IF you come from another European country, it’s so easy to come here in Italy because you don’t need a visa. One can get in through ten airports located in Rome, Milan, Bologna, Naples, Pisa, Venice and Turin. Rome has two international airports – Leonardo da Vinci and Ciampino – and Milan has three – Malpensa, Linate and Bergamo. Since the Italian Peninsula is attached to mainland Europe, one can naturally arrive here via your own car and be checked at any of a dozen borders. Again, you’ll be easily swiftly allowed through because you don’t need a visa to come here. One can also arrive here by train and there are trips coming from Nice, Lyon, Paris, Zagreb, Vienna, Geneva, Munich, Prague, Slovenia and Barcelona. There may be stricter border checks if one comes from Switzerland and Slovenia because even though these countries are European Union members, they are not signatories of the Schengen Agreement which mandates easier border checks by European member countries. You may also want to arrive by ship. Ferries from Greece, Albania, Montenegro and Croatia dock at Venice. Those coming from the island of Corsica dock at Genoa and those coming from North Africa like Morocco dock at Sicily.

Many people indeed come to Italy because the Vatican City, capital of Roman Catholicism, is located here. That’s why Roman Catholics from all over the world – from the Philippines to Greenland – come here every year making tourism one of the robust economies of Italy. Italian people have also been known to be meek, humble, polite and soft spoken; and they will never hesitate to teach you an Italian phrase or two if one is respectful enough to converse with the Italian natives. Because of its intensive tourism, many language schools have sprouted all throughout Italy and students of six-month programs in these institutions are often housed with an Italian family throughout their stay here. Students of the Italian language are not just tourists but employees of both government and private think tanks from such countries as Britain, the United States, Russia and Saudi Arabia who will eventually be posted here for a number of diplomatic and research positions.

For the uninitiated, Italy is also home to the most number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Another thing that Italy is famous for is its cuisine. Nope, real Italian cuisine is not the one you oftentimes see in Italian restaurants all over the world. Real Italian cuisine is experienced in the home of every Italian and when one is a language school student, he or she is in for the greatest adventure of one’s life tasting authentic Italian dishes for a total of six months. Aside from these perks, you will also have a winery tour in the various vineyards and sherry processing plants in Italy. Of course, expenses incurred are coursed through the student’s tuition. Here in Italy, you will experience tasting such delicacies as rustichella and panzerotti. Do not let me explain what they are; all I can tell is that they are sandwich variants. You have to be here to taste them because you don’t find them in Italian restaurants abroad.