Day 14 - School Visit 1

Today was about visiting some Italian schools and getting a sense of the differences between schooling in Italy and Australia, and finding common ground. We met at a bus stop again. Alas, it wasn't on Don Gnocchi street, but we were all keen to have a sticky beak at Italian schools.

The first school we visited was Bonafus Agricultural College. On the outskirts of Chieri, which places it in a rural zone, the focus of this school is to teach the skills necessary for the agricultural industries in that region. While some of the classroom facilities were spartan, the vineyards and wine-making facilities were very good. We were given a tour of these facilities by some of the students, which was a very nice touch.

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Bonafus Agricultural School - it looks like a set from The Walking Dead but the teachers are achieving some good outcomes

Entering Bonafus

Cutting edge technology

Twenty-first century laboratory

One of the many vineyards in Bonafus, maintained in partnership with the University of Turin

Our time there ended with a soccer match against the local students. While there were some solid performances by the St Joseph's students, and some surprise individual efforts, our team, coached valiantly by Mr Quinn, ended up going down to the Year 9 group we played by the slim margin of 10-1.

The follow up game against the Year 12 equivalents (there were some monsters in that team, with virtually full beards, and I wouldn't be surprised to find that one or two had kids), we were victorious, defeating them 6-5. It felt good beating kids men who were playing soccer from the day they were born.

Pre-soccer game huddle. There wasn't one at the end.

We found out later that the Year 9s were regional champions so we felt much better. Buoyed by our vindication, we boarded a bus back to Chieri where we would visit our next school.

San Luigi, Chieri - a Salesian school in the tradition of Don Boco

San Luigi in Chieri is a Salesian middle school attached to a Renaissance church bearing the same name. As soon as we entered the school, it felt like home. The kids were vibrant and excited about their Australian visitors and the staff were warm and welcoming. The principal, a Salesian named Don Livio, was eager to show off his school. But first, it was play time. 

The Italian students excitedly gathered around their Australian visitors and the boys were great. They gave the younger children all of their attention and all of their time, playing soccer with them, and sitting and laughing with them. Quite a few of the students, roughly the equivalent of Years 5 - 7, became quite taken with the St Joseph's students.

Students asking some of the boys questions about Australia

A few students became taken with Brenton, who made huge efforts to communicate with them and put them at ease

Connor strikes his usual pose

A lot of the school system in Italy seems alien to us, and that is understandable given that we are so far away from home. But San Luigi struck a chord with each of us. Even though we are so far away, here is a place that is familiar and thus comforting, a place that aligns so much with St Joseph's College. Here is a school with a group of energetic and vibrant young people, staffed by dedicated and professional teachers and Salesians, teaching in a modern and dynamic way and living daily the teachings of Don Bosco.


This day provided the boys with some contrasting examples of Italian education, and contrasts to their own experiences. However, they got to meet young people their own age and learned that, despite the distances both physical and cultural between Italy and Australia, young people, like McDonalds, are the same the world over.