Raising Bilingual Bambini

A father’s memoir of preparing a dual-language household for a stint living abroad—and all of the ensuing challenges and rewards

After living in Modena, Italy, for three years, Eric Dregni and his wife, Katy, dreamed of returning one day—future children in tow—to give their kids the experience of living abroad. When they become parents, they decide to raise their children with a global perspective in a bilingual household: Katy speaking only English to them and Eric speaking only Italian.

Despite their extended family’s confusion about this experiment, they persist through their three kids’ childhoods, sending them to an immersion language camp and preparing them for life abroad. Eventually, the family packs up and moves to Florence, where the bambini can stop to see Michelangelo’s David on the way home from school, indulge in fresh pasta and gelato, and learn how to argue like real Italians. Sooner than anyone would like, three months of la dolce vita comes to an end, and they head back to Minnesota, trying to bring a taste of Italian culture home with them.

A fast-paced memoir/travelogue, Raising Bilingual Bambini is Dregni’s passionate testament to the value of an international perspective, his loving tribute to the family’s time together in Italy, and a bittersweet reflection on what it meant to return to Minnesota (until their trip to Sicily several years later). Writing with his signature humor and sincerity, Eric Dregni offers a heartfelt story about family and finding a home together in a new place.

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