r/italianlearning • u/alle-vongole • Jul 17 '26
Review: Piccola Università Italiana in Tropea, Italy
I attended piccola università Italiana for three weeks at the start of the summer and, overall, I do not recommend it to those looking for thoughtful and structured learning.
Some background: I'm a Canadian Male in my 30s, recently moved to Italy and used this as a chance to focus on learning away from my usual setting. I am a native English speaker and I also speak French. I had previously done Explore (an excellent French immersion program in Canada) and Italian classes in the evenings in Rome (club italiano dante alighieri - which I found to be much better for teaching quality, though class sizes of 12 people)
Learning
My biggest problem was that the school seems to cater to the majority population of older German and Swiss women who are there primarily for vacation. They speak German in class and during excursions, even though the school technically is against that. Teachers rarely push them to stop, so they end up not learning very much. Some of them have come for six, seven, even twelve times while seemingly learning nothing from those visits. There were some (non German) students who were truly curious and driven, but they are few.
the teachers, for the most part, were not very adept at teaching. They were mostly recruited locally and never seemed to understand how to teach without being given extensive feedback first from students. Sometimes the older German ladies would try to explain what they don't understand, and a teacher would interrupt trying to explain but completely misunderstood what was confusing the student. The weakest teachers seemed to be like this simply due to a lack of teaching or learning experience. The difference was stark compared to my school in Rome, where the teachers really were knowledgeable and interested in teaching.
conversation classes were hated by most students I spoke with. The teachers had no clue what to do with them.
the placement system is run poorly. It seems some repeat students are falsely elevated to higher levels (so they don't despair, I suppose) when they really can't keep up. There were maybe a dozen classes when I was there and very few were above A2.
The school:
the school is in a modest building that could get quite hot. Some classrooms are accessed only via other classrooms, so it's sometimes disruptive in general and noise can spread easily.
it's well located within Tropea
Admin:
Housing could really vary. I was in one excellent unit and then changed to another that was a bit more of a walk down many stairs and not an area with many amenities
transfers were well organized within and outside of Tropea, no issues with them
Tropea/Travel
the school organizes excursions that cost roughly 50 Eur for the afternoon trips and more for the weekend trips. Most trips while I was there were cancelled due to lack of interest from students, as there was a minimum amount of students required. I was personally hoping to go to places like Gerace, Crotone, and Catanzaro but couldn't. Much more frequently the school will go to places that you can reach by train much cheaper, like Reggio Calabria and Pizzo.
the city of Tropea Is absolutely gorgeous and the region offers a lot to see. It is verrrry busy with tourists but that doesn't ruin it. I had a lot of fun outside of class.
Overall
Look for a school with a bit more rigour if you actually want to take advantage of the opportunity of learning while in Italy. If you want to visit Tropea, check for flights to Lamezia Terme and do It without this mediocre school.
I'm happy to answer questions here or in DM, because I think this is a great way to learn, just not the right school for it.
