Ciao a tutti...
I am planning on moving to Italy around Sept/Oct.
I am looking for a place to study Italian for about 6 weeks as I am a little out of practise!
I bought a book on Learning Italian in Italy at the weekend and am unsure as to whether to attend a private language school or a SDA. Has anybody attended a SDA? What are your thoughts?
There are so many options, it is making it hard to make a definite decision!!
I had chosen a school but this book lists the top 200 "schools" and the one that I had chosen (from the internet) is not in it!
Any advice would be much appreciated!!

Welcome (in advance) Carrieb-
The best thing you could do is let us know where exactly you'll be moving to. In my experience, Italian language schools don't advertise as well as they should, so word of mouth is important. Also, check to see if there is a CTP school in your district (Centro Territoriale Permanente). If you search CTP on this site, you'll find a thread about and a link to a site about these schools. They're state-run, you can start lessons any time, and Italian classes are super-cheap. And be aware that a lot of books listing the "top" something (wines, B&Bs, schools...) are collections of paid listings. In boca al lupo.

Is Siena what you're looking at? I once worked for SDA's sister school, the British School of Siena: we were under the same roof, owned and operated by the same person. SDA seemed to me to be your typical Italian language school in the sense they got a lot more than they gave, and there was a lot of fun, fluffy stuff, like cooking and aerobics (which may be the reason these schools aren't taken seriously by authorities for study visas). I think it may have changed hands by now, so my info is for sure outdated.

You might want to check out the Università per Stranieri di Siena (can't find a link right now) which might be more impressive.

Meanwhile, you might want to have a look at this, as it is geared to get you past the hype:

http://italian.about.com/cs/languageschools/bb/register.htm

Thanks a million for the replies.
I am not sure about where I'll be moving to - I am trying to pick a good school and hope that it's in an area that I could find work in afterwards.
I have a TEFL certificate but would also be interested in working in a restaurant or hotel.
I am looking into the Uni per Stranieri also.
Will have a look at the link.

Does anyone know about the Saena Iulia in Siena, italy? There's also a Dante Alighieri scool... I am not an expat at the moment but will be traveling to Siena in the summer to study Italian language and would like some help selecting a school.