Pre-schools in Italy???

I see 16 people have had a look at my post, but I have no comments???Looking forward to your recommendations on pre-schools in and around Italy. Regards,Tammy...x

Hi Tammy, I think the reason so many people have looked and not commented is because Italy varies so much from region to region (even comune to comune) that you'll probably only get some advice once you narrow down your geographical search. If you're thinking of Tuscany, I would say that is in Central Italy so this might be confusing people. Do you mean Northern Italy or Central Italy (Tuscany/Umbria/Marche)? Maybe Abruzzo is even in Central Italy too (Abruzzese - are you?).Also, Italians aren't big on websites. You might find some places have a rudimentary website that might not work and almost certainly won't have prices. It is changing but researching things via the web is only of limited use because the use of the internet is so behind most countries like the UK and US.Maybe if you make a list of the actual towns that you are thinking of then people might be able to give more specific advice

pre school education is in fact famous in the area of reggio emilia.even the swedish government sent commissions to "study" their activities they have set unrivalled standards of excellence ( and i'm referring to public structures not private education) however and unfortunately this is not the case over most of the country,where in many areas there is a gross shortage of pre schools or others which are little more than parking lots for infants...some years ago i was involved in an initiative of the company i then worked for in italy (Lego) and was able to witness personally these great institutions.

What age is your child? Kids don't normslly start school here until they are 6. But there is a pre school system,called the Azilo (Azelo?), in most communé, where 3 to 6 year olds can attend. It's a type of hybrid between a montessori and junior infants in a primary school as we know it.Our soon to be 5 year old has been going to the local Azilo since January and has just started his second term on schools reopening in september. He loves it!  

The name is 'asilo' and most Comunes have their own system which will consist of the 'Asilo Nido' (creche) for babies from 3 months to 3years and then the 'Asilo Materna' for 3 to 5 year olds. Then all children at 6 go to the 'scuola media' up to 11 years - unless they fail any years schooling in which case they stay back and repeat the year...  That is followed by the 'scuola secondaria' and the same system applies until the child finishes their education at 16 or continues to further education.But back to the 'asilo's'. The state run ones are very good but also very full... The child can (usually) be left anytime between 0730 and 1800 Monday to Friday. They will be cared for and provided with a cooked meal (usually pasta, main course and fruit) every day and a merendina in the afternoon. They are looked after by qualified childrens carers/teachers. The monthly cost is usually free and any 'extras' will be set by the Comune and so can vary from place to place. Some places also have 'church asilo's' whish are run by nuns - these are very good too. www.justlanded.com/english/Italy/Italy-Guide/Education/Pre-school-education Here is a list of all the state run schools - region by region - to give you some idea of what is available throughout Italy. www.tuttitalia.it/scuole/     N.B. I am only au fait with the asilo system in the Milan area because my niece has 'taught' at an asilo nido for the past 28 years.   

 Don't want to confuse you, the Italian school system is:Asilo nido (also called scuola materna) 2 1/2 - 5 1/2-6 years (they do have a pre-school programme, mainly the last year preparing them for the scuola primaria, even though this is not compulsory parents are recommended to let their children participate in the last year in order to prepare them for the elementary school ).

• first cycle consisting of:
  • la scuola primaria (o scuola elementare), lasts 5 years;
  • la scuola secondaria di primo grado (or scuola media inferiore), lasts 3 years;
• second cycle, lasts 4 or 5 years :
  • la Scuola secondaria di secondo grado (o scuola media superiore), covering liceo,  istituti tecnici, istituti professionali and istituti d'arte;

... OK let's take your question seriously .... there must be a thousand answers to this question but here's just one ....the area around Umbertide, Perugia is quite the most beautiful part of Italy I have seen so far.There is a good (?) ex-pat community here so masses of local playmates to get to know... for you too.The school at Lisciano Niccone has the nicest teachers you could imagine and I think you can do scuola materna there and carry on from there... our 7 year old now goes to a sweet little school in Preggio and to Lisciano Niccone twice a week.Private pre pre-school Italian lessons are easy to arrange.The local airport is Perugia - half an hour away -    You won't see any of this on the web  but if you want to do a recce here PM me.

Hi Tammy - can you please tell me where you ended up sending your child(ren) to school?  My wife and I are thinking about spending 3 months in Italy (possibly tuscany, but we're flexible) and want to know whether it's possible to get our 5-year-old and/or our 2-year-old into any kind of school (we're fine paying for a private school, we just want somewhere to send the kids for a few hours a day).  Would love to know what you ultimately decided to do.  Thanks!!

so interesting