Italian Lessons in Swindon

Swindon grew up around the Great Western Railway, and I’ve always admired towns built by people who made things. I’m Laura, a native Italian teacher from Catania in Sicily, now living in Dursley in Gloucestershire, and for more than twenty years I’ve helped adults and young people learn Italian properly. My lessons are one-to-one and online over Microsoft Teams, so wherever you are in Swindon, we can meet on screen at a time that genuinely suits you.

Looking for an Italian tutor in Swindon? Lessons are one-to-one over Microsoft Teams, tailored to you — complete beginner, GCSE revision, holiday Italian or reconnecting with the family language. As a private Italian tutor I charge £30 an hour, with no travel time and no course-book padding: we spend the whole lesson actually speaking.

Learn Italian from anywhere in the UK with live online lessons taught by Laura — a native Italian speaker from Sicily with over 20 years’ teaching experience, fully qualified with QTS, a PGCE and the Cambridge CELTA.

How online lessons work

• Live video lessons — real conversation with a real teacher, not an app
• One-to-one tuition — £30/hour, scheduled around you, Monday to Friday
• Small group courses — £15 per 1.5-hour session, 10-week terms from £150
• Interactive materials — custom resources, BookWidgets and Kahoot activities, all provided

Who they’re for

• Complete beginners building the foundations
• Improvers and returners who want structured conversation practice
• Students preparing for IB Diploma, GCSE or A-level Italian examinations
• Anyone with Italian family, travel plans, or a love of the language

Every lesson is tailored to your goals and level. As a specialist SEN-trained teacher, Laura is particularly experienced at supporting learners who find languages daunting — and at making every session genuinely enjoyable.

Ready to start? Get in touch for a free chat about your level and goals, or meet Laura in her welcome video — wherever you are in the UK.

“Laura is a great teacher — warm, friendly, knowledgeable and encouraging. I really like the style of the lessons with a combination of conversation and worked exercises.”
— Jess  Read all my Google reviews →

Swindon’s Italian connection

Swindon’s Italian story is more than a century deep. In the 1950s, families from southern Italy made their way here for a better life as the town boomed — the years when Pressed Steel, Plessey and Garrard were hiring by the thousand — and by the mid-1960s the community was established enough to have its own Italian Centre in Park Lane.

The connection reaches back further still: during the Second World War, Italian prisoners of war were held at camps around the town, including Lydiard Park and out towards Wanborough, and many worked alongside local people on Wiltshire farms. And the heritage is still delicious today — Mario’s in Old Town has been serving Italian and Sicilian cooking since 1972. When Italy won the World Cup in 2006, Swindon’s Italians celebrated in the streets.

As a Sicilian, I love teaching in a town with a story like this. Whether your own family history runs through Italy or you simply want to order in perfect Italian on your next holiday, I’d be delighted to help you make the language your own.

Common questions

Do you teach in person in Swindon or online?

My Swindon lessons are online over Microsoft Teams. I’m based in Gloucestershire, not far along the road, but online teaching gives us far more choice of lesson times — and you can learn from your own kitchen table, with everything shared live on screen.

How much do Italian lessons cost?

One-to-one lessons are £30 an hour. My online beginners course runs for ten weeks and costs £150 — it starts Wednesday 16 September, 5.00 to 6.30pm, and I keep the group small so everyone gets real speaking practice.

Can complete beginners join?

Yes, always. You don’t need any Italian at all to begin — just an hour a week and a bit of curiosity. The ten-week beginners course starting in September is ideal as a first step, or we can begin one-to-one lessons whenever you like.

Does Swindon really have an Italian community?

Yes — families from southern Italy settled in Swindon in the 1950s during the town’s post-war engineering boom, and by the mid-1960s there was its own Italian Centre in Park Lane. You can still taste that heritage in Old Town, where Mario’s has served Italian and Sicilian food since 1972. Plenty of my students begin with family roots just like these.

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