“The original Alfredo recipe has no chicken in it. Stop asking me.”
That was the first lesson Italian foreign exchange student Leonardo Tassone offered when asked what he wishes more Americans understood about his home country.
Growing up in Savona, a seaport city on the Italian Riviera with roughly the same population as Mankato, Tassone is still adjusting to life in Minnesota. Before arriving as an exchange student, he had only visited the United States twice, both short trips to New York City, first in September 2024 and then again in February 2026.
Now, living here full-time, he considers every day a new learning experience, especially when it comes to family life. An only child back home, where his mother is a high school art teacher and his father an engineer, he suddenly found himself sharing a house with the seven members of the Anderson family here in Cleveland.
“Adapting to the new environment with my five new siblings is pretty fun, though,” he said.
As he is driven by a lifelong curiosity about how other cultures work, becoming an exchange student has always been at the top of Tassone's bucket list. While exchange students can select their host country, they have no say in their exact destination, which is how a teenager from the Italian coast ended up in a small town in Southern Minnesota.
Although the geographic shift from the Mediterranean coast to the Midwest hasn't bothered him much, there’s one thing that Cleveland cannot offer.
“I do miss the sea breeze at six in the morning, though,” Tassone admitted.
But his transition has been made much easier by his fluency in English. Although English is a mandatory subject throughout school in Italy, Tassone credits the COVID-19 lockdowns with truly mastering the language, as spending months playing video games with people around the globe allowed him to practice naturally with native speakers.
High school in Italy looks very different from the U.S. It lasts five years, and students stay in one designated room with the same classmates all day while teachers rotate between rooms. Still, Tassone, a member of the junior class at Cleveland, jumped into life at CHS with zero hesitation.
“Everyone was so lovely and friendly with me, so I had no issues whatsoever,” he said.
Beyond the classroom, Tassone is diving into the American high school experience. He joined Knowledge Bowl and the trap team and is considering becoming a member of the Crusader track & field team this spring. He is especially looking forward to school traditions like Snow Week and recently experienced his first homecoming parade, a tradition that doesn’t exist back home in Italy.
American sports also came with a bit of a learning curve for Tassone, whose first glimpse of football was Cleveland's varsity home opener. But whenever a rule or strategy confused him, he simply turned to Google to catch on. As a photographer on the yearbook staff, he puts his passion for taking photos to use at those very sports games.
"I’ve loved taking pictures during the football and volleyball games," Tassone said. "It made me feel really part of this school."
While Tassone is learning about American culture—and specifically life in small-town Southern Minnesota—CHS students are learning just as much from him.
Senior Autumn White shared how much she has enjoyed getting to know her new friend.
"I love being able to hear about somebody else's culture firsthand, and it's been a pleasure to be able to talk with Leo about his home life. The thing that sticks out the most to me is how family- and friend-oriented he is. I think quality time is such an important part of connection, and I can see how much having his family and friends around him is important for his experience here in the United States.”
Back home, Tassone enjoys riding his motorcycle and playing video games, two hobbies he has had to put on pause while abroad. And while he misses authentic Italian pasta, he admitted that American food “is not as bad as people advised me about.”
What has impressed him most about Cleveland High School is the faculty. In Italy, student-teacher dynamics are strictly academic, making the warm environment in Minnesota a welcome surprise.
“One thing I’ll miss the most is my relationship with all the teachers I have here,” Tassone said. “The relationship between professors and students in Italy is strictly about teaching, but I feel like I can talk more about personal stuff with my teachers here.”
Looking ahead, Tassone plans to return to Italy for university to study International Relations, aiming for a future career with the United Nations or the European Union. But as he navigates his exchange year in Minnesota, he carries a simple philosophy that keeps him open to every new experience:
“Be free, be curious, and not judgmental. Sometimes the risk of not taking one is greater than the risk itself.”