afternoon. The school also offers combined courses in Italian language and art, or Italian and cooking. Very importantly, Parola is the official CILS center for obtaining the official certificate for the competence of the Italian language as a foreign language.

Over the years, i've participated in eight language programs, in different languages and at…read moredifferent levels, so it is perhaps unfair to compare one against the other. With that qualification aside, the Istituto il David program is the worst that I've participated in. I took a week's worth of courses at an advanced level. This included an early lesson on grammar and a second one on conversation. The school is well located and the course offerings adequate. The first day of class is devoted to administering an exam and to providing information. I found this rather outrageous, considering that both of these could be done online, which is how most programs do it. If I pay for five days of lessons, I expect five; not four. The first class was led by Giada, who did a nice job of going over collective problems in the exam. She offered very good and clear grammatical explanations. I felt, however, that her pace and style was calibrated more for a beginner class than for ours. Many discussions felt over-elaborated and concepts belabored, given the level of the class. Rather than incorporate grammatical principles into situations and practice them that way, we went through written exercises done in-class and then corrected by going around the room. Is the sort of approach that I remember, non-fondly, from grammar school language classes. The conversation class was taught by Veronica, who's a very dynamic instructor. She offers detailed explanations for new vocabulary, using those words as springboard for providing variations. The class, however, lacked any discernible pedagogical approach. Most consisted of a freewheeling conversation dominated by her. She spoke more than everyone else combined, turning the class more into a comprehension exercise. It is telling that even after the second class, she still did not know the name of all seven students, and also telling that she joked about the "plan" that she had cooked up last minute on the way to class. I would expect a conversation class to be organized around topics, so as to address advanced students' limitations systematically. Instead, vocabulary came up at random, rendering it less useful or memorable. Neither class gave homework assignments of any significance--no reading, writing, or presentations--as is the norm in courses of this sort. On the whole, I was pretty disappointed with the experience.

Please reconsider attending FCAS! (note: I write with respect for every individual associated with…read moreFCAS. Despite this review, I wish to honor the personal instructors) This program is presented as a 2 month Italian Cuisine Chef Training Course that "prepares students to become professional chefs and to enter the culinary workforce in settings such as restaurants, country clubs, resorts, hotels, and many other food service opportunities." Our lessons have been anything but professional. The classes are an insult to any student with any experience in the culinary arts. And they are a scam for anyone who doesn't have experience and wants to gain skills before entering the industry. In class the students execute the mise en place while the chef does the actual cooking. We do not have the opportunity to cook, but rather just watch. The overall structure is hysterical. Ie, our class starts at 14:30 and half the students show at 14:00. Instead of waiting for the time stated on our schedule, our chef will begin the lessons when the first student shows. There is never an explanation of the menu, declaration of our goal objectives, or communication of expectations. This program is in no way preparing one for the industry. More so, there is a lack of respect for each student. Over the past 2 years, I have worked as a pastry chef, executive chef and personal chef. Of course we are not cooking for clients, so the structure and energy of the lesson implies that the end goal is to eat the food, and this feels like we are a bunch of tourists just trying to get our fix of Italian cuisine, rather than artists honing our culinary skills. Yet we don't even take our dining seriously. We stand around the prep tables and eat, rather than cultivated the art of plating well, or setting tables. If the end goal is to eat the food, we do not even have the dignity of sitting down, savoring the food, comparing notes, learning about the wine, etc. I do not understand the lack of order, deliberation and respect for the art and the artist. While I have many other concerns, I have to keep it short due to the word count limit. 1) the kitchen is under stocked -- broken utensils, rusting knives, bent boards & pans, etc. Often we have to improvise with the tools we are using. It is a great way to learn to adapt, but it does looks cheap, desperate and lazy. 2) my apartment provided by FCAS was filthy. There was food on the counters & stove, grease covering the entire kitchen, gnats in the refrigerator, pubic hair on the bathroom floor, grime in the shower and rotting towels in the kitchen. They've refused to reimburse me for housing. A simple solution on their part would have been to merely hire someone to clean the apartment. 3) we have 2 professors for our language class. Miss Marianna has been wonderful, exactly what you need for an intensive language course. Hard, but good. Fast paced, but respectful of each student's level. Mr. Marco on the other hand is incapable of teaching a good class. It has taken him over three hours to explain singular vs plural articles. We do homework as a part of class, which is a total waste of time. Every english speaker has directly written Carlo, the admissions advisor, expressing our concerns and needs. And he has failed to provide a new instructor, The immediate problem is that the school it is run from Japan (the long distance management causes little comprehension from administration of what the classes actually look like and I am unclear as to who is in charge - Carlo refuses to forward me to the program director's info), the instructors are privately contracted (few, if any, objectives and requirements are communicated between the instructors and management), and they do not actually care for their students. Their "customer" service replicates an abusive relationship -- promising something and yet unaccompanied by any action. I truly wish them the best! Readers, please don't hesitate to comment below.

From the owner: ABC de' Conti is located in the very heart of Florence, the birthplace of the present-day Italian…read morelanguage, thus providing the best environment for learning the true Italian language. At ABC de' Conti you can find a complete lineup of courses on a broad variety of levels, from daily conversation to professional level Italian. We offer distinct programs focused on specific linguistic aspects and levels, ranging from daily conversation to specialist courses for learning the unique jargon of various technical areas.

