Recognitions & partners CELI Authorized exam center Università per Stranieri di Perugia E+ Part of Unicollege SSML group Italian HEI · Erasmus+ ECHE Charter US U.S. university partners Findlay · Montclair State
FACULTY-LED PROGRAMS · PARTNER UNIVERSITIES
An institutional extension of your home campus, hosted in Italy.
Accademia di Italiano accompanies universities, colleges and accredited institutions of higher education in the design and delivery of customized faculty-led programs in Italy. Each program is conceived as an institutional extension of the home campus and of its scholarly curriculum. The visiting faculty member retains full academic authority - syllabus design, learning outcomes, classroom instruction, assessment and grading - within the academic rigour required by the partner institution. Our Partner Desk supervises the institutional, operational and cultural infrastructure that surrounds the academic experience.
Our four cities offer four distinct academic and cultural environments, brought together by a single operational framework and by the same dedicated relationship with each partner institution: Florence - the Padri Scolopi campus on Via Bolognese, a seventeenth-century complex housing classrooms, library, language laboratory, auditorium and on-campus residence; Milan - the historic city-centre Academy on Via Durini; Mantua - the former Archbishop's Seminary, set within a UNESCO Renaissance city; and Turin - the contemporary campus close to Parco del Valentino. Each site upholds the same standards of academic governance, student welfare and quality assurance that partner universities expect of their own institution.
Transferable academic credit (ECTS)
Accademia di Italiano is part of Unicollege SSML, an Italian university recognized by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR). If your program includes Italian language courses, students can earn European university credits (ECTS). These credits are certified through an official university transcript and can be transferred to the home institution, following your institution's procedures. This is an opportunity that an ordinary language school cannot offer.
90 Partner universities
4 Campuses across Italy
22+ Years of experience hosting university groups
A1 - C2 Italian language courses for all levels
The academic model in detail
A Faculty-Led program is an academic experience abroad in which a group of students travels together with their own university professor and follows a program created in collaboration with their home university. The sections below illustrate the different aspects of the partnership, so that every office involved (study abroad, student registrar, academic committee or risk management) can quickly find the information it needs.
How it works
from preparation before departure, to support during the stay in Italy, through to the conclusion of the program; you will also find the services we coordinate on site and the optional academic activities.
Program types and disciplines
the different options available (summer, semester, intensive programs, short programs, academic year and hybrid formats), the subjects taught and a sample weekly schedule.
Fees and partnership stages
an overview of the pricing model, the services included, the additional options, the payment terms and the stages of the partnership, from the first enquiry through to the group's arrival in Italy.
Case studies and testimonials
examples of programs already delivered with U.S. universities, together with testimonials from accompanying faculty and study-abroad office leads. References available on request.
Program overview
We design short-term academic programs for university groups accompanied by their own faculty. Each program is built around the teaching objectives of the partner university and can be hosted at one of our four Italian campuses (Florence, Mantua, Milan and Turin). Throughout the stay we provide both academic and organizational support.
Audiences
Pre-college groups, undergraduate and graduate students.
Program types
Programs in a single location, itinerary-based, or with online activities before and/or after the stay in Italy.
Teaching models
The course can be taught entirely by the partner university's faculty member; co-taught with our teachers; delivered by our faculty; or organized with a mixed model.
Documentation
We provide all the academic documentation required, including syllabus, learning outcomes, assessment methods and academic oversight.
On-site support
Each group has a dedicated coordinator, a Program Leader and a support service available 24 hours a day for the entire duration of the stay.
Faculty collaboration & academic design
Every program grows out of direct dialogue with the partner university's faculty member. We can develop a program that mirrors your university's existing curriculum, or build a new program together using our course offering and the expertise of our faculty. Expert lectures, field visits and collaborations with local institutions are integrated within a structured and documented academic project.
On-site program support
Throughout the program, a local coordinator supports the group with logistics, teaching spaces and organizational activities. A Program Leader also accompanies the project from the planning phase through to the conclusion of the course, working with the accompanying faculty member on academic and organizational matters. Our staff ensures 24-hour assistance throughout the stay.
Hosting venues - four academic addresses across Italy
Each prospective program is delivered at one of four institutional venues - selected on academic, logistical and risk-management criteria with the Program Director of the partner institution. Two venues operate under the campus model (Florence and Mantua: on-campus residence, full meal plan and integrated academic infrastructure on a single estate, in line with Sant'Anna and Cattolica residential summer-school standards) and two under the city model (Milan and Turin: Academy as the academic anchor, vetted residential housing in walking distance). All four venues are designed to provide the academic seriousness, facilities and risk-management profile that curriculum committees, study-abroad offices and US accreditation bodies expect.
