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.
