Parliamo! Free Italian Conversation Fridays at IIS

Practice your Italian, meet new people, and spend an informal Friday evening in Italian at Istituto Italiano Scuola.
About this Event

Our students often tell us they would love more opportunities to speak Italian outside the classroom.

So this fall, IIS is launching Parliamo!, a new series of free, informal Italian conversation meetups at our North Beach location.

There is no lesson plan, no textbook, no homework, and no formal instruction. Just come by, meet other people who are learning Italian, and enjoy some relaxed conversation in Italian.

The meetups are open to IIS students and anyone in the wider community who would like to practice their Italian.

All levels are welcome.

You do not need to attend every session: join us for one, a few, or all.

Fall 2026 Dates

• Friday, October 2
• Friday, October 16
• Friday, November 13
• Friday, December 4

6:30–7:30 pm PT

Participation is FREE.

Registration is required.

Space is limited to 15 participants per session.

Meet Your Conversation Host

The gatherings will be hosted by Lorenza Cappellato, a native Italian speaker from Rome currently spending six months in the Bay Area as a visiting PhD researcher at UC Berkeley.

Lorenza is pursuing a PhD in hydraulic engineering and has lived between Rome and London.

Fluent in both Italian and English, she joined the IIS community while in San Francisco with the goal of meeting people, volunteering, and helping create more opportunities for Italian conversation and community building.Lorenza will help welcome participants and keep the conversation flowing, but

N. B. Parliamo! is not an Italian class.

The idea is simply to create a friendly space where people can use the Italian they already know, meet fellow Italian enthusiasts, and enjoy being part of the IIS community.

Come for the Italian. Stay for the conversation.

This event is free, but if you’d like to support IIS and help us continue offering programs like Parliamo!, optional donations are always warmly appreciated.

Your can make a donation here: Support us | SFIIS