Scuola Leonardo da Vinci
piazza dell'Orologio 7, Rome, Lazio 00186, Italy
Scuola Leonardo da Vinci
The “Academic School Year” is a 32-week language and culture course for students who wish to experience living and studying in Italy.
All in all, the course offers students the opportunity to see at first hand the various aspects of Italy’s rich history and culture.
The course is composed of a linguistic element and an academic element:
Linguistic element:
480 lessons of the Intensive language course;
80 lessons of exam preparation, choosing between two language Diplomas «Firenze» AIL: DELI-A2, DILI-B1, DILI-B2, DALI-C1 (elementary, intermediate and/or advanced levels);
Academic element (80 lessons):
Italian Civilisation and History
Art History
Business Italian
History of Italian Fashion and Design;
Final research: 10 contact hours of tutoring.
Duration: 32 weeks (34 weeks for the course starting in September and including 2 weeks of Christmas Holidays when no courses are held).
Minimum number of participants: 5
Listening, Speaking, Pronunciation, Reading, Writing, Vocabulary, Grammar and Activities
Scuola Leonardo da Vinci does not hold classes on the holiday dates above. The school does not compensate for these holidays, so make sure to choose your start date accordingly.
Class schedule may change depending on availability and season.
Average | 10 students |
Maximum | 14 students |
Age range | 16 years old and older |
Average | 18 years old |
Scuola Leonardo da Vinci, located in the city center of ROME, offers a wide range of high-quality Italian language courses, conceived for any level, from beginner to advanced, all the year round! Courses start every Monday except for beginners and students can stay for 1 week only as well as for many weeks and months. Our school organizes interesting leisure activities every week during afternoon and evening.
Our 40 years of experience make us a well-established and reliable reality in the world of language schools. We are very proud of our professional and friendly staff, who do their best to make every student's stay unique in terms both of language learning and of cultural experience.
Our teaching method is influenced by modern didactics and is designed according to the 'Concept of Foreign Languages' of the European Council and the guidelines of the ''Accademia Italiana di Lingua (AIL)".
We follow a communicative method: from the first day of lessons and at each ability level, only Italian is spoken in class. We put particular emphasis on spoken language and on communication, but also deal with the 4 base abilities (reading, writing, oral comprehension and speaking).
Lessons are interesting, interactive and also fun, organized in a relaxed atmosphere in which learning is done naturally. Text books are supported by authentic material, like newspapers, magazines and video, that facilitate learning about contemporary Italy and the many different aspects of Italian culture.
Our teachers, experts in teaching Italian to foreign students, are there for the students, to guide them, motivate them and help them in their learning.
In addition, through the years Scuola Leonardo da Vinci has developed its own teaching method. The books have been conceived for speeding up the learning process of Italian language. Grammar is presented in a logic and organized way, followed by examples and a wide range of practical exercises and short stories that give both students and teachers many opportunities for making conversation in Italian language.
All the programmes have been thought in order to reach your goals, independently from the duration of the course. Having a deep knowledge of Italian grammar (through the continuous practice of writing, reading and speaking in real situations) is the principle which Scuola Leonardo da Vinci’s method is based on.
The nationality and age mix at Scuola Leonardo da Vinci varies over different time periods, courses and levels. Throughout the year, the average age is 18. In the summer, the average age is 18.
teaches students from all over the world, including:
does not hold classes on the holiday dates below. The school does not compensate for these holidays, so make sure to choose your start date accordingly.
Scuola Leonardo da Vinci is located in an attractive and elegant typical aristocratic building in the center of ROME, in the pedestrian area, halfway from the astounding Piazza Navona, Castel S. Angelo and St. Peter Basilica. This area, typically Roman, abounds with charming cafes, shops, boutiques, libraries and a vibrancy found nowhere else in the city. The whole school building and the surroundings have free wireless Internet access.
Rome is the meeting of ancient and modern, between Ancient Roman monuments and contemporary architectural works (the Maxxi museum by Zaha Hadid, the auditorium of Renzo Piano, the Ara pacis Museum), as well as Baroque masterpieces.
