A typical Italian high schooler’s stack of books. Dictionaries not pictured.
Back to School, il rientro/ritorno a scuola
- Gain insight into back-to-school culture in Italy
- Learn about Italian elementary schools
- Get some useful tips and tricks for expat parents
- Add some key Italian “school words” to your vocabulary
- Read about a hot debate sparked by the choice made by a small elementary school in Apulia
First things first, back to school happens later here in Italy than in the majority of US States. While I write this, Florence is fairly empty, there is little traffic, and people are definitely still at the beach. It’s hot here!
So, while the start date varies from region to region and public vs. private, I’ll speak to the public school experience in Tuscany which this year begins on September 16 (pre-school starts at the beginning of the month and runs through the end of June).
But school doesn’t really begin on September 16. In the bel paese we ease slowly back into the rhythm of the school year. Hence, depending on the school and grade, the first week you have just a few hours a day, then maybe half days the second week, and finally the mensa (cafeteria) kicks in. Things are usually in full swing by the end of the month. Classes end on June 10.
I won’t get into too much of the nitty gritty here, but if you are interested in gaining an even deeper understanding of la scuola elementare, I speak in a podcast episode about my personal experience when Giada was in elementary school and how extremely fortunate I was to find an amazing group of parents, a real community, people who truly helped each other in very concrete ways. I took a very active role in that community by being the rappresentante di classe.
No paparazzi on my first day of school, please.
The rappresentante di classe
Notwithstanding my crazy work schedule and the fact that I was a divorced expat mom with very little free time on my hands, I was, year after year, elected the rappresentante di classe. No Italian in their right mind wants to be the rappresentante di classe. I would be running upstairs to drop something off with the teachers and then hightailing it to get to the office in time, and would warmly shout buona giornata (have a nice day!) to the group of fellow (and far more intelligent) parents that had convened at a nearby pasticceria for cappuccino and pastries.
The rappresentante di classe is such an Italian thing, and the closest equivalents I can find are class parent or parent teacher liaison. Man, it was a ton of work, but I loved being so involved in Giada’s school, knowing all the teachers, parents and kids so well. The rappresentante di classe, especially at the elementary school level, does a lot.
I attended meetings and then communicated the minutes to the parents, was made aware of teacher strikes in advance, organized events, bought snacks and supplies (parents were asked to contribute supplies like toilet paper, hand soap, paper, paper towels), collected money for field trips and gifts for the teachers, sold lottery tickets, and even got involved in heated debates on the lunch (pranzo) menu and merende (snacks). It is true that the cafeteria food in Italy is quite good, and parents get a really cute calendar at the beginning of the school year with the menu for the entire year. I hung it proudly in our kitchen. It’s seasonal, well-balanced and healthy, but it’s still cafeteria food so keep that in mind. One pays for the mensa based on family income; there is no cost if one’s income is below a certain threshold.
When Giada was small, and I’d ask her how her day had gone, one of the first things she would tell me is what she had eaten for lunch. But I, of course, already knew because I had the calendario.
I finally took a break from being the rappresentante in her final year of elementary school, only to get hooked back into it for her three years of middle school (but there were four of us sharing the role, it was during Covid), and when she began high school I finally came to my senses and officially retired.
Menu example, a week in September at pre-k and primary schools in Borgo San Lorenzo, a small town outside of Florence. Special accommodations are always made for religious reasons, allergies, and dietary restrictions.
Cancelleria (school supplies)
Giada and I have always gone to the US every summer since she was born, and we both get really excited and load up on school supplies the minute those back to school signs go up. The prices are lower, the selection greater, and, well, Target doesn’t exist here.
That doesn’t mean we skip school supply shopping in Italy. Anything office, school or stationery-related is an eccellenza Italiana as far as I’m concerned.
“Back to school” shopping is a marketing buzz term here, too so you’ll easily find everything you need. Just keep in mind that elementary school teachers will have strict requirements on what kind of quaderni (notebooks), copertine (book covers), pencils (matite), pens (penne), etc. your child will need, so be sure to bring only a few basics — a diario (agenda), a notebook, pen and pencils — on the first day and wait until you get an official list from the teacher.
You can purchase school supplies, zaini (backpacks), pencil cases (astucci), and the like at any neighborhood cartoleria (stationery store) and national chains like Giunti, Legami and Feltrinelli also sell stuff.
Thankfully, 99 cent stores and Flying Tiger also have ample selections of art and school supplies with budget-friendly prices.
I have always done everything through the supermarket, and that seems like a very Italian thing to me. It works quite well, the prices are competitive, and they carry everything. I can also order all of Giada’s school books online in advance and I get all sorts of points and bonuses that I can also use as contributions to local schools.
Back to School at my local Esselunga supermarket
On the grembiule (the smock)
I recently read a newspaper article about the fact that one grammar school in Apulia is requiring that all students wear a gender-neutral grembiule, the smock that Italian kids don for all of elementary school (there is clemency in the final year). The article, in Italian, profiles how the school, the Istituto Comprensivo Salice Salentino-Guagnano, is actively combatting gender stereotypes by adopting grembiuli unisex.
The Puglia Region is very much on board, so much so that they want to see gender-neutral smocks region wide, citing The EU Gender Equality Strategy whose policy objectives and actions are to make significant progress by 2025 towards a gender-equal Europe.
Grembiuli are an iconic feature of Italian children’s early school years, I saved one of my daughter’s, it’s tucked away with other treasures from her childhood.
They are typically gendered, either by color, their collars, or by the embroidered figures that adorn them. They are an important piece of Italian culture and, perhaps unsurprisingly, this one school, in the heel of Italy, with their choice of a mint green and white checked smock (see below), that speaks to equality and inclusivity, has sparked a national debate.