Florence - primary academic hub (campus model)
17th-century Padri Scolopi estate, Via Bolognese 52. Former Piarist Fathers' study house, in continuous educational use since 1645 and registered as a property of historical interest. 8,000 m² of enclosed grounds, 14 instructional rooms across the historic main building, 150-seat Aula Magna for guest lectures and partner conferences, language laboratory, ground-floor library with general and Italian-studies reference collections, on-campus residence with full meal plan, in-house café (the Unicafè), olive groves and a vegetable garden used in food-studies modules.
Disciplinary fit: art history, architecture, heritage conservation, Renaissance and Italian Renaissance studies, Italian civilisation and language, music history, fashion, religious history, classical and archaeological studies.
Partner-institution profile: liberal-arts colleges and research universities with established Italy programs, art and architecture schools, religious-foundation institutions, and consortia for Renaissance studies. The closest profile to a Sant'Anna or Cattolica residential intensive in the Italian academic landscape.
Mantua - "Deep Italy" residential venue (campus model)
Former Archbishop's Seminary, Via C. Montanari 1. UNESCO World Heritage city of 50,000 inhabitants, with effectively no English-speaking expatriate community - an academic setting where partner faculty can reasonably expect cohorts to engage in Italian outside the classroom. 8 instructional rooms inside a restored 18th-century cloister, Aula Magna with preserved original stuccoes for institutional ceremonies, in-house library, on-campus residence with optional meal plan, private quadrangle. 1h45 from Milan by train; equidistant from Verona, Modena and Cremona for excursion programming.
Disciplinary fit: Italian civilisation and language at intermediate-to-advanced levels, Renaissance studies, urban history, food and territory studies, agricultural and rural sociology, heritage conservation, sustainable-development studies.
Partner-institution profile: small liberal-arts colleges seeking high-immersion residential intensives, faculty-led programs with explicit linguistic-immersion objectives, food-studies and food-systems programs. The closest analogue to the Sant'Anna model of small-cohort residential academic intensives in Italy.
Milan - business and design hub (city model)
Academy at Via Durini 7, in the executive heart of Milan, four minutes from the Duomo and within walking distance of Bocconi University, Politecnico di Milano (Bovisa campus served by metro line 2), Università Cattolica and Sant'Ambrogio. 6 executive-grade classrooms, boardroom-style meeting room with conference AV, library corner, sound-isolated seminar rooms. Vetted external residential housing within 25-minute commute - including options in Brera, Porta Nuova and Navigli districts.
Disciplinary fit: business and management (Bocconi-track), design and architecture (Politecnico-track), fashion and luxury studies, finance and banking, contemporary Italian culture and communications, urbanism, international relations.
Partner-institution profile: business schools with Italian semester or summer programs, design and architecture schools partnering with Politecnico or affiliated institutes, communications programs, programs integrating site visits to Italian fashion houses and finance institutions. For partner faculties who require the metropolitan and professional gravitas of a Cattolica-Milano or Bocconi-affiliated setting.
Turin - design, Slow Food and engineering venue (city model)
Modern three-storey academy on Via Saluzzo 60, near Parco del Valentino and the Politecnico di Torino district. 10 instructional rooms with smart boards, library with Italian and area-studies collections, Aula Magna for guest lectures, ground-floor reception, full accessibility on all levels. Walking distance from Castello del Valentino (Politecnico), 15 minutes from OGR Tech (the city's innovation hub), 20 minutes from Castello di Rivoli and Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation for contemporary-art programs. Vetted external housing options around San Salvario and Crocetta.
Disciplinary fit: design and engineering (Politecnico ecosystem), Slow Food studies and food-systems (with proximity to Pollenzo, the Università di Scienze Gastronomiche di Pollenzo founded by Slow Food), automotive heritage, contemporary art, architecture, alpine and territorial studies.
Partner-institution profile: engineering and design schools, programs with food-studies or sustainability components, partner programs seeking an academically serious northern-Italian city with lower cost of living than Milan or Florence. The elegant Northern alternative - between the Alps and the Langhe.
Turin - design, Slow Food and engineering venue (city model) →
Academic Approval Pack
A structured documentation dossier issued to each partner institution in support of formal curriculum approval, risk-management review, insurance assessment and study-abroad office sign-off. Drafted in the language and academic structure that curriculum committees and accreditation bodies expect, the dossier serves as the institutional bridge between Accademia di Italiano and the partner university. Consult the Academic Approval Pack →
Contact the Partner Desk
Send us the program details: the Partner Desk replies within 2 business days with a proposal and a draft Academic Approval Pack.
• Home institution and Program Director
• Academic dates and group size
• Academic framework: course, credits, language component, optional internship
• Study-abroad office or curriculum committee requirements
US partner students
In their words - US students on the Florence campus
OUR LOCATIONS
Milan
A short walk from the Duomo, in the heart of the city that never stands still. Here you learn Italian and use it straight away, every day: between work, fashion and aperitivi.
Campus