Firenze, Romans…

May 7, 2008

Tuscany, with its distinctive food and wine, gregarious people, ancient landscape and history forged by fact and fable, is a compelling attraction. And while package tours largely eliminate apprehension, they don’t necessarily ensure intimate connection with the culture. After a time, a bus window can become the frame in which the still life of the land is viewed with diminishing passion, and a day here or there soon dissolves into a week of misted memories. Inherent in routine is the danger of detachment. One method of avoiding this danger and enriching the Tuscan experience is to combine touring with learning the language. To do so, I recently spent a month in Florence at the Eurocentre School, located near the Palazzo Pitti and the Ponte Vecchio. Having learnt some phrases before leaving Australia, on enrolment day I entered with tentative confidence. It rapidly waned as all conversation, enrolment instructions and classroom directions were in Italian. `Total immersion’, they said. `Drowning’, I thought. Panic then set in when the school’s director, Massimo Reale, cordially enquired, “Quanto parole, Marco?” I thought he’d asked how long I’d been out of prison, and on seeing my bemusement, he smiled and said in English, “Parole… words… how many words do you know?”

An hour later I found myself in the front desk of what could only be called the `linguistically challenged’ group, and a quick survey amongst my multi-national classmates revealed that we had a common pool of about four words; `ciao’, `si’, `grazie’ and `non capisco’. But we were almost fluent compared with the student from Moscow. She knew no Italian or English and nobody in the school spoke Russian. By 8 o’clock that evening she was back on board a rivet-rusted Aeroflot.

One enjoyable activity during the first week involved each student describing a fictional husband and wife team. I muddled through with the help of a dictionary and several ambiguous gestures, but Erik, a Danish food importer, was definitely up the Arno without a paddle. He described the husband as `grasso e brutto’ (fat and ugly) and sat back, exhausted. Maria, our teacher, then said, “E la donna, Erik?” meaning “The woman?” Thanks to a wit quicker than a Vespa on the Via Cavour, Erik replied, “Lei e morte!” The wife was dead. End of exercise. We all laughed and Erik grinned broadly, his white `denti’ shining like the waterproof Tissot I’d bought from a Tuscan tout in the Piazza del Duomo. When the watch stopped during a light shower the next day, I wondered if the word `sucker’ had an Italian equivalent.

After two weeks of non-stressful `immersion’, confidence was building and our classroom conversations became more lively. Outside, I could ask directions and understand when told, order in restaurants, purchase in shops, read museum guidebooks and actually catch buses without having to get off halfway, utterly lost. One weekend excursion was to a `Fiorentina versus Vicenza’ soccer match and as soon as the referee appeared, I began shouting abuse with as much skill as every other hoarse hooligan in a purple and red scarf.

During the third week a significant breakthrough occurred. I caught myself actually thinking in Italian. It was a satisfying moment.

As well as language tuition, the school presents entertaining lectures on Italian design, history, literature, painting and drawing, wine tasting and food preparation. Guided visits to museums, art galleries and craft workshops are included, and escorted tours to Rome, Venice, Pisa, San Gimingnano and Siena are available to student groups.

There is ample free time to visit nearby towns such as Fiesole, with its Roman amphitheatre, characteristic architecture and narrow, cobbled streets. The school operates from January till December, offering a variety of courses between two and thirteen weeks. Classes are graded according to language proficiency, and if a full-day seems too much, then morning only tuition is provided. Home stay with local families is recommended as a relatively cheap alternative to hotels. This is arranged through the school’s agent in Adelaide. I preferred a pensione, and found the Hotel Berkleys to be clean, comfortable and moderately priced. Located on Via Fiume in a safe region close to the station and tour bus terminal, it is operated by Andrea, Katia and Maria Andreoli, a generous family who welcomes singles, couples and children. Signora Andreoli’s breakfasts are superb, arriving daily from her own bakery. The hotel is adjacent to the Via Natzionale, one of the main restaurant and open market areas, where the smells of coffee, leather and perfume are an exotic, unforgettable mix.

A final word of advice. If you don’t want to kick yourself for being a `gonzo’, avoid touts flogging Tissots.

About the Author: Mark McKirdy is a teacher-librarian living in Sydney, Australia. He is married with three children, travels frequently and enjoys writing about his experiences. His favourite destination is Italy, although he visits New York often to stay with his daughter Fenella who is dancing with a ballet company there.

To really get a taste for Italy why not tour the country in a car. There are many deals around to find cheap car hire, in fact there are a number of comparison websites cropping up that compare car rental prices and this can save you hours trawling through all the car hire providers to find the cheapest deals for car hire in Italy.