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6-12 November, 2005
 
My view of my stay in Genoa last year was coloured by two things. Firstly, I enjoyed a week of very pleasant weather. Secondly, on the Sunday of my arrival I sprained my ankle while wandering around the fishing village of Camogli. For a couple of days I could only hobble short distances, so I became fully acquainted with Genoa's excellent public transport system. For  10 you can travel on all kinds of vehicle for a full week. This includes buses, trains as far as Nervi to the east and Pegli to the west, funiculars and lifts. Yes, Genoa is so precipitous that I travelled to the school by public lift (plus two short bus journeys).
 
Genoa is a busy, bustling, exciting city, divided between roaring traffic in the centre, several noble streets lined with seventeenth- and eighteenth-century palaces, peaceful upper suburbs of turn-of-the-century apartment blocks, and the port with the huge medieval quarter behind it, once a notorious no-go area, but now cleaned up and fascinating to wander around. There are several art galleries (though I found only a few compelling pictures), dozens of little squares dominated by palaces and churches (mostly combining Romanesque facades with perfect baroque interiors), and hundreds of places to eat the local snacks - foccaccia, a kind of soft, deep pizza (not at all like the soggy bread sold here under this name); and farinata, a thin salty pancake made with chick-pea flour. You can have a substantial carbohydrate lunch for about 50p.
 
This is not a must-see Italian city, like Florence or Siena; but it is a very interesting place to spend a week, a working town rather than a tourist spectacle, yet with its own very proud and interesting history and local culture. Its startling geographical situation - it occupies a strip of flat land by the sea and the steep hillsides rising above this - makes it quite easy to find your way around. To the east, the riviera ponente, there are attractive sea-side resorts, famous for their temperate micro-climates. Further on is Rapallo, and then the Cinque Terre. Inland northwards, a small private railway runs into the mountains. Milan is only an hour-and-a-half away by train, so a visit to the Brera gallery might be a possibility one afternoon.
 
A Door to Italy...
There were only four of us learning Italian in November 2004 (the school is crowded out with students in the summer). My three colleagues were a Korean would-be design student, a Russian girl with amazing shoes, and a Brazilian doctor.
 
We were split into two groups - I was with Stefano, the Korean - for a three-hour morning session with a short break, every day for five days. Generally during this session we would have a change of teacher; as we flagged, they were regenerated. Classes - all in Italian - involved grammatical points, going through exercises in the school's own work-book, and a great deal of conversation and listening. My avoidance of those slippery little pronouns (ne, ci, gli, etc.) was quickly diagnosed, and became a focus for the class, and for the compiti that we had to do for the next day (not particularly onerous, but still a bit testing).
 
I found this an exhausting regime, and usually retired to rest my ankle for some of the afternoon, emerging to sight-see in the evening. However, by the end of the week, I felt much more confident with my spoken Italian (though still avoiding the pronouns) - and several people have commented on the improvement since. This is why I am going back. The intensive small-class experience - three hours of listening and speaking every day, and being corrected - wrought a strong effect. In March there should also be very few of us studying at the school.
 
 
Accommodation

I stayed in a 'bed-and-breakfast'. I had a decent clean room in a large flat owned by Signora Renata Vallese. When her children had left home, she converted all her spare rooms for use by paying guests. There were washing facilities in two large bathrooms. As well as a set breakfast, guests had the use of her kitchen in the evening.
The advantages of this arrangement were many:
cheapness;
the self-catering aspect;

extra Italian conversation with Renata, who was usually in her kitchen too, and has promised the school not to practise her English on guests;
   
The main disadvantages of the bed-and-breakfast can easily be summed up:
lack of privacy: in particular, sharing bathroom and washing facilities.
 
In the event, the only other guest (the Russian student) went to bed and got up later than me, so our ablutions did not coincide. However, I can imagine if the flat had been full, shuffling down the corridor in order to rattle at a bathroom door -perhaps several times in the morning - might present a great frustration.
 
For myself, the advantages of the bed-and-breakfast outweighed the lack of en-suite bathroom, once I had got used to padding about in my dressing-gown, and I will hope to stay there again.
 
The language school has made potential arrangements with a whole range of hotels of different standards and facilities, some of which I looked at. You could stay in the resort of Nervi and commute by train, or at a city-centre Best Western hotel, or in a small new hotel on the other side of Genoa, a short bus journey away. If you are interested in joining a Learn Italy group, then please contact me to indicate what kind of accommodation you might like, and I will try to find something suitable.
 
Social activities
The school will offer some social activities, such as guided tours of the nearby ancient town centre. My plan is that if there is a group of us, we can meet as we see fit to eat together, or visit places, enjoy a film, or whatever takes our fancy. During the chosen week Bellini's Norma is on offer at the Teatro Carlo Felice, which I will certainly want to see if tickets are available.
 
Guideline prices, excluding flights:
Until I know exactly what kind of accommodation you would like, and what is available, the three different guideline prices below (all for a single person) are approximate, but all include the following:
one week standard course at A Door to Italy - between 15 and 20 hours in all, at your appropriate level;
transfers between Genoa airport and your accommodation;
Plus six nights in a 'bed and breakfast':
  c. £400
or six nights in a new three-star hotel, not central:   c. £520
or six nights in a central two-star hotel:   c. £660
or six nights in a three-star central Best Western hotel:   c. £720
 
Notes on 13-19 March 2005 Italian language study week
 
I never got to Norma, unfortunately; the school organised a trip to see a Pirandello play, which I signed up for, only to realise later that this was on the one evening on which I could have seen the opera.
 
This also was a very successful week from my point of view, and also for the small Learn Italy group who joined me in Genoa (a very small group indeed: one person). No twisted ankles, but equally balmy weather.
 
The classes were larger than in November - five of us at the start of the week, and eight by the end. But this is still a small enough number for everyone to be fully engaged in the conversation and question and answer sessions that always form a large part of the four hours of classroom activity.
 
I continued to stay in the bed-and-breakfast, which was very satisfactory. My fellow student chose to be in a two-star hotel in a pedestrian street about a hundred yards from the language school, which she chose for its location, and found perfectly adequate. If anyone would like an objective account of how she found her week at A Door to Italy, she would be prepared to discuss the matter on the phone, and I can supply her name and phone number.
 
I shall go again in autumn, and have pencilled in the week of 6 to 12 November for this purpose. Anyone who would like to join me for this week, or would like to study Italian in Genoa at some other time of year, please do get in touch, so that I can start organising things: martin.gray9@btopenworld.com or 01865 860984.
 

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