PB Housing
The Siena Art Institute strongly encourages all our students to participate in a home-stay during their time in Siena, as living with a local family can become a cornerstone of your experience here: exponentially improving your ability to connect to the local community by emphasizing the importance of language acquisition and cultural exchange.
However, we understand that a home-stay may not be suitable for all our post-baccalaureate students, so we also offer post-bacc students the option to reside in either a private apartment or a shared apartment.
Home-Stays:
A cornerstone of the Siena Art Institute semester programs is homestays with local Italian families, emphasizing the importance of language acquisition and cultural exchange. In a home-stay, you get a first-hand experience of the daily lives of members of Siena's community, by residing with a local family. Your host-family acts as your liaison to Siena, and can assist you immensely in understanding the local language and culture. Our students consistently have overwhelmingly positive feedback about their experience with their host families (and of course their nightly homecooked Italian suppers!) Needless to say, the home-stay can become a central part of your experience at The Siena Art Institute.
You will complete a housing form as part of your application that allows us to arrange a suitable placement for you. We place you in families that have hosted students for many years and are glad to welcome you into their homes. The cost of the homestay (3500 € per semester) includes linens & towels, weekly laundry, and daily breakfast and dinner with the family (did we mention the great home-cooking?!). The home-stay does not include lunches, and students are responsible for purchasing and preparing their own lunches. Students may prepare lunch at the school’s kitchenette or enjoy the many cafes nearby.Host families live either in the historic center of Siena or in nearby neighborhoods, a short walk or bus ride from downtown. (Our program fee covers the cost of an all-access city bus pass for those students commuting by bus.)
Apartment Housing:
If a post-baccalaureate applicant to The Siena Art Institute feels that a home-stay arrangement will not be suitable for them, we also offer the option for post-bacc students to rent a private or shared apartment here in the center of Siena.
The rent for a private apartment would be appx 900€ a month, which includes the apartment-finding service fee.
The rent for a shared room in a shared apartment or dormitory would be appx 550€ a month, which includes the apartment-finding service fee. In a shared apartment, you will most likely be housed with students from the University of Siena and Siena's University for Foreigners .
Alternately, post-bacc students with sufficient Italian language skills are welcome to secure their own apartment without using our apartment-finding service. The main apartment-listing website we recommend here in Siena is www.uniaffitti.it