Rome is the meeting between the sacred and the secular, between hugely important places of worship (the Vatican and churches, the Jewish ghetto and the Synagogue; the Mosque) and the nightlife offered by places in the centre, in Testaccio and in Trastevere.
The Leonardo da Vinci school is a meeting place. The meeting between fantasy and the preparation of the teachers; the meeting between the rules of the language and practicing real communication, the meeting between people from more than 90 different countries who come to learn and enjoy the Italian language.
Our teacher Valeria was excellent and since we were a small group, it wa very effective, we got to learn and talk a lot. The location was good as well, even though we would have prefered to have seats and tables in the classroom.
Also, the material that was dealt, could have been better (now it was a bunch of loose papers). How about a book?
For the next course I would prefer to have one extra lesson per day.
The lessons were conducted very professionally. Teachers were always prepared for classes. The study aids were very useful. I really liked the afternoon activities, I was able to use the language in practice. The school's location suited me very well. The journey took about 20 minutes. I recommend Scuola Leonardo da Vinci
Show details » Read more...But it was surprised me that the course was taught in Italian. How can someone never knows Italian will be able to understand?
Show details » Read more...I found the location of the school to be excellent, in the historic center of Rome. The teachers were uniformly skilled and interested in the students and their progress. I liked the facilities and found the activities outside the classroom to be interesting and enriching. I cannot think of anything I would have changed about the experience. My three months at the school moved me from advanced beginner to advanced grammatical studies. That is amazing to me!
Show details » Read more...Der Unterricht bei Cristiano war etwas Gewöhnungs-bedürftig. Fand es nicht immer ok wie er sich über Studenten lustig macht.
Show details » Read more...On the 1st day I arrived to school at 09:00 am (as I was informed in advance that my classes will take place in the morning) only to only to find out that there was no place for me in any group as they didn't evaluate my placement test. I sent this test quite late (on Friday while the course was starting on Monday), but still within the given deadline. And anyway, I paid for this course more than 2 months in advance, so I didn't understand how come I was not assigned to any group. Besides, I was looking for a beginners class, so placement should be easy.
In the end I was told to come to the afternoon group as the director informed me that there was no place for me in any of the morning groups for the beginners (which turned out to be untrue as I was speaking with the morning group later and they told me that their group was never full.). I had to change my plans but agreed to that.
I joined the afternoon group for 2 days - the teacher spoke only English all the time and during 6 hours of course half of the group didn't even open their mouth. She seemed not to realise that, as she was not directing questions to anyone specifically, always the same people answered or even she answered herself. Instead of practicing speaking, we were doing exercises from the book, tor example on how to say 15.698 in Italian. When I told openly that maybe we should start speaking - she answered that IT IS TOO EARLY FOR YOU TO SPEAK. Honestly, I didn't know that such old-fashioned approach to teaching a language still exists.
After these 2 days, I joined the morning class for beginners and it was completely different - the teacher (Massimo) was great and presented totally opposite methodology. He spoke only Italian, was energetic, taking care to involve every student and made every student to speak, inventing some fun exercises etc. I would stay in this school only for this teacher, but it is really strange that 2 teachers of same level class present so different methodology It seems that the school just don't care. So to sum up - the class with Massimo was fantastic and if I was to evaluate only this teacher, it would be the highest note, however my overall opinion about the school is poor.
When it comes to to location it is very good, but the school itself is not nice, there is no place to sit and relax while waiting for the classes etc. I didn't use the housing.
The facility is in a great location and the teachers were friendly and helpful. I would say the mix of classroom and one on one was very helpful to me.
Show details » Read more...We were 8 students in the class from different countries and continent speaking only in Italian, on the same level of knowledge. The teacher was an Italian native..so just perfect, he was very dynamic and wanted us to understand and to participate actively to the discussions. The school was very close to the most famous locations in the center of Rome. The activities proposed were varied, interesting, frequently close to the school .
I enjoyed all the days spent with the Leonardo Da Vinci school
The school is in a great location a few minutes walk from the Piazza Navona in Rome, in a lovely old building with a courtyard and a very friendly and welcoming Concierge each morning. After taking the on-line test, I was put in a class at C1 level. I struggled a little bit at the start of the week but it got better as the week progressed. I am studying for an Italian Intermediate On-line Diploma and the grammar topics we covered in the C1 class at Scuola Leonardo da Vinci are on the syllabus for the second year of the Diploma which I will start in September, so that has been really helpful. The book we used during the week, Livello 5 Cinecitta C1/N9 Parte 2, is excellent with clear grammar explanations and challenging exercises and will come in handy for my Diploma course.
