This school year, Wayne Valley’s Italian Class is crossing into uncharted territory: a school field trip to Italy. Over the week-long spring break in April, Professor Iannacco and 18 Italian students from Italian 2, 3, 4, and 5 will be embarking on a journey among different cities in Italy; three students’ families will also join them. Although Iannacco has done this trip around ten times, this will be her first time doing so at Wayne Valley. 

The Italian students are headed to Rome, Vatican City, Siena, Florence, Venice, and Murano. Each of these cities has something unique to offer. Rome has the beautiful Colosseum, Vatican City has the Vatican, Siena has the Palazzo Pubblico, Florence has the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Venice has stunning waterways, and Murano has the unique art of glass making. Professor Iannacco visits these specific cities because they can be considered as some of the “art” cities of Italy. Iannacco explains, “I promote the fact that people who want to discover a country should start one area at a time, fully explore that area, and then move on to another section. You waste a lot of time traveling if you go over a super wide area in a short time.”

Iannacco believes that traveling is extremely beneficial for students, especially those who are learning a new language. In her Italian classes, Iannacco emphasizes details about Italian culture: its art, food, and history. By traveling to Italy, her students are exposed to all of the culture they have heard so much about, and now, they have the opportunity to experience it first-hand. “Traveling is so beneficial towards human development because you are confronted with other people that think differently and express themselves and their culture differently,” Professor Iannacco comments. “The benefit of actually being exposed as a person to this kind of environment makes you acquire knowledge that it would take much longer to acquire in a classroom.” 

Not only does she believe in the importance of traveling, but Iannacco also emphasizes the importance of learning languages. She herself knows numerous languages, including Italian and English. She comments that learning a language is a way to train your brain to think in a new, different way. She believes that Italian is also a beneficial language to know because of its status as a Romance language, meaning that it descends from classical Latin. Therefore, it has connections to many other languages–including French and Spanish. The Latin roots are also useful because of the Latin terms used in many popular career fields, such as medicine. 

While she hopes that her students excel in learning the Italian language, Iannacco also wants her students to become fascinated with Italian culture and Italy’s role in history such as Italy’s influence during the Renaissance. This trip, she believes, will allow her students to become more connected to Italy and inspire students to want to learn more about both the language and the country. Moreover, Iannacco hopes that this trip will inspire Wayne Valley to plan similar field trips for more than the language courses. Her vision includes the art, history, food, and literature programs in the school. Iannacco believes that “the limits are endless.”