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I'm asking this for a YouTuber who thinks that Lavender Brown survives, marries an Italian man and has 3 children who go to Beauxbatons.

Do Italian wizards go to Beauxbatons?

Obsidia
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Alex Downs
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3 Answers3

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It's plausible.

From Beauxbatons' page on Pottermore:

Thought to be situated somewhere in the Pyrenees, visitors speak of the breath-taking beauty of a chateau surrounded by formal gardens and lawns created out of the mountainous landscape by magic. Beauxbatons Academy has a preponderance of French students, though Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Luxembourgians and Belgians also attend in large numbers (both Beauxbatons and Durmstrang have a larger studentship than Hogwarts).

Here's a map of western Europe; if Dutch wizards make the trip to the Pyrenees, I think it's not a stretch to assume that Italians ones do, too. It's far closer than North Scandinavia, where Durmstrang, the next "big" school, is supposed to be.

West Europe map


There might be other, smaller schools, with one more conveniently located in Italy, but from those listed in this question 1, I don't see any. In any case, you don't have to go to the nearest school; Lucius Malfoy considered sending Draco to Durmstrang:

"... Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the Headmaster, you see. Well, you know his opinion of Dumbledore – the man’s such a Mudblood-lover – and Durmstrang doesn’t admit that sort of riff-raff. But Mother didn’t like the idea of me going to school so far away."

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, chapter 11, "Aboard the Hogwarts Express"


Well, further research show that the schools mentioned in the question linked above are the main ones, and the Wizarding Schools page on Pottermore states:

There are eleven long-established and prestigious wizarding schools worldwide, all of which are registered with the International Confederation of Wizards. Smaller and less well-regulated institutions have come and gone, are difficult to keep track of, and are rarely registered with the appropriate Ministry (in which case, I cannot vouch for the standard of education they might offer). Anyone wishing to know whether there is an approved magical school in their region should address an owl enquiry to the International Confederation of Wizards, Educational Office.

There might be Italian ones among these; however, since they are not (on unclearly) approved, I think it's safe to say many parents would rather send their kids to the "big ones" or homeschool them. Thanks to Valorum's comment on the other answer for pushing me to this further research!


1 Located in: France (Beauxbatons), Northern Europe (Durmstrang), Japan (Mahoutokoro), Africa (Uagadou), Brazil (Castelbruxo), US (Ilvermorny), Russia (Koldovstoretz), Australia (unnamed), and possibly another in Canada (unnamed) and a last one also unnamed. Asia would be my guess, due to population figures.

