About the Italian American Academy

The Italian American Academy is a not-for-profit organization of parents and educators whose ultimate goal is to preserve and promote the Italian culture.

Founders Maria, Nicoletta and Rossella worked together at the Italian Cultural Center of San Diego. In 2009 they completed their graduate studies at the prestigious University of Venice obtaining a Master’s Degree in Italian Language and Promotion of Italian Culture Abroad. At the end of the program they co-wrote and published a thesis titled: “Comprehensive Plan for a Bilingual, Bi-Curricular School in San Diego”.

As educators and mothers of children in the k-5 bracket, they felt the need for a brand new type of school, one they would like their own children to attend. Soon the idea of a school harmoniously blending a rigorous European curriculum with the innovative American educational approach started blossoming in their minds. That’s when they started working at a comprehensive business plan where they applied the work done for their thesis to the San Diego County reality: an area with an extremely diverse population, the 8th most populated on a national scale, where there are full immersion bilingual schools in every language but Italian!