Unfortunately, I am quite deaf and although I wear hearing aids, due to the school's policy of wearing masks it was difficult for me to hear most conversations and talks during the week; however this did not detract from my enjoyment of the week's experience at the school. I was able to talk to the other students in the class during the breaks outside when we could remove masks and continue to converse in Italian.
It had been a wish of mine to experience a week's intensive Italian language learning in Rome and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, attending school in the mornings and then my husband and I explored Rome and its attractions in the afternoons.
I had a great time in Rome! I’ve been staying and learning for two weeks. The school itself is located in an excellent and central area, so it’s super easy to explore the city before/after school or have an aperitivo with classmates close by. After-school activities could’ve been a bit more and better advertised in order to have more students come along to socialize.
My teacher Alessandro was very kind and funny. Class has been a lot of fun! We had two substitute teachers when Alessandro felt sick, the first one was Loridana. I learned a lot during the lessons with her, she was very good in terms of teaching the grammar of the language correctly and explaining rules, helpful tendencies in irregular cases and the overall understanding of the Italian structure. One other substitute teacher however has been quite a bad teacher since she didn’t really come along quite motivational towards us, not even motivated herself. But this has only been one afternoon. The overall experience with the lessons was very good!
I expected a lot since 450 euros is a lot of money. I had to do a test at the beginning to see which class suites me most. I got told that I already knew the passato prossimo. Then when the class began, we were discussing the passato prossimo for 4 days. That felt like a waste of time and money. Also, the pacing was very slow and some students were constantly talking over people which the teachers didn't do too much about.
When students were absent, which is their own responsibility, they would get a catch up that took up a lot of time. I would have liked to exercise talking more.
The lessons were cut short a lot of times because the teacher was tired? I remember 5 lessons ending 10-20 min before the official ending time. One of my fellow students, who started later than me and therefore continued a week after I finished my course, complained to the coordinator and got offered private lessons. I don't think it is fair that I didn't have that option.
After I showed my discontent I was told I could switch class but that I would start over with the booklet, which means I would have had 2 weeks of passato prossimo. I did think the teachers were nice, but I expected so much more of a “intensive course”. Especially one that is this expensive
I was only one week there and also in vacation. The important for me was to speak a lot and end B1. We spoke a lot and I have the feeling that I could achieve the end of B1. I didn't participate to activities.
Show details » Read more...- the classes were working exclusively with the book
- the teacher was talking a lot and explaining with great patience
- the teacher was very professional, knowledgeable and fun, also enthusiastic (Eva, A2/N2 class)
- the rooms were fine
- the facilities need attention, the restrooms were not in good shape, the coffee machine broke down
- the only one planned activity was then cancelled
The online course was very good structured and contained speaking, grammar and practicing.
I especially liked that the teacher proactively motivated everyone to speak in Italian language, because this is the main lack I am having and I wanted to get more used in speaking Italian.
Even though the course was online, I did not experience any big issues with that. Sometimes we had some internet connection problems, but I would say this is quite normal nowadays.
I was impressed by the possibility to have different zoom rooms in one online meeting, by this we were able to do group work with other students.
I especially would like to emphasize that our teacher Marta was very good!! She explained the grammar feasible, motivated everyone to speak only in Italian and I could learn a lot within just one week.
I am very interested in doing another online Course with the school in the near future.
My expectations were surely met. There are classes in a maximum of 12 students, the form of teaching was very varied and the teacher really good.
Every day there was three hours of intensive teaching and about one hour of homework. The school offered lots of activities in leisure time.
If I should point out one thing that could be improved, then it would be the premises taught in. The classroom was very packed and the acoustics was at times a challenge.