Jenayah
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    Is that saying the other 8 "prestigious" ones are not in Europe, or could one of them be in Europe (like say in Italy), and they just didn't mention it by name? The link just says they tend to be in the mountains, and Italy certainly has plenty of those... – T.E.D. Aug 15 '18 at 16:01
  • @T.E.D. the question I linked above (this one) on the locations of other schools address that, but I guess I'll edit in for more clarity. – Jenayah Aug 15 '18 at 16:04
  • Thank you! The accepted answer there still leaves one unknown though (and one maybe). Seems unlikely it would happen to be in Italy (or perhaps elsewhere in the Alps convenient to an Italian), but not ruled out. – T.E.D. Aug 15 '18 at 16:16
  • @T.E.D. true, but as they said there (and I agree with it), it's probably located in China/India (rather than Italy): many people live there, and the trip from China/India to Russia/Japan (nearest confirmed ones) is probably longer than Italy to southwest France. – Jenayah Aug 15 '18 at 16:19
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    Assuming language is not an issue, is there any reason to prefer a closer school? If the kids are boarding regardless and magical travel can get you across the continent in the same amount of time as it can get you next door, it seems like distance from home would not be a very important factor (despite Mrs. Malfoy's concern). – Alex Aug 15 '18 at 16:21
  • @Alex some ideas thrown at random: tradition, better feedback from your peers, "established ideas" about the school (Muggle-loving Arthur Weasley would want to send his kids away from Durmstrang), the fact that we don't know if it's entirely free to attend other schools, the cost of getting there (Hogwarts Express may be free, we don't know if a whole Portkey chain would be)... Also, maybe you can visit you kids in the other schools (unlike Hogwarts), so you'd want to be close. – Jenayah Aug 15 '18 at 16:31
  • @Jenayah - I don't really buy that logic. For one thing, it leaves all of India or China, and Africa uncovered. That's most of humanity. So clearly coverage is not the guiding principle here. For another, it wouldn't shock me at all to find out later from JKR that those areas have their own incompatible magic systems, or perhaps their own confederations, or just are serviced entirely by "unprestigous" schools. The unknowns here are just too big to cover with speculation. – T.E.D. Aug 15 '18 at 16:32
  • FWIW: I'm upvoting the answer. This is just a tiny nit I have, and IMHO you have the topline exactly right, which is the most important thing. Sorry for being a pain... – T.E.D. Aug 15 '18 at 16:37
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    @T.E.D. South America has the Brazilian one (granted, that's handwaving when you actually consider the amount of South American people); same for Africa. As for the rest, I'm not sure I understand you - agreed, speculation is what it is, but how is saying that the next one is located in China/India illogical? Forgive me if I'm reading you wrong! :) – Jenayah Aug 15 '18 at 16:37
  • @Jenayah Those are all important things to take into account when choosing a school, but they don't necessarily correlate with the distance of the school. – Alex Aug 15 '18 at 16:45
  • @Alex I'd say it indirectly does, but likely the main concern would still be the moneymoneymoney as we don't know the economics for other schools. Also, plain logic: if you have two exactly equivalent schools, but one is on the other side of the globe, why would you sen your kid there? – Jenayah Aug 15 '18 at 16:48
  • Thanks for fixing my link! :) – Obsidia Aug 15 '18 at 17:07
  • @Jenayah Also, plain logic: if you have two exactly equivalent schools, but one is on the other side of the globe, why would you sen your kid there? Why wouldn't you send your kid there? What do you gain by having your kid closer to home? To illustrate: if there was no Italian school and Italian kids have been going to Hogwarts or Beauxbatons or wherever, would there be any benefit to starting a school in Italy (barring, as I said earlier, any language issues)? – Alex Aug 15 '18 at 17:19
  • @T.E.D. Do we know that the "wizard gene" is even somewhat uniformly distributed around the world? Maybe Asia (or Africa) just has a disproportionate amount of wizards for its population? – Alex Aug 15 '18 at 17:23
  • Somewhat side point: Do parents even get to choose what school their kids go to? At least from what we know about Hogwarts, there doesn't seem to be an application process. The school seeks out students and invites the ones it wants. – Alex Aug 15 '18 at 17:32
  • @Alex Lucius surely wanted to, even if the guy might have sneaked his way in, knowing the headmaster. And schooling isn't obligatory, so I think they can choose. See Do all the children in a wizard family have to go to the same wizarding school? – Jenayah Aug 15 '18 at 17:38
  • @Jenayah They can certainly choose to not attend a school, but they don't necessarily get to choose to attend a school. – Alex Aug 15 '18 at 17:45
  • @Alex honestly, there's already some material in this comment thread for you to post a question along the lines of "If you choose to attend school, what exactly is your set of choices?" :) With some precision on portkey chain cost and stuff, that could have an answer I think... – Jenayah Aug 15 '18 at 17:51
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We don’t know how Italian wizards usually learn, but it’s possible.

The JKR Pottermore writing on Beauxbatons states that while many of its students are French, there are also students attending from other countries close to France.

Thought to be situated somewhere in the Pyrenees, visitors speak of the breath-taking beauty of a chateau surrounded by formal gardens and lawns created out of the mountainous landscape by magic. Beauxbatons Academy has a preponderance of French students, though Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Luxembourgians and Belgians also attend in large numbers (both Beauxbatons and Durmstrang have a larger studentship than Hogwarts).
- Beauxbatons Academy of Magic (Pottermore)

Italy isn’t mentioned, nor is it ever mentioned what wizarding school Italian wizards go to (if any), but the other countries that have students attending Beauxbatons are near Italy, so it’s possible they do also go to Beauxbatons, and this just wasn’t mentioned in the Pottermore writing.

Map of Europe

It’s unlikely that Italian wizards typically go to a different wizarding school than Beauxbatons - the other reputable European wizarding schools, Durmstrang and Hogwarts, are further away. If Italian wizards don’t usually send their children to Beauxbatons, that likely means that they generally prefer homeschooling. The wizards in most countries in the wizarding world typically choose to homeschool their children, which is why there are relatively few countries with their own magical school. It’s possible that Italy is one of the many countries where wizards prefer homeschooling.

