Three (beautiful) reasons to join an Italian immersion Retreat
Discover how an Italian immersion program can change so much more than your language skills and open the doors to endless possibilities.
This year, I’ve hosted two Italian Retreats, one in Cremona and another in my hometown, Gaeta. It’s been over six years, that I’ve been hosting language immersion retreats. I've noticed so many benefits that come from joining them that go well beyond, improving your Italian speaking skills.
So, I narrowed down the benefits down and in today’s post, I’ll share three incredibly good reasons to join an Italian language immersion retreat.
But let me first start with a small premise.
What is a language retreat?
The ones I host, both in Cremona and in Gaeta, are Italian immersion programs built around life in smallish towns where the goal is to experience Italian life for five days while speaking the language non-stop.
I create activities and experiences around the clock of the town, markets, vicoli, botteghe, tours and meeting people. In short, learners get to be a part of town life first-hand.
In Gaeta, Lazio, that is the south of Italy, the people are very friendly so it’s very easy to be involved in conversations with locals and feel involved.
The activities are language-learning driven but are also aimed at giving students a stronger awareness of Italian culture and pace of life.
You’re living your days with me like I would live them, at the same mindful rythm.
My goal is that after the retreat, learners will be able to have tools to come back to Italy and continue this wonderful conversation on their own.
Not only linguistically but also culturally. One of the biggest complaints I hear from Italian learners is that of getting the tourist treatment and not being able to experience authentic Italy.
Get exposure to authentic Italian
When my students come to me, they have a good grasp of the language because they’ve been learning it for a while.
However, they’re still some hurdles to overcome.
Can you relate?
You've been taking your weekly classes on Italki with multiple tutors from different regions of Italy
Listening to your podcasts
Watching your favorite TV shows on Netflix
Going through your textbooks religiously
However, you've hit a bit of a wall and are feeling uninspired.
You feel like you're just scratching the surface, putting in the work as you've been taught to do in school, but you're beginning to wonder if there's anything more to your Italian journey.
Are you doing enough? Are you truly connecting? Are you learning the real language that is spoken in Italy?
What you get from textbooks feels so distant from what you hear when you travel to Italy.
When you started out, when you were inspired to embark on this language adventure, you dreamed of authentic connections with Italy but you feel like that moment is still quite far off.
How do you get there?
My retreats, but Italian retreats in general, help with that because they’re thought out to get you to engage WITH the community.
Get away from textbooks, out of the classroom and talking to people.
I set my retreats in small-town Italy, where life is slow and people love to chat and connect in the streets.
In fact, street life in the south, is a strong element of my Gaeta Retreat.
Add that to natural southern friendliness and chattiness, you’ll get exposure to authentic language and fun spontaneous conversations with locals.
The goal of a retreat is not that of speaking with me or with other retreat participants, that certainly happens but the most important part is the interaction and connection with locals. Then you’ll meet them again over the next few days and that is such a confidence booster and helps make whatever language you learn, unforgettable.
In small towns, you always see the same faces and striking friendships is so much faster and straightfoward.
No riffling through Google Calendar trying to find a date to meet.
Now is always a good moment.
Time tastes differently in small towns.
Absorb the culture
During the five days, we explore the mercato settimanale that is an important moment in every Italian town.
I like to send my retreat participants out to buy all the ingredients for lunch and the shopping list includes local produce which leads to interesting learning moments around food.
When you go to a market stall or a shop in a vicolo to buy something in a small town, if they see you’re a foreigner, the shop owner is bound to chime in and offer suggestions.
Students learn what a sfilatino and pane casereccio is and all the intricacies surrounding Italian bread.
Learning this in real life as an adventure and not from a textbook, with the added element of smells, laughter and taste buds involved, makes for lifetime memories all taken in while having lunch.
Did you know that memories associated with food never leave?
This is a tiny example, because clearly, there are so many nuances and small things that come up living side to side with natives for almost a week in a tiny town.
Every event is a small learning opportunity in an immersion context.
For more ideas on absorbing Italian culture when you’re in Italy, check out my post, How to stop feeling like a tourist and experience authentic Italy.
Personal growth
During a retreat, you’re spending five days, for many hours every day ( over twelve hours) speaking all day in another language, exposed to another pace of life, other ideas, other food.
You also get to share your world, your ideas. It’s a big effort. A beautiful one, for sure but an effort.
You make mistakes, lots of them in front of others. Let’s not minimize how big a challenge this is for an adult.
You’re pushing yourself. Physically the act of speaking and listening to Italian for so many hours a day is tiring.
But emotionally it’s a beautiful journey that enriches you and who knows where it what directions it will lead?
That’s the power of language learning.
It opens doors. Especially with Italian that comes with a culture and lifestyle that puts you back in the picture.
But let me give you some examples.
Maarten, my long-time student, after joining my retreat in Gaeta, not once but twice, is now hosting his own photography workshops in Abruzzo.
In German but yet, it’s something of his own that allows him to combine his passion for photography with his passion for Italy, and Abruzzo. He took the pictures for my website. You can find his work on Flickr.
Jim, joined me back in 2021. He’s come back to Gaeta multiple times to say hi and has just started his own Substack here where he just shared his journey in Sicily.
Sharon, from Connecticut, started out with me some time ago with the dream of reading Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels. Now, she’s not only read through all of them, in Italian, but she’s reading only Italian books on her own and travels to Italy regularly.
Tara, from Australia, located in Singapore, started her Italian journey four years ago ( !) she knows what happens in Italy minutes long before I do. She’s an expert on Italian music. She’s joined two of my retreats and last May she prepared dessert for a pranzo della domenica for an Italian family. She dreams of her own house in Gaeta. And who knows what else awaits her?
These are just a few names of all the lovely people I’ve met on my own journey but it’s an example of the life-changing effects you set in motion when you join a retreat and you open your heart and mind to Italian.
See? It’s not “ just a language”. It’s so much more.
It’s a driving force that triggers small changes in your life that create a snowball effect in your existence and open up more possibilities and options to you.
Whether it's engaging in spontaneous conversations with friendly locals, exploring the vibrant markets, or pushing yourself to new emotional and intellectual heights, Italian retreats promise transformative experiences.
If you feel ready to embrace your own Italian adventure, I’m happy to announce that I still have some spots on my September Retreats both in Cremona and in Gaeta.
Join the retreat waiting list here and start letting the magic of Italian life inspire you.
Have you ever joined a cultural immersion holiday? How was it for you?