The little town of Agnone once had 8 bell foundries. This is in Molise, one of the smallest of Italy’s provinces – and the least known to tourists and Italians alike. Famed for top class copper work and for bells, today copper manufacture has declined to a few artisans, and bells to just one foundry. But the Fonderia Pontificia Marinelli is the oldest in the world, and the oldest continuing family business in Europe. In 1924 it was granted the Papal seal and today continues to create bells for the Vatican, and all over the world.

These proud artisans are my grandfather’s cousins and as I walk around the town today, I am casually introduced to a distant cousin or the son of a schoolmate of my grandfather’s. Ties are strong, and the Marinelli name important. As kids, we had been called to dinner by a hand-crafted Marinelli bell, and we first came on a visit from the US when I was 8. Our great Uncles were both Silesian priests, and as we were too many for the ancestral home, we children stayed in a large convent along the town walls where we ate fresh pasta and huge plates of artichoke hearts. I loved getting a drop of wine in my water glass.

When I went back in 2012 to stay with a cousin and learn some Italian, I was blown away. So completely off the beaten track, this is a historical, fascinating town - where no one speaks English. Having tried once to learn the language in Siena, I was thrilled to be forced to say everything in Italian! And, I felt like I belonged. I was not a tourist – I was living there.

I met delightful people with stories to tell and learned how to make fresh pasta and perfect artichoke hearts, my wineglass undiluted. I saw the ancient tradition of top class artisans continuing - producing some of Italy’s finest; cheeses, panettone, confetti ricci, copper, wrought iron, olive

oil, truffle products, and stonework. But this is not Tuscany, there is no fanfair – it is humble Molise: modest, simple, authentic. Up close and personal. I just knew I had to come back and share these treasures with mature students of the language. Live and Learn Italian was born.

We study, practice, listen and engage; visiting the ancient Sannite ruins, cooking with the locals, seeing family farms and discovering a community far from tourism. The holiday is inclusive: airport transfers, 30 hours of lessons, daily visits, talks & tours in Italian, half board meals, evenings at local festivals, events and film screenings.

7-days from €1250 (approx. $1330, £1067) 14-days from €2250 (approx. $2395, £1,930)

jenifer@liveandlearnitalian.com +447771 750 189 http://liveandlearnitalian.com