Dear Maria Bettina, many thanks for your kind review. We are very happy to hear that you enjoyed your time at Scuola Leonardo da Vinci in Rome and we appreciate your great feedback with regards to our teaching method and our social program! Thank you also for your observations with regards to our classrooms, which we will take into consideration :) We look forward to welcoming you again soon to our school! Kind regards, Giulia
The first day I was put in a class for super-beginners, and the second day my private tutor put me in a beginner-class in which I stayed the rest of the week. I think it would have been better if I had taken a test in advance, so that I would have been put in the beginner-class already the first day. However I adapted quickly to the new class.
The teacher in the beginner-class, Chiara, was such energetic, intelligent and observant and had creative and beneficial teaching methods. She created an open space for us to talk and make mistakes without us feeling uncomfortable. In the group lessons, Chiara asked us questions, and we spoke and listened to the other students. Oftentimes, the questions were about about our everyday life which sometimes elaborated into funny debates between the students. This felt very useful, both when speaking myself and listening to the others.
The private lessons with teacher Romain was a great experience as well. In these lessons we went through grammar and vocabulary on a level below what we did in the group lessons, which was a sort of preparation for the following group lessons that day. We did a lot of written exercises but it was never boring and I learned a lot.
I was very pleased that the whole course, both the private lessons and the group lessons, was in Italian, which definitely improved my understanding skills and my speaking skills more than I had expected. The location of the school was perfect- in the center of everything, and with a walking distance from Trastevere, the area where I lived.
In the classrooms, I would have wished for better chairs, because it was a little bit difficult to balance my notebooks and take notes on the retractable desk plate that was part of the chair.
The activities after school were interesting as well. I attended the pronunciation class, the class about Italian regions and the Campo di Fiori guided tour. The guided tour was more challenging than the others since I had difficulties hearing and seeing the guide.
Dear Anna, many thanks for your kind review. We are very happy to hear that you enjoyed your time at Scuola Leonardo da Vinci in Rome! Thank you also for your suggestions, which we will take into consideration :) We look forward to welcoming you again soon to our school! Kind regards, Giulia
I've been for a week at the school in Rome, I had a fantastic week though it was sometimes hard in lessons when they were not all classroom students but this was not just in Rome but also in Milan.
Edward my teacher is great, I really liked having lessons with him. The school is very centrally located. Excursions and other possibilities to do were awesome. I also did the art history on Borromini and Bernini, so I learned more about the art of Rome.
The family was also good.
In sum for those who like a big, chaotic traffic, Rome is perfect. I prefer Siena, Florence or Milan. Certainly Siena is more familiar.
I did not miss all Italians, although I learned Spanish a little more than a year. At present we study unreal hypotheses with a plusquamperfect and conditional conjunctiva. The Italian language helps me so much with the Spanish and my teacher told me that I have an Italian accent .....
Carissima Simone, sono molto lieta della tua gentile e sincera risposta!
Tu sei sempre la benvenuta alla SCUOLA LEONARDO DA VINCI.
Con affetto. Cornelia
Homestays are carefully selected and offer students the opportunity to learn more about the local culture in a comfortable setting while studying Italian in Rome. These homes are often between 25 - 50 minutes away from the school by public transport. Families usually offer affordable meal plans that allow you to sample the local cuisine. If you have special requests or diet restrictions (because of religion or health reasons), please let us know in advance. Your housing starts on the Sunday before your first day of class and ends on the Saturday after your last day of class, unless otherwise noted. Learn more about homestay housing
It is possible to live in a rented apartment during your study in Rome, but this tends to be more expensive. Scuola Leonardo da Vinci provides some assistance with apartment rentals or you can rent an apartment on your own. Learn more about apartment housing
We cannot apply for visas on behalf of students. However, the school can supply you with all the documentation you need to support your visa application.
Your letter of acceptance will be sent to your home address by regular mail at no charge to you. If you wish to receive your paperwork by express mail, you will be charged 40 € when you register.
Please note that we do not book flights for our students. If you are researching airfare costs, we recommend using Kayak.com, a search engine that lets you compare flight options from your home country to Rome based on your budget, schedule and preferences.
Study abroad worry-free with Language International's health and personal effects insurance coverage. When you book a course with us, you can opt to purchase an international insurance plan that covers not only your health care cost but also loss of your personal belongings. You must book your insurance in advance when you register.
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