Private lessons
Latin, Italian, history and study skills, for middle school, upper secondary school and university. Online or in person in Milan, with a tenured teacher of Italian and Latin. The first meeting is free.
Method before marks
The problem is rarely effort: it is method. Students study for hours and get little back because they have no procedure to follow.
I am a tenured teacher of Italian and Latin at a secondary school in Milan, with a PhD in Romance philology; I have been teaching for fifteen years. Every week I set and mark tests, Latin translations and essays, so I know exactly where marks are lost. Lessons start from there.
For Latin I use a visual method. Every sentence is taken apart in colours: first the verb, then whoever performs the action, then the subordinate clauses, one at a time. Translation stops being guesswork and becomes a procedure that can be checked step by step. The dictionary comes last, to choose the right word, not to look for a way out.
Caesar, cum id nuntiatum esset, maturat ab urbe proficisci.
- 1 · verb
- 2 · subject
- 3 · subordinate clause
- 4 · complements
“When this was reported to him, Caesar hastened to set out from Rome” (adapted from Caesar, De bello Gallico, I, 7).
The same principle applies to Italian. For text analysis I teach a stable procedure: paraphrase, structure, figures, context, interpretation. It works for a poem by Montale as well as for a page of Manzoni, and it holds up in the first written paper of the maturità. For essays we work on the outline and the argument before drafting, because that is where an essay succeeds or fails.
The method in two minutes, on YouTube (in Italian). The voice in the video is synthetic.
What I teach
Seven courses, each with its own listing on Superprof, where lessons are booked and reviews can be read.
Latin
Translation, syntax and method, from the first year of liceo to the final exam and university exams. We start from a marked translation, and every lesson ends with a passage to hand in.
Italian
Grammar, text analysis, essay writing. For students in their final year, mock first papers marked with the ministry’s grid and a preparation calendar through June.
History, philosophy and the humanities
Tutoring, preparation for oral tests and exams, setting up a thesis, with a PhD who also works as a historian.
Homework and study skills
We start from the school diary and the week’s deadlines. Part of every session is devoted to method: reading a textbook, taking notes, building a useful map, preparing for an oral test.
Students with specific learning differences
Tools chosen from the student’s personalised learning plan and built together with them: maps, high-legibility texts, audio, colour for sentence structure. Diagnosis and therapy remain with health professionals.
Italian as a foreign language
Tailored courses for professionals and international students: conversation, the language of Italian workplaces, preparation for the CILS, CELI and PLIDA certificates. Explanations in English or French when useful.
How a lesson works
- We start from real work. A marked test or a recent essay, not generic exercises: it is the quickest way to see where marks are lost.
- Every session ends with a task. A translation, a text, an exercise, which I mark in writing before the next lesson.
- Before tests, mock tests. With real timings and on the kind of paper the teacher has announced. For students who need to recover a failing grade, I set a calendar up to the end-of-term assessment.
Fees and terms
the first meeting, 30 minutes on video call
an hour, Latin, Italian and history
a 10-hour package (€140 for 5 hours)
Lessons last 60 or 90 minutes. The fee is the same online and in person; home visits add €5 for travel. Packages are paid in advance and used at whatever pace suits; lessons can be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours before. Online lessons use a shared whiteboard, and the materials stay with the student.
I do not give private lessons to students of the schools where I teach.
Getting started
The simplest way is to write to me from the Superprof listing for the subject you need: that is where the free first meeting is booked and the reviews can be read. You can also contact me directly, on WhatsApp or at danilo@daniloaprigliano.it, saying which year you are in, the subject and your latest test.
Related work that lives elsewhere: teacher training on artificial intelligence, free teaching materials to download, the full profile and the curriculum (in Italian).