Sustainability, Heritage & Creativity in the Italian Alps

I would choose our semester program "Sustainability, Heritage & Creativity in the Italian Alps." We designed it as a unique learning experience for students who want to combine the advantages of an independent program with solid academics. Our courses are accredited in the US and are taught by local instructors with international experience and graduate degrees. In our classes we explore the uniqueness of Alpine Italy delving into topics of burning importance in today's world, ranging from environmental issues to the shaping of communities' identities.

Applied knowledge is a pillar of our approach, and we facilitate the learning of practical skills through laboratories, meetings and group works, in collaboration with local institutions and organizations. In addition, the opportunity to live in the capital city of the region, Trento, allows students to access all the services of a mid-size Italian college town, internationally renowned for its safety and quality of life.

My wife Manola and I started Dolomit in 2014 as the result of a long personal and professional journey. We are both natives of Alpine Italy and we met when we were college students in Trento. For about a decade we mostly lived abroad, as graduate students in the US who were also doing research in Latin America and Europe.

Our love for our homeland and the conviction that our international background could help make it a great destination for international students are at the bottom of the Dolomit project. Our intuition proved correct when we were able to kick-start our adventure successfully hosting our first group of students just after a few months.

As a family enterprise rooted in a specific area, we can combine easy-going relations among us and with our collaborators with total dedication to our programs and, above all, the students who choose us. A small, dedicated team that takes decisions swiftly and runs operations resolutely is able not only to make the specific aspects of the Italian Alps interesting and relevant for an international audience of students, but also to take constant care of the well-being of our guests.

Since we all have first-hand experience of what it means to study abroad, we are aware that a meaningful international learning experience requires a combination of successful elements, ranging from providing quality teaching to facilitating the adjustment to every-day life in a foreign setting.