annhig, dont let the logistics put you off. Its a great place, imo very special, specially if you , like me, prefer to stay in smaller towns.>>

yes, i prefer smaller places too, but the chance to go to Rome again was too good to pass up, especially as DH isn't too keen on it.

perhaps next time!

we're off on sunday to Rome for the week, staying and studying in the shadow of st. Peter's which is definitely going to be the place to be for the next few weeks. here's the link for the school:

http://www.languageinitaly.com/EN/index.php

and this is where we're staying:

http://www.hotelgravinasanpietro.it/

the plan is for 3 hours lessons in the morning, in groups graded according to ability, and excursions in the afternoons. Half of our group are AS/A level students aged 17-18, and the other half are oldies like me - 3 beginners and 2 more experienced; I am one of the latter and I suspect that we will be included with the youngsters for lessons. whether the school will have other classes going at the same time I don't know.

I'm getting quite excited now!

I cannot wait to read your report!

This sounds REALLY fun (and educational too of course!!)

I know you know Rome fairly well, but do you get Elizabeth Minchilli's blogs on food in Rome? It sounds like Ostiense is the area to go, plus Renato e Luisa near the Largo Argentina.

Looking forward to reading more.

Hi tarquin - I thought I'd signed up for those blogs, but i haven't received anything recently [and i check my junk regularly]. I'll have another go.

as for knowing Rome well, this'll be my third week there and each time I will have stayed in a different part, which makes it interesting as we explore a new area. I'm not sure how much freedom we're going to have - every day is pretty well mapped out, and i don't know what the plans for the evenings will be. I'd definitely like to go back and see some of my old haunts, as well as finding new ones. our teacher, who is italian but not from Rome, may have some ideas too! She is from Ischia, and I have no idea how well she knows Rome.

so I'm not going with any set ideas, but lots of hope!

jmct - I can't wait to write it!

ciao, tutti!

just got back and I can say that even a week of lessons [plus speaking as much italian as I could the rest of the time] has really paid dividends. OK, longer would have been better but it was still very worthwhile.

Trip report [hopefully] coming soon.

Fretta, per favore!

Ciao, yes please, looking forward to your report!

annhig...

I was thinking of you and wondering how your trip went...looking forward to reading your report! :-)

just in case anyone else opens this as a result of Alex's advert, I have just signed up for 2 weeks in February '18 in Bologna at this school:

http://www.academyalingue.com

2 friends of mine spent a week there in September and had a really good time.

I will report back.