The number of countries that have their own magical school is minuscule compared to those that do not. This is because the wizarding populations of most countries choose the option of home schooling. Occasionally, too, the magical community in a given country is tiny or far-flung and correspondence courses have been found a more cost-effective means of educating the young.
- Wizarding Schools (Pottermore)

However, even if they typically choose homeschooling, Beauxbatons seems a likely option for wizards in Italy who prefer sending their children to school, since it’s the closest reputable magical school to Italy (and parents tend to favor closer schools). Most British wizards send their children to Hogwarts - parents in other countries would likely similarly favor a closer school.

enter image description here

Even if they’re relatively rare, it seems likely that at least the occasional Italian wizard attends Beauxbatons, whether or not it’s what Italian wizards generally do. The only other thing that seems likely to be what Italian wizards generally do is homeschooling.

Obsidia
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    aw, FGITW'd :( but, mine has a red hand-drawn circle! – Jenayah Aug 15 '18 at 14:58
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    Given that JKR hasn't mentioned students from Italy (pop 80M+) but has mentioned Luxembourg (pop .5M), I'd argue that it was more likely that Italy either has its own school or that they mainly home-school. There should be a hundred Italian students for every Luxembourgian – Valorum Aug 15 '18 at 15:04
  • @Valorum except all the other schools (besides the unnamed) aren’t in Italy – Edlothiad Aug 15 '18 at 15:16
  • @Edlothiad true dat, but there are "unofficial" ones apparently; could really be one in Italy for all we know. – Jenayah Aug 15 '18 at 15:26
  • Well there’s an unknown – Edlothiad Aug 15 '18 at 15:30
  • @valorum this might be my American bias, but given that French (and apparently German) is an official language of Luxembourg, I'd be more inclined to send my kid to a foreign school if they spoke a language they've used frequently. (Though I'd think that would mean Luxembourghers or whatever they're called would split between Beauxbaton and Durmstrang given the bilingualness) – Foon Aug 15 '18 at 20:16
  • @Foon - Actually my best guess would be that Beauxbatons uses English as its lingua franca – Valorum Aug 15 '18 at 20:30
  • @Valorum French was the lingua franca less than a century ago (and still is one to a certain degree), and the use of English in french universities even now is embarassingly low, even in master degrees and equivalent (altough it is getting better). I would be surprised that Beauxbatons uses English rather than French, especially in the 90's. – Luris Aug 16 '18 at 08:53
  • @Luris - Most French universities have a tiny proportion of non-French students. – Valorum Aug 16 '18 at 11:12
  • @Valorum what Luris is saying is that the classes aren't taught in English, even when the universities know perfectly well that some of the students you mentioned don't understand jack of what's being said. – Jenayah Aug 16 '18 at 14:36
  • "AUSTRALIA" given as an example of a country name on the map of Europe - nice ... :-) – Edheldil Aug 16 '18 at 15:11
  • TBH, homeschooling as a preferred method for wizard population in developed european countries does not make any sense. Wizards are immersed in the local muggle population and culture. I rather doubt that while women in the muggle population pursue careers (out of necessity, in many cases), the wizard ones would be content sitting at home. – Edheldil Aug 16 '18 at 15:24
  • @Edheldil - Witches live far longer than Muggle women. Having a few years out to home-school their children would be far less of a burden. – Valorum Aug 16 '18 at 16:21
  • @Valorum what about children with muggle parents? It's not even legal to homeschool your children in some countries, I suspect. Moreover how would the local Ministries of Magic defend the no-national-school-for-your-kids policy to their wizarding electorate? What about (rampant) national pride? I think that JKR simply did not want to flesh her world out much, e.g. to avoid questions like "what's the name of our national school?". But it still hurts being left out :( – Edheldil Aug 17 '18 at 08:48
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I think Italy not being mentioned in canon is also because of the real past, the history. I mean, Italy is the center of Catholicism and everything related to the persecution Wizards and Witches suffered during the Middle Ages has started there, in Italy. It would have been much more difficult to create a magical school that would last for centuries in such an environment.


There is also the possibility that among the religious people, there would be some that would refuse even the idea of becoming a witch or a wizard and the Ministry of Magic would be forced to wipe their memories.

i mean, there are always fanatic people amongst the religious. In the christian orphanage where I grew up, one of the caretakers burned one day tens of our school manuals because they had in them pictures of fruits and vegetables with hands, eyes and legs - apparently, that was the work of the Devil.

Imagine how would such a person react to learning that her son/daughter was a witch/wizard. She'd go mental

alex
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