Europass Junior Summer Camp in Florence for Teenagers

The programme is built around a general Italian course for teenagers aged fourteen to seventeen. Students take four lessons of fifty minutes every weekday in classes of no more than twelve, and an assessment test on arrival places each participant at the right level. Complete beginners are accepted alongside students who already speak some Italian, and the teaching concentrates on speaking confidence rather than on grammar drills. Stays run from one week up to a full eight weeks, and lessons are timetabled in the morning or the afternoon depending on the month, with the leisure programme filling the other half of the day.

The published price covers tuition, accommodation with a host family, all meals, the welcome kit and learning materials, four organised leisure activities each week, a full-day weekend excursion, the assessment test, a certificate of attendance and a return transfer from the airport or a Florence station. There is no enrolment fee, and the provider allows free cancellation or rescheduling. A private bedroom and a gluten-free, vegan or lactose-free meal plan are available as paid extras.

Participants live with Italian host families in the centre of Florence, all of them known to the school over many seasons and selected for the way they look after younger guests. Teenagers normally share a bedroom with one or two other students of the same gender and a similar age, which makes the arrival easier for a first trip abroad alone; a private bedroom can be requested for a supplement. Families are told in advance about any dietary or medical need, and the school sends photographs of the accommodation before departure where the family has provided them.

All meals are included for the whole stay and are taken with the host family, which is also where most of the everyday Italian practice happens. Coffee, tea and snacks are available free of charge in the communal areas at the school between lessons. Vegetarian meals are arranged at no extra cost, while gluten-free, vegan and lactose-free plans are available as a paid option arranged with the family before arrival.

A different leisure activity is organised every afternoon or morning, four times a week: guided walking tours of the historic centre, sport sessions including swimming, volleyball and football, cooking classes and photography workshops. Each week also includes a full-day trip at the weekend, either to the Tuscan coast or to a nearby medieval city such as Pisa, Lucca or Siena. The activities are designed as language practice as much as recreation, so students use in the afternoon what they have covered in class.

Lessons take place in Palazzo Galletti, a neoclassical building in the heart of Florence a few steps from the Duomo and Piazza Santa Croce. The classrooms keep their original frescoed ceilings and are equipped with large screens and air conditioning. There are communal areas with complimentary snacks and drinks, free Wi-Fi throughout and a book loan service, and the school operates an emergency telephone line around the clock for students and parents.

The camp suits a teenager travelling abroad alone for the first time. Florence is compact, walkable and safe, the school sits inside the historic centre and the host family is a short distance away, so the daily routine stays simple. Classmates come from a range of countries, which makes Italian the common language from the first day, and the mix of lessons, afternoon activities and weekend trips leaves little empty time. Parents receive a certificate of attendance at the end and can reach the school outside office hours through the emergency line.