7 Reasons NOT to Study in Italy

Sponsored by Università Vita Salute San Raffaele

If, like Liz Gilbert in her 2006 memoir Eat Pray Love, you really could do with a life-changing trip overseas to discover yourself (and all the culinary and artistic pleasures of il bel paese), you might want to consider studying abroad in Italy…

Or not, because stunning UNESCO sites, a cuisine universally acknowledged to be the most delicious known to mankind, and world-leading education truly sounds dreadful. Read on for seven reasons to abandon your dreams of studying abroad in lo stivale.

1. You might run the risk of becoming bilingual.

While you should be able to find a course taught in English in Italy, your university will help you acclimatize and learn Italian. The Università Vita Salute San Raffaele, for instance, runs two degrees taught in English (the international MD program and MA in cognitive Psychology in Health Communication), but also offers Italian language classes to help you pick up the local tongue faster. What a drag.

2. You’d become too employable for your own good.

Studying at a prestigious Italian university will in all likelihood increase your chances of getting snapped up by a top recruiter in Italy or your home country. If you play your cards well, your degree abroad could be a real career-booster and make your résumé stand out from the pile(s) of other applications HR managers have to assess. You’ll become more culturally aware and tolerant, while also picking up highly valued transferable skills such as problem-solving and adaptability. But who wants a job anyway?  

3. There are too many UNESCO sites in Italy.

With 51 world heritage sites recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Italy is ‘Riccardo Scamarcio meets Monica Bellucci’ beautiful. From the Mediterranean cliffs of Costiera Amalfitana to the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, which houses Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting ‘The Last Supper’, there’s plenty to see in Italy, and that’s just such a bummer.

4. Your Instagram followers would start to resent you.

You’re a really compassionate person, and you truly care about the morale and wellbeing of your Instagram followers. Bombarding your friends’ news feeds with snaps of your study sessions in the shade of Italian pines and the sun, or your many delicious meals, is just not cool, man. Also, you don’t dig beauty and happiness. It’s just not what you’re into.

5. Your taste buds aren’t prepared to indulge in the world’s best cuisine.

Italians are better at life, and not just because they add a dollop of ice cream to their morning coffee (affogato). If you type ‘why is Italian food so good’ into Google, you’ll be directed to 24,500,000 search results. Clearly, no one knows the answer, and the polemic rages on – but you’re not interested.

6. You’d be at the height of fashion and art – and the thought is simply unbearable.

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that many Italians like to make la bella figura, and so it’s no surprise that Italian fashion, like its universities, is world-renowned. From Roberto Cavalli to Prada, not to mention Moschino or Fendi, Italian brands tend to dominate the fashion landscape. Milan, the quadrilatero della moda, home to Milan Fashion Week and the Università Vita Salute San Raffaele, is generally regarded as the world capital of fashion. Meh.

7. You’d gain world-leading education and career support – and that’s against your ethos.  

With 28 Italian universities featured in the QS World University Rankings® 2016-2017, Italy must be doing something right… One among the horde of highly reputed Italian universities, the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele is ranked among the world’s best institutions for medicine, in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2016! But you’re against prestigious universities as a matter of principle.