About Sentiero

Sentiero is built by a learner, for learners — by someone who still remembers exactly what it feels like not to understand.

Who I Am

My name is Aleksander Sekkelsten, and I'm from Fredrikstad, Norway. I studied physics and machine learning, first at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and later at the University of Oslo, where I specialized in computational physics and artificial intelligence.

Alongside my studies, I became deeply fascinated by languages, culture, and the question of how people actually learn. Today, I am building Sentiero — an independent language-learning platform focused on helping learners experience Italian not simply as a system of grammar, but as a living culture.

Sentiero is entirely self-funded and built largely by me, one careful decision at a time.

My Italian Story

My relationship with Italian began, like many others, with a simple fascination: the sound of the language, the warmth of the culture, and a feeling that Italy represented a different way of living.

I started learning as a Norwegian learner with no special advantages — just curiosity and persistence. I spent countless hours working through apps, textbooks, podcasts, films, and conversations, gradually discovering what worked and what didn't.

In 2024, I moved to Rome as an exchange student at Sapienza University, where I lived for several months while studying advanced machine learning and physics. Living in Italy transformed my understanding of the language.

I quickly realized that real Italian is not what most language apps teach.

Italian lives in cafés, markets, family lunches, train stations, gestures, pauses, regional expressions, and all the small social rituals that make everyday life feel human. It lives in the famous boh, in long evening walks, and in conversations that rarely follow textbook scripts.

Those experiences continue to shape every part of Sentiero.

Why I Built Sentiero

I built Sentiero because I could never find the language-learning experience I personally wanted.

Most apps felt heavily gamified. They kept me clicking, but after hundreds of days I still struggled to understand real conversations or express myself naturally. Other resources focused almost exclusively on grammar, leaving out the feeling, rhythm, and culture of the language.

As a learner, I often felt trapped between two extremes:

• apps that were engaging but shallow;
• textbooks that were rigorous but lifeless.

Neither taught me how Italian actually feels when spoken by real people.

I wanted something different: a place where language, culture, stories, pronunciation, and genuine human experience could exist together.

So I started building it myself.

The Sentiero Approach

Sentiero is built around a simple idea:

Language learning should adapt to you — not the other way around.

The platform continuously learns from your strengths, weaknesses, interests, and progress in order to create a more personal learning experience.

Features such as La Passeggiata immerse learners in cinematic, story-driven experiences inspired by everyday life in Italy, while La Voce helps learners practice pronunciation and speaking with detailed feedback designed specifically for Italian.

Rather than memorizing isolated phrases, the goal is to help learners gradually develop intuition: an ear for the language, confidence in speaking, and a deeper understanding of the culture behind the words.

How Content Is Created

Every guide, lesson, and cultural article on Sentiero is written, reviewed, and edited by me, drawing on my own experience as a Norwegian learner of Italian, my time living in Italy, and extensive research from reliable sources.

Artificial intelligence is used as a tool during development and editing, but it is not the author. All educational content is carefully reviewed, refined, and published according to clear editorial standards.

The goal is simple: to create resources that are accurate, useful, and genuinely helpful for real learners.

Found something wrong, or just want to say ciao? Write to me at aleksander@sentierolingua.com — corrections are always welcome.

Benvenuto.

— Aleksander