Scuola Marco Polo is open to all children who want to discover Italian and Italy. “Italians from Italy,” said the school’s president, Agnese Abate. “Italian descendants. Italian lovers.” The school – which on scuolamarcopolo. org calls itself “a safe space to learn and live the Italian language and culture in a vibrant community for kids and adults” – was founded in 2000, and its original emphasis was on students who already spoke some Italian and families who wanted to pass along Italian culture and language.

Abate was born in Milan and grew up there. In 2009, she married Circelli, and they moved from Italy to the Delaware Valley a few years later, following Circelli’s sister and brother. The live in Malvern and have a 7½-year-old son. Jonathan is being brought up bilingual and is sometimes a “little helper” at Marco Polo, she said.