dpkmd

My wife and I will be in Umbria for a week in October. My wife has to leave for six days and I plan to stay behind. I want to go someplace outside of Rome, perhaps on a farm, where I will forced to speak Italian, either by living with a family, or by hiring non-English-speaking travelmates for day trips. I am a 62-year-old doctor and I already speak French and Spanish, and I'm studying Italian now. When my wife comes back, we will spend another 10 days in Italy and I want to impress her with how well I can get around.

qwovadis

www.hospitalityclub.org many nice locals to help you I belong.
www.italyby.com good local agents to help with farms
Good personal experience for me.

Good luck!

annhig

Hi dpkmd,

any reason why you are not considering a language school? I know that you only have a week, but so long as you are not a beginner [which from what you say, you certainly aren't] you can join a school for as little as a week. i did that last May, and although it wasn't half as good as the usual two weeks or longer, I still learnt a lot.

most schools will arrange accommodation with local families, and some can do the sort of "total immersion" you are after. The school i attended did 4 hours group lessons in the mornings, then offered individual lessons in the afternoons, plus excursions, etc. all in italian. we were expected to speak italian all the time even amongst ourselves, and people were very good at doing this.

kybourbon

I don't imagine a farm owner and family is going to hang out and chat with you for a week even if you are staying in their agriturismo. I would do the language school as annhig suggests. There is one not far from Umbria/Rome in the hill town of Montepulciano.

http://www.ilsasso.com/eng/

TDudette

Since you are in Umbria already, Perugia has quite a few colleges--expect you could find something there easily. A friend of mine did an immersion with a family in Sorrento area. I'll find out how long hers lasted. Back soon.

TDudette

Should have said 'since you will be in Umbria...' above. Heard back from my friend but it's a 2-week course:

"It was Sorrento Lingue and I recommend it highly - they'll even find places for you to live while going to school - and you get a trip to Naples and one to Pompeii - really nice people too, and Sorrento is lovely."

StCirq

Farmers aren't going to take you in and chat with you in Italian. They're too busy. Agriturismo owners probably already speak English and will also be busy. Take the advice above and enroll in a language program or find Italian travel mates (www.travelmate.com).

zeppole

I am always amazed as the responses of Fodorites who pretend to know about rural life in Italy when they have only been to spas and tourist areas of Umbria and "Tuscany." And so sarcastically too! I guess they think it makes them sound authoritative -- or maybe they really believe what they are saying!

There are many agriturismi you can go to Italy where you can sit down to dinner with Italians only and speak Italian, and obviously Italy is full of town where very little English is spoken and people are very happy to speak in Italian with you (although young people will also want to practice their English with you). Italian culture is very verbal and talkative, so people enjoy talking. They aren't "too busy". Italian life just isn't like that.

Your idea to go someplace in Lazio is a good one, because the strike zone for Italian-only towns is higher there than in the popular tourist hot spots. . One way to go looking for such a place might be to look at reviews for "specialty lodging" in Lazio on TripAdvisor where all the reviews are in Italian only.

Another good bet would be simply to go to Viterbo or the smaller Acquapendente and set yourself the task of shopping (for things more than food), using the library, going to movies, etc. Rent a car and drive around.

Someplace like this might be nice:

http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Hotel_...nte_Lazio.html

Or this place near Tarquinia looks promising

http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Hotel_...nia_Lazio.html

Good luck! I think you should give your idea a run for its money. If you feel like it didn't work out, and your wife was utterly unimpressed, you can always find Italian classes.

annhig

zeppole - the OP referred to "immersion" and is clearly wanting more than even daily chats with shopkeepers and hoteliers, who, IME, however friendly they are, still have their jobs to do.

I agree about going somewhere where there is a low number of tourists, which is why I chose the language school in little-known Orbetello, so that when i was not at lessons, there was a chance that I would be able to practice in the local shops and cafes, which did indeed turn out to be the case.

but that sort of chance encounter was no substitute for the lessons which gave me the confidence to put my new skills into action.

roamer

We have been to Il Sasso in Montepulciano 8 times and highly recommend it. Teachers are great; you would be placed at your proper "level" for instruction with others at a similar level. Private lessons are also available and very worthwhile. The school can help you with accommodations and place you with a family if you desire. We enjoy Montepulciano and the surrounding area - food, wine, culture,history, scenery are all great.

StCirq

<<I am always amazed as the responses of Fodorites who pretend to know about rural life in Italy when they have only been to spas and tourist areas of Umbria and "Tuscany.">>

I'm always amazed at the responses of ONE Fodorite who thinks she is the be-all and end-all of info on Italy and who hasn't a CLUE about which other Fodorites have been where and done what in Italy or anywhere else.

phlflyer

Hello? Pot calling?

PRLCH

I highly recommend doing a language course if you really want to make progress with Italian language. We did one about 2 years ago and learned heaps in 2 weeks. We had wanted to do one in Umbria, but ended up in Florence instead. With hindsight we were thrilled with Florence as a base as it meant there was plenty to do when not at school.

This was a report I wrote when we came back. Hope it is of some help.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ool-review.cfm