Questions from Prague: Is it possible to come to Italy to study children under three years of age?

I am happy to announce that we are planning a course in English to be held in Rome June/July, 2018

Morning light on the Colosseo - on my way to observe at Centro Nascita Montessori's Giardino Magico 

educazione dalla nascita come aiuto alla vita” 
Corso Internazionale a Roma 
La pedagogia scientifica di Maria Montessori applicata 
allo studio del neonato e dei primi due anni di vita

"education from birth as a help to life"
International Course in Rome
Maria Montessori's scientific pedagogy applied to 
the study of the newborn and the first years of life


I have been studying children under three in Italy since 2010 when I first discovered that Centro Nascita Montessori (CNM), founded by Adele Costa Gnocchi in 1960, was actively running 

  • educator trainings
  • prenatal and newborn parent groups and 
  • childcare programs for children under three 

After the presentation I gave in Prague about the Italian 0-3 work under CNM, I was asked:
  • Where can I get a 0-3 Assistant to Infancy training that goes into depth about the importance of Observation, Respect, Protection, Stepping back… ?
  • How can we get a training to South Australia? Please let me know when the course in Italy comes together. 
  • Is it possible to come to Italy to study children under three years of age?
  • Do you offer courses or visits?
  • Are there additional seminars for people who graduated from AMI Assistance to Infancy courses in order to widen and deepen their knowledge?

Giving Birth and Being Born: excerpt from the bi-laws - Centro Nascita Montessori


So yes, you will be able to come to Rome to learn about this branch of the 0-3 Montessori project. I am collaborating with colleagues here in Italy to offer a three week long international 0-2 training beginning in late June this summer, 2019 and hoping to expand into a full length course in 2020.


Children's needs and our answers to them: conversations with Grazia Honegger Fresco April 26 - May 6, 1980

In 1927, when Adele Costa Gnocchi opened la Scuoletta in the Count of Taverna's home, she initiated her Casa dei bambini research study. For over 20 years she studied the ages of 2-6 and 6-12. 

Palazzo Taverna in Rome - built in the XV century
She was one of the only Montessorians who did not have to close down at the orders of Mussolini (all Montessori schools in Italy would be closed) as she insisted it was not a Montessori school, rather her research project. During the bombardments in Rome during WWII she did close la Scuoletta and when she reopened it after the war it became her study of children under three. Adele was in Montessori's very first training in 1909. 
This course will be a return to her methods and means of transforming adults into observers, questioners, scientists and people who know how to abstain from intervening in the child's natural exploration and development. It will be based on Montessori's core principle, the scientific pedagogy.
A room inside Palazzo Taverna

La Scuoletta at Palazzo Taverna, photo from the Quaderno Montessori #115, pg. 33


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