RomaPolacchi

Located in an Art Nouveau villa near La Sapienza (Rome's university) and just a few Metro stops from the historic center, La Torre di Babele offers language courses ranging from intensive two week courses to long-term 24 week courses. They promise that at the end of a long-term course (12 weeks minimum), you will be fluent in Italian! They will even arrange for accomodations for you if you choose an intensive two-week course. The school, which is accredited by the Italian Ministry of Education, also offers cooking and cultural courses, and is an authorized examination center for international students seeking the certification which allows admission to Italian universities. The school comes highly recommended by Francesca Gaspari, director of the Italingua Institute in San Francisco and a Modern Traveler's Guide to Rome contributor.

If you are interested in learning Italian, it really is best to learn in a classroom setting until you can get to Italy. In San Francisco, the Italingua Institute offers classes in conversational Italian, Italian grammar, even Italian literature. The Institute also holds workshops on various topics of Italian culture such as cooking, film and politics. Their main campus is in San Francisco on Market Street, and their Berkeley campus is located on Center Street.