St Clare College's Sir Adrian Dingli Girls' Junior Lyceum, Pembroke, and St Benedict College's Boys' Secondary School, Kirkop, both placed second at an awards ceremony held recently for an inter-school competition entitled La lingua Italiana e la piazza, organised earlier this year by the Italian Embassy in collaboration with the Department for Curriculum and e-Learning Management.

Students at Sir Adrian Dingli Girls' Junior Lyceum transformed the school hall into a living Italian 'piazza' faithfully reproducing a bar, a newstand, a restaurant and an ice cream parlour with props and the backing of numerous sponsors. The adjudicating panel experienced the sensation of virtually being transported to Italy as they engaged in conversations in Italian with the students while being served freshly brewed espresso coffee, croissants, antipasti and a variety of pasta dishes.

Meanwhile, St Benedict College's entry comprised the creating three different Italian squares, complete with typical symbols of Italian lifestyle, such as reading newspapers, drinking coffee at a bar, typical Venetian carnival masks, elegant gondolas and the pillar with the emblem of this unique city, and the 17 coat-of-arms representing the contrade contesting the Palio in Siena.