Privacy Policy

Dolce Vita Italian School operates at www.dolcevitaschool.com. We provide online Italian language courses and related educational services to students worldwide, primarily in English-speaking markets.

We are the data controller for personal data collected through this website. Full company registration details (legal name, registered office, VAT number) will be published here when available.

Privacy enquiries: ciao@dolcevitaschool.com

We collect information in the following ways:

• ✓Account information: name, email address, and password when you register.
• ✓Profile data: your Italian level, lesson history, and learning preferences.
• ✓Payment information: processed securely by Stripe. We do not store card numbers.
• ✓Usage data: pages visited, lesson completion, quiz results, and device/browser information.
• ✓Communications: messages you send us via the contact form or email.
• ✓Level test results: your answers and score from our Italian placement test.
• ✓Consent records: when you accept our Terms, Privacy Policy, marketing emails, or cookie preferences.

We use the information we collect to:

• ✓Provide and personalise your learning experience.
• ✓Process lesson bookings and payments.
• ✓Send you lesson reminders, progress updates, and administrative emails.
• ✓Respond to your enquiries and support requests.
• ✓Improve our courses, website, and teaching materials.
• ✓Meet our legal obligations under GDPR and applicable law.

We will only send you marketing emails if you have explicitly opted in (for example via the optional checkbox when you register). You can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any marketing email.

We process your personal data on the following legal bases:

• Contract performance: to deliver lessons and manage your account.
• Legitimate interests: to improve our services and prevent fraud.
• Consent: for marketing communications and non-essential cookies.
• Legal obligation: where required by law.

We use cookies and similar technologies to:

• Keep you logged in between sessions (essential cookies).
• Remember your cookie preferences (essential cookies).
• Understand how visitors use our site (analytics cookies, only with your consent).

Non-essential cookies are not set until you accept them via our cookie banner. You can change your choices at any time using the “Cookie settings” link in the footer or on our Cookie Policy page.

We do not sell your personal data. We may share it with trusted providers solely to operate our service:

• Stripe: Payment processing (EU / US (SCCs)).
• Resend: Transactional and marketing email delivery (US (SCCs)).
• Google: OAuth sign-in and (if enabled) analytics (US / EU (SCCs)).
• Cloudflare: Hosting, CDN, and database (D1) (EU / global).
• Google Meet: Live 1-on-1 online lessons (US / EU (SCCs)).
• YouTube (Google): Unlisted hosting of lesson recordings (teacher-uploaded) (US / EU (SCCs)).

Some teachers may share external scheduling links. Those services have their own privacy policies when you leave our site.

All processors are contractually required to handle your data in accordance with GDPR and applicable data protection law.

We retain your account data for as long as you have an active account with us, plus an additional period of up to 3 years for legal and tax purposes. Lesson recordings (where applicable) are deleted after 30 days unless you request otherwise.

You may request deletion of your account and personal data at any time. See “Your rights” below.

Under GDPR you have the right to:

• →Access the personal data we hold about you.
• →Correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• →Request deletion of your data ("right to be forgotten").
• →Restrict how we process your data.
• →Object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• →Data portability: receive a copy of your data in a machine-readable format.
• →Withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at ciao@dolcevitaschool.com. We will respond within 30 days.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. In Italy, this is the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali. If you are in the United Kingdom, you may contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

Your data may be transferred to and processed in countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Where this occurs, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place (such as Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission).

We use industry-standard security measures including encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS), secure authentication, and access controls to protect your personal data.

Our services are not directed to children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make significant changes, we will notify you by email or by placing a notice on our website.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us: