Housing

Study Abroad Italy aims to create a comfortable living environment for each student by providing safe, well-maintained, student-level housing in quality apartments. Our staff will be on hand to greet and help orient you to your new apartment and city, and they will remain available to answer questions and assist with maintenance needs that may arise.

SAI, with our rental agency partners, offers shared student apartments, however students are also free to arrange their own accommodations privately. SAI also offers a home stay option for students wishing to live with a host family while abroad.

STUDENT SHARED APARTMENTS
  • Students are placed with other SAI students in apartments that are privately owned and located in buildings shared by Italian residents.
  • The program cost includes housing in a shared room (sharing a room with 1 – 2 students).
  • A typical residence will house 2-6 students, and contains a combination of single (1 student per room), double (2 students per room) and large triple (3 students per room) bedrooms and shared kitchen, bathroom and living areas. Requests are filled on a first come first served basis.
  • Apartments are within a 30 minute walk, commute or combination of both to school.
Single Rooms: Students may choose to pay an additional fee to be placed in a single room (one student per room). Having a single room means that you will have your own private space in an apartment shared with other SAI students.  Since every apartment is different in shape and size, the single room can also vary.  Single rooms can be quite small so please do not expect a double size room for single use.  Please note that a single room will always consist of at least one single bed and your own closet space.

Apartments include:

  • Furnishings
  • Basic kitchen supplies
  • Bed linens
  • Washing machine
  • Towels

Apartments do not include:

  • Land line telephones
  • Clothes dryers
HEALTH, WELLNESS AND SUSTAINABLE LIVING COMMUNITIES

SAI will offers the Health, Wellness and Sustainable Living Community in Rome and Florence.

In the Health, Wellness & Sustainable Living Community, students will:

  • share a commitment to personal and community health, wellness and sustainability;
  • work together to create and maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle as it applies to academic and personal experiences while abroad;
  • participate in activities that focus on sustainability and the environment;
  • develop low impact living habits that reduce their environmental footprints;
  • establish meaningful connections both within the SAI program and in the greater community.

Elements of the Health, Wellness & Sustainable Living Community include:

  • On-Site Orientation: During orientation, the students living in this community will meet to develop and sign their own agreement that will define the mission, goals, and policies of their apartment.
  • Group Meetings: During orientation and then once per month SAI staff will meet with the living community students to discuss issues related to health, wellness and sustainability.
  • Group Activity: Students will  develop and organize one  group activity during the term, with the assistance and approval of the on-site SAI staff.

Application Procedure

  1. Complete the SAI Housing Request form (part of the SAI application) checking the box for “Health, Wellness & Sustainability Living Community”.
  2. In about 500 words on a separate sheet (mailed with your application) or e-mail (sent to mail@saiprograms.com), tell us about yourself and what you hope to gain from participating in the Health, Wellness and Sustainable Living Community program with SAI. Include how you would contribute as a member of this living-learning community.
FAMILY HOME STAY HOUSING
  • Upon applying for a home stay, students will be asked to fill out a detailed home stay application.
  • Each family will host up to two students in one home.

Home Stays include:

  • One continental breakfast (Monday-Friday) and one complete meal per day (Monday-Thursday)
  • Electricity, water, and one washing machine load per week
  • Towels
  • Bedding
HOUSING REQUESTS
  • Housing requests are made by submitting a “housing request form” with your application.
  • Applications are processed when payment of your confirmation deposit has been made to SAI.
  • Single room requests must be accompanied by payment of the single room supplement fee
  • We are happy to honor roommate requests. Roommate requests must be mutual; both you and your roommate must clearly write each other’s name on the housing request form.

SAI student apartments are assigned as single gender housing, (all male or all female). Students seeking male/female shared housing options have two choices:

  • SAI may be able to assign a one-bedroom apartment to a male/female roommate request, however this cannot be guaranteed available or,
  • Students should contact our partner rental agencies to arrange a private apartment rental in order to accommodate male/female roommates.
HOUSING ASSIGNMENT
  • Students will receive housing and roommate assignments via email 5 days prior to the start of the term.
ARRIVAL
  • Students are asked to complete the arrival information form prior to departure.
  • Students will receive detailed information regarding the complimentary pick-up and arrival upon submitting the arrival information form.
  • Please plan to arrive on check-in day. Apartments will not be available for early check-in. Any students arriving early should make prior arrangements to stay at a local hotel until check-in day.
ALTERNATE HOUSING

The majority of SAI students are 18-22 years of age. We have found that placing students over 25 with students between the ages of 18-22 has not been successful for either age group. Therefore, we encourage students over 25 to contact our partner agencies to arrange for private studio or one bedroom apartments directly with the agencies listed below.

There are sometimes other adult students enrolled, which allows SAI to place those students together in shared housing. It is not our intention to deny housing to any enrolled student, but we do place students of similar ages together in order to create a successful experience. If an older student is unable to bear the added cost of private housing, in cases when SAI does not have a student apartment available, SAI will make every effort to nevertheless provide housing for that student by placing her/him in a single room within a shared apartment. In these cases, the student must pay the single supplement fee.

Please note: SAI does not offer housing to spouses, children or pets. SAI recommends that students with these circumstances, or students seeking their own private apartments (studio, 1 or 2 bedrooms), contact SAI for housing agency recommendations.

If you choose to arrange your own housing, please notify SAI California.