Aviano Middle High School seventh grader William Wolfe, left, interviews Rocco Brunetti of Scuola Media Italo Svevo on Dec. 13, 2024, during a cultural exchange at the school on Aviano Air Base in Italy. (Brian Erickson/Stars and Stripes)
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy — Students at a school on this U.S. base in northeastern Italy are once again making friends among their Italian peers through a nearly 50-year-old exchange program that has been revived following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Gemellaggi program, whose Italian name translates to “twinnings” in English,” brought more than 20 youngsters from Scuola Media Italo Svevo in Fontanafredda to Aviano Middle High School on Friday.
After the roughly 15-minute trip, the Italian seventh and eighth graders spent just over four hours with American counterparts who are learning their host country’s language.
The intent of the program is to bring the two cultures together for a shared experience, said Kristin Fisher, who teaches Italian at the Department of Defense Education Activity school.
The partnerships “are part of a continued collaboration to strengthen relationships between our school and the local Italian community,” Fisher said.
Arianna Rapoza, right, a seventh grader at Aviano Middle High School on Aviano Air Base in Italy, gives Italian student Martina De Nardi a tour of the school during a cultural exchange Dec. 13, 2024. (Brian Erickson/Stars and Stripes)
Aviano Middle High School has students in grades six through 12, and Italian classes are offered from seventh grade on up. The Gemellaggi program is open to any pupil learning Italian.
On Friday, the Aviano students started out by meeting their Italian peers, with whom they had been communicating since the beginning of the school year via letters, e-mail, social media and video conferences.
The Italian students then proceeded to follow the Americans around, witnessing a typical school day for the children of U.S. personnel in Aviano.
Seventh grader Arianna Rapoza said she had learned from her program partner that teachers in the Italian school change classrooms and the students stay put, whereas it’s the opposite for the Americans.
“I want to show them how our school works, how we switch classes, like we move, not the teachers,” Rapoza said.
Later, the students in both groups ate lunch together before the Italians headed back to their school.
Seventh grader William Wolfe said he had never even thought about making Italian friends while in Aviano, but he’s been doing just that thanks to his participation in Fisher’s class and the Gemellaggi program.
“I’m an extremely social person, so this is my type of thing,” Wolfe said.
Students from the Defense Department's Aviano Middle High School and Italy's Scuola Media Italo Svevo pose for a group photo Dec. 13, 2024, in front of the Aviano Air Base school. (Brian Erickson/Stars and Stripes)
The Americans’ reciprocal visit to the Italian school is planned to happen at some point in the spring.
Besides providing an opportunity to strengthen relationships, the program also gives both sides an opportunity to practice communicating in a foreign language, said Elena Zardini, the English teacher for Scuola Media Italo Svevo.
Fisher took over as the Italian teacher in 2006 and has been working with Zardini for at least a decade.
Over the past half-century or so, the Aviano Middle High School Italian program has conducted exchanges with over 30 schools from more than 10 cities, Fisher said.
She is hoping to eventually get the opportunity to coordinate joint trips to a common location like a nearby town, beach, farm, amusement park or some other fun destination so the two groups can share time outside of school.
