The Italian classes I’ve taken with Davide are effective and have truly helped me to understand the Italian language.  I am now entering my 3rd class with Davide, and looking forward to even more immersion and experience with speaking Italian.  The homework and Yabla assignments really push me to want to do my best and incorporate all the language I have learned so far.  I’m looking forward to going back to Italy and using my new skills!  Davide has a teaching style that is easy-going, yet effective for making the labor of learning a new language enjoyable.  He mixes in interesting facts, and modern-day information since he grew up speaking Italian and has spent much of his life in Italian homes. It’s greatly appreciated the care he takes in preparing every lesson, and the attention he provides to very student in the classroom!

Let me tell you how pleased I am to have found Davide Valenti and Valenti Lingua.  My husband and I have fallen in love with Italy. We travel there often and have even discussed living there one day.  The language is beautiful, melodic actually and I needed to learn how to speak it. Having taken IT 101 and 102 with Davide has given me the ability to learn vocabulary, sentence construction, present and past tense, and the ability to converse, read, and ask questions in a relaxed manner that is fun and challenging with a native speaker who is patient, kind and funny! There is homework,a text book and videos so that you can listen, read and review as much as you want to!  I am so thrilled to continue to IT103 and I will continue in the Valenti Lingua program as long as I can.

I will preface by saying that I had been wanting to take an Italian language course for several years. There was always a reason I could not take the class. When I discovered Valentilingua, and actually spoke to Davide about taking his class, he gave me the best advice I could have received. “If you really want to learn the language, now is the time to take the class!”

Davide is a wonderful, committed teacher. His love for the language and culture is apparent, and, he has inspired valuable friendships in his class!

In all honesty, it is the best thing I have done for myself (selfishly speaking) in a long time. If you are contemplating, all I can say is take the class. You won’t regret it!

I grew up speaking Italian but since moving away from my parents and living in AZ for the better part of 15 years my Italian had gotten “rusty”.  So when I was planning my parents 50th wedding anniversary party back East I wanted to brush up on my Italian so I could converse with family back home with ease.  I took individual lessons with Davide and he brought me up to speed very quickly.  He was able to assess my skill level quickly and able to tailor lessons to my ability and challenge me as well.  I would definitely take lessons with him again and wholeheartedly recommend him to anyone who would like to learn Italian.

People who are bi- or multi-lingual have always been a source of fascination to me, of admiration, and yes, of envy.  Some years ago I vowed to learn another language before I leave this earth, or at least to give it my best effort.  One of the greatest payoffs for learning languages is that people who know two or more ways of saying everything have a much higher chance of avoiding Alzheimers than those who don’t.

I chose Italian because of its beautiful musical sound and because I was eager to know what the singers were saying, but I had never taken a language course of any kind until I found myself, somewhat bewilderedly, in Davide’s advanced Italian class.  All of my fellow students had either heard the language in their childhood homes, or taken college courses, or started with the basics under Davide’s tutelage.  Some had even majored in Italian.

In short, my classmates were much further advanced than I, who had no background in the language at all, aside from meager attempts at self-teaching. Certainly I felt inadequate, but any negative emotion was of my own making, because I was never scolded for my many mistakes or belittled in any way. Davide has patience to spare, and I would wholeheartedly endorse his classes and teaching skill, with one caveat. Studying Italian can become addictive, and although we know that there are far worse addictions, be prepared to put aside that latest novel, Netflix, Twitter and Facebook.  Your “spare” time will become study time, and you will love it.

A classmate remarked to me, “You have to have a passion for it.”  Passion for the language was never in short supply for me, and it’s something you will soon share when you become one of Davide’s studenti.

I had been studying Italian on my own for a year or so and had hit a wall. Davide’s small group private classes have been perfect! Anyone who loves all things Italian and wishes to pursue learning the language should sign up for these classes. The small group allows us to practice speaking and listening to Italian as well as learn more advanced grammar. Davide is a very good instructor; he is well prepared, structures the classes, and he has a unique ability to explain the grammar to make it understandable.

Anticipating a once in a lifetime fall trip through Italy I decided to enroll in private Italian lessons. I have always enjoyed other cultures and languages and was very fortunate to have found Davide. Davide is an amazing human being and an extraordinary teacher. He’s a true professional yet always very patient and flexible. I truly benefited from his teaching method and pace and was amused by his sense of humor and charisma. He also taught me plenty of slang by personal request which was really entertaining and fun. After months of taking lessons with Davide, the day finally arrived. Once in Italy, I was able to put in use everything he taught me. From asking for directions to ordering at restaurants, I was able to communicate in Italian in every situation we encountered and enjoy the experience to the fullest.(by the way, wine definitely made my Italian much better). In many occasions, I got compliments by Italians on how good I spoke it. For instance, my Italian got us out of trouble one time when we forgot to validate our train tickets which normally would require a fine of 50 Euro. Thanks to my ability to communicate in Italian, we were able to explain how we did not know about it and got ourselves out of having to pay the fine. I highly recommend Davide, and I am honored to call him my teacher and also my friend.

In preparation for a trip to Italy my husband and I (both in our 60s) decided to take Italian lessons. We had never spoken a word of Italian beyond “ciao” and, as it turns out, we weren’t even pronouncing that properly. We looked for classes but couldn’t find any. Instead, we found Davide’s website and started taking lessons privately with him, twice a week. We are very glad it turned out that way. He tailors the lessons so that they focus on our specific goals – which are to be able to manage as tourists in Italy and to have basic conversations with the people we encounter there – and so that we move at a pace we are comfortable with. It has been a ton of fun. Davide is personable, patient, and has a great sense of humour. Although he is very well organized, he is quite prepared to adapt the lessons to our interests and questions. He is completely fluent and extremely knowledgeable about the language – and about Italian customs. And not only does he have a beautiful Italian accent, but he’s been able to teach us how to approximate it (sort of)! We have no hesitation in recommending Davide to anyone wanting to learn Italian – for whatever reason.