I have been learning Italian with Davide for several months, and can highly recommend him if you are serious about learning Italian quickly.  I had been trying to learn Italian since high school with little success.  I tried Rosetta Stone, podcasts, books and classes, but although I could memorize vocabulary and grammar rules, I couldn’t put it all together into a real conversation.  That’s were Davide comes in.  I have been taking weekly one-on-one lessons for several months and can now understand Italian movie dialog, newscasts, read newspapers and magazines, and am able to have basic conversations.  Davide tailored the lessons to my problem areas, sometimes focusing on pronunciation, or grammar or vocabulary.  He assigns homework that is a mix of listening, reading, writing, and memorizing.  We use stories, movies, and textbooks in the lessons, so it isn’t just working through a textbook.  It makes a big difference to have a trained educator and native speaker to track your progress.  Also, I was initially hesitant to sign up for one-on-one lessons because I thought it might be high-pressure or stressful, but these lessons are just the opposite, it is very low-key and relaxed, and Davide is always patient even if he needs to explain the same thing several times.  I am making much more progress than I thought I was capable of, and I’m sure it’s due to Davide’s teaching process.

I began meeting with Davide four years ago for private tutoring lessons after completing two years of Italian at Scottsdale Community College. I study Italian because it provides me with a challenge unrelated to my everyday job of practicing law. It forces me to utilize parts of my brain that otherwise would become stagnate. Working one on one with Davide requires me to truly learn the language. Unlike in a classroom setting, there is no other student you can hide behind nor can you pray that you won’t be called on in class because you are the class.

What I especially enjoy about my weekly lessons is that I have no special skill with languages. Every session compels me to study long and hard and I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I avoid making a total fool of myself.

Davide is an extremely skilled tutor and I especially appreciate that Davide grew up speaking Italian and therefore speaks it naturally. I intend on studying with Davide until I become completely fluent in Italian which at the current rate means we will be working together until the end of the century.