Study abroad students: read this. AI has an incredibly unhelpful & unreliable staff. Thankfully I…read morewent through Arcadia University's program, who had staff who was easy to contact & helped with any sort of issue. The AI staff doesn't pay much attention to study abroad students. We sign up for classes when we got to the program in Florence, and a lot of the classes they told our home universities they offered, they didn't actually offer. I would choose this program carefully. The apartments this program rents aren't very nice, or close to each other. My friends had bed bugs, and the program left it up to them to figure it out (after they put 4 people in a 1 bedroom apartment). But if you're the kind of person who wants a totally independent study abroad experience, with no attachment to your school, and want to be able to miss your classes that meet once a week up to 4 times, go for it. Study abroad classes are 3 hours long, once a wee -- if you're taking Italian, that class meets Monday-Thursday for 2 hours each day. Do not go on the study abroad trips they offer, unless it's a short day trip -- you won't wanna stay in the hotels they pick.

I studied at this school for a good chunk of time while living in Florence, and your personal…read moreexperience can vary a lot here - mine was not so great. They offer studies in the fine arts and in the Italian language, and I only studied art, so I have no idea how the Italian education was. The school's art 'curriculum' is very misleading, seeing as they actually have none, and a lot of the 'subjects' they supposedly had only exist if you bring it up to the teacher yourself. I think that the only redeeming quality about the school was the very dedicated teacher at the time, who was very knowledgable, pushed his students to do better, and clearly loved art. Two out of three of the people who run the school didn't seem to care very much about the students nor their experience at the school, which is probably why some students were unhappy with the structure of the school if they were studying there long-term. I'm not sure who the main art teacher is right now. This very tiny school is a good option if you want a very simple and basic experience in Florence and in the arts, because you do get a lot of freedom to just study whatever you feel like doing. In that case it's really nice, and a great option for people who want to learn art basics! Also, they'll provide very, very basic art supplies if you need them. However, I would not recommend staying there longer than 3 months at the most -- any more than that would be repetitive and the certificate in the fine arts that they offer doesn't seem to be very official. If you want a long-term study look into another school or even better, a university! So to summarize, good for less than three months of study, and think about what you want for your school experience.

I wanted to preface this review with the statement that I never write reviews. In fact, I think…read morethis is my first! But I just wanted to share my experience so that others don't get caught in the very devastating situation that I found myself in. I worked for English Well Spoken for a couple months last year and was never paid for my work. I was paid once for the first two weeks, but when I ended my employment there, I made sure to confirm with Usini Naidoo that I would still receive compensation for my work and provided all the necessary bank details. I made sure to confirm this because I had been warned by other teachers in Florence that she has a reputation of not paying her employees. But honestly, I didn't want to believe that because despite other unprofessional encounters with her, I wanted to believe that she wouldn't be so immoral as to take advantage of people like that. She responded and said that I would of course get paid. However, when the next pay period came around, I received nothing. It was close to Christmas, so I decided to give Usini the benefit of the doubt and assume it was just late. On December 26th, I emailed Usini, asking to be compensated for my work. She responded on January 3rd that she sent the payment, but since I didn't receive it, she would check with the bank. On January 8th she said payments often don't go through and she would check the statements. On January 16th she said that she would make another payment. January 16th was the last that I heard from Usini. I sent many emails after January 16th asking to be paid with absolutely no response and no payment. I am honestly still shocked that a professional woman could be so incredibly immoral and take advantage of people like that. I worked 49.5 hours without getting paid and she still owes me 742.5 Euros. 742.5!!! So much money that I was counting on for rent and groceries. I also want to note: The employees I worked with at English Well Spoken were kind and wonderful and I absolutely loved my students while working there. But, if you are looking for a job, absolutely do not work at English Well Spoken. I would recommend looking into the American Institute if you are looking for work or kind people to know in Florence! (Ps. When I worked there, I was asked multiple times to write a "5 star review" for the company. That could be why there are such high ratings.) Florence is a beautiful place full of vibrant, incredible people and should not be sullied by a really terrible work experience with Usini Naidoo at English Well Spoken. I have avoided writing this for so long because I don't enjoy writing negative things. But, when I applied to work at English Well Spoken I had NO idea what I was getting into. Maybe this review will help someone find a company that actually values their employees.

From the owner: English well spoken è una scuola di Inglese che opera a Firenze, offre corsi di altissima qualità,…read moreed adotta un metodo che allo stesso tempo tradizionale ed innovativo. Senza rinunciare ai ritrovati della tecnologia come computer video proiettori internet etc, presso la nostra scuola si adotta un metodo naturale: cercando di far apprendere la seconda lingua come si è appreso la prima. Si dice che i bambini imparino più facilmente degli adulti ma la verità è che i bambini imparano divertendosi mentre a gli adulti si pretende di insegnare facendo imparare le regole della grammatica. Nelle nostre classi invece si da la massima importanza alla lingua parlata stimolando gli allievi con argomenti di loro interesse con gli insegnanti, tutti madrelingua,che affrontano i problemi della grammatica via via che questi si presentano.La nostra scuola è molto accogliente con tearoom e libreria. I nostri studenti, bambini, ragazzi e adulti imparano le lingue, inglese, italiano e francese attraverso la conversazione in modo naturale e molto divertente. Conversando si impara molto meglio! Perchè non venite a trovarci anche per prendere un tè o dare un occhiata ai nostri libri per bambini, ragazzi e adulti nel nostro bel locale. In più, organizziamo anche tante altre attività molto divertenti per bambini, ragazzi e adulti come, book club, conversation exchange, conversation hour, film conversation hour, English games, Italian games, documentary club, computer club, homework club.