Lancaster’s Italian Society was officially established in October 2021, but had begun informal meetings six months prior.
The society was created with two main purposes in mind: to connect and unite Italian students abroad, and to include people interested in Italian culture and language, whether that’s generally or as part of their degree.
Currently, there are 8.16 million people learning Italian on Duolingo making it the 7th most popular language in the world. Globally, there are 61.8 million speakers of Italian, so it’s no surprise such a large society has been formed on campus.
The founders of the LU Italian Society are now third year students. Having started university during the Pandemic, they faced a lot of difficulties connecting with their fellow Italian students. So, they decided to create a community for Italians studying at Lancaster, in hopes of making them feel less isolated.
As we have been through it ourselves, we know how stressful and daunting it is to move abroad, away from your family and friends.
ITALIAN SOCIETY SPOKESPERSON
The society aims to offer a welcoming environment to ease the cultural transition from Italy to the UK, revolving a lot of their events around food and socialising.
Currently, they are sponsored by multiple restaurants in Lancaster, offering Aperitives, buffets, pizza nights and brunches to their members.
They also host football matches for team and sports events,. They are currently in the quarter finals for the Lancaster World Cup. They will be playing against France this Saturday at 1:30pm at the university’s 3G pitch.
Events like these advertised on the society’s vibrant Instagram account which is packed with upcoming socials, occasionally promoting collaborations with other language societies such as LU French and Spanish societies respectively.
This society promotes themselves as being open to non-Italians and non-native speakers too, so if you want to find out more about the language and culture, make sure to head down to one of their events.
