From first email to coming home.

You tell us you're interested

A name, a rough time frame, and whichever sites caught your eye — that's the whole of it. There's no application to complete at this stage and nothing is committed. If you have no idea which site you want, say so; most people don't at this point, and narrowing it down is the part we're useful for.

Register interest →

We work out which sites actually fit

This is a conversation, not a form. What caseload does your program need you to see? How long is your rotation? Do you want a city or somewhere small? Are you willing to drive? We'll come back with the sites that genuinely fit rather than the full list, and tell you honestly where the trade-offs are.

Browse the sites →

Your DCE approves the site

Your program has to approve an international placement, and that is far easier with months in hand than weeks. We'll give your clinical education faculty the site detail they need — caseload, supervision, hours, assessment — and talk to them directly if that helps. Start this conversation early; it is the step most likely to run out of runway.

What your DCE will want to see →

The paperwork goes both ways

Your program's affiliation agreement comes to us for review, and we come back with anything that needs discussing. In parallel you'll complete our own enrolment. We would much rather look at an agreement early than find a clause that needs a conversation the week before you fly.

We confirm the placement and the housing

We arrange somewhere for you within easy reach of the clinic, and the cost we quote is for that place. You're welcome to find your own instead — talk to us first and we'll tell you honestly whether it's worth it, because in a small town the saving is usually modest and the choice limited.

What it costs →

Before you go

19 of our 25 sites require Italian workplace safety training, which ranges from a short asynchronous module to a four-hour course plus twelve hours live. Most sites need no visa for US citizens on a stay of 90 days or less, though a couple do — we'll tell you which applies to yours and handle it. Dress code, documents and start date all get confirmed before you book a flight.

Entry rules, weather and what to check →

You arrive, and someone is there

Our Vice President of European Operations and our Senior Director of Student Services are both in Italy, and both are practising physiotherapists. They handle the arrival, the introductions at the clinic, the sim card, the bus route, the things that go wrong. If something happens at 2am in Pistoia, the person answering is twenty minutes away.

The rotation itself

6 to 12 weeks, typically 35–40 hours a week, Monday to Friday. Your clinical instructor speaks English and works with your program’s own assessment instrument — a rating scale, or entrustment against EPAs if your school has moved that way — so what reaches your DCE is in the form they expect. Most weekends are yours, and the trains are good.

What the weeks are actually like →

You come home

Your completed assessment goes to your program. You keep the rest — sharper hands, a different sense of what a health system can be, and a set of stories that most of your cohort won't have. A fair number of students write something for us on the way back; we'd be glad of yours.

What other students wrote →