The school video of the Piccola Università Italiana

The school video will provide a better impression of the school, its classrooms, the school activities and the city of Tropea!

Study abroad program in Italy

Now the Piccola Università Italiana has expanded the existing programs and has inaugurated a STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM with MINNESOTA STATE UNIVERSITY, MANKATO. This blog was created to offer space to our students from the United States attending this very special Study Abroad Program in Italy. Their impressions, thoughts, experiences, and adventures during their time in Southern Italy, Tropea will be posted on this blog and it will give space to those, who are interested in the Italian culture and Italian language and who always wanted to learn more about this beautiful country.

Studying abroad is an important experience!

Join our study abroad program in Italy!

About the Italian language

In Italy, Latin remained the official written language for many centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire and was used for diplomacy, by the Church and in literature. But apart from this learned form of Latin there was also a spoken form that changed constantly with everyday use and gave rise to many different local variations that turned into forms of vernacular, the language of the common people. In the XIIIth century, the vernacular grew further and further away from Latin itself to become a separate literary language the Cantico delle Creature (Song of ALL Creatures) by St. Francis of Assisi was probably written in 1225 and is the earliest poetic work written in Italy’s lyrical vernacular.

The new language grew steadily in importance, mainly perpetuated by life in the burghs and it was in this type of cultural background that the ideas and poetry of Dante blossomed, who wrote the first ever work of poetry in the Florentine vernacular, the marvellous Divina Commedia (Divine Comedy), turning him into “the father” of the Italian language. Latin continued to be used alongside the vernacular for many centuries to come.

Then in 1800, with Alessandro Manzoni, came the linguistic unification of Italy and the Italian language was born – a new language that was not literary but commonplace and comprehensible to all. Italian is still a highly cultured and refined language, and immensely stimulating for foreigners taking an interest in Italy, for study purposes, family traditions or just out passion. Never before has Italian and the image of Italy been so highly acclaimed figures reveal there are about 200 million people in the world who either speak, are studying or wish to learn Italian.

The Italian language reflects what Italy is today: a country greatly changed and still transforming, a country that is not what is used to be nor as picturesque stereotypes would have it; a country with positive sides and contradictions too that just keeps on charming tourists from all over the world!

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About the Italian language school

A great passion dedicated to the Italian language to the country and its culture and especially the belief in a region, which has always been discriminated against in favour of other regions in Italy, has given the impulse to a vision. In 1993 Antonio Lamantea founded the “Caffè Italiano Club” in Calabria as an Institute of Italian Culture and Italian language. In 2004 the name was changed to “Piccola Università Italiana”, when it was recognised by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research.








The Italian language school is located in the heart of the old town of Tropea in a beautiful historical building from the 18th century restored and extended to the infrastructure of a professional school building in 1993. Tropea is a charming, medieval town with a population of 7.000. Located on the instep of the Italian boot, it lies on the same latitude as the famous Aeolian Islands. Italians affectionately refer to Tropea as the Pearl of Calabria. Here, you find unspoilt natural landscape with lush green vegetation, forming a magnificent contrast with the deep blue, crystal clear water of the sea.

In order to give the students the opportunity to achieve a high learning effect, the number of participants for each italian language course is limited to a maximum of 3 to 6 students. In addition to the usual Italian course programme, the “Piccola Università Italiana” also offers Italian language courses which place special emphasis on the vocabulary used in the tourist industry, hotel business, commercial Italian for import/export, medicine, art, literature and history as well as preparatory courses for the C.I.L.S. examination. For people passionate about sport, the school offers combined programmes, just like Scuba Diving, sailing or mountain biking.

The highlight of the summer program 2008 is the “L’Italiano Navigando”, Sailing through the fantastic and picturesque Aeolian Islands on a 22 meter long wooden boat combined with professional Italian lessons onboard.

The weekly cultural programme offers various opportunities to indulge in the Italian Culture. cinema evenings with classical Italian films, private classical concerts at school, motorboat excursions to discover unspoilt white sandy beaches with deep blue crystal clear water and many cultural excursions in Calabria, the Aeolian Islands, Campania and Sicily.