Learn Freediving in Apnea Academy / Italian Mediterranean

What you can realistically reach: A beginner course (2–3 days) realistically takes you to a calm 16–20 m on a single breath, because the limit at this stage is relaxation and technique, not years of training. Instructor level is weeks of work, not days.

Apnea Academy Freediving Instructor Course

Founded and run by 17-time world-record holder Umberto Pelizzari, the Apnea Academy instructor course is a 7-day intensive of theory and water work: relaxation and breathing technique, respiratory and ear physiology, diet, teaching method, psychology and group control, plus static, dynamic and constant/variable-weight apnea, with practical pool and sea sessions led by Pelizzari and senior instructors. Entry requires real performance benchmarks (e.g. 4:30 static, 35m constant weight) and First Aid certification.

Next sessions: 2026-11-07

The flagship instructor course of Italy's founding freediving school, taught by Pelizzari himself in a week-long, performance-gated immersion.

~€895 (instructor course)

Masters & lineage

• Umberto Pelizzari (Apnea Academy)
• Jacques Mayol (lineage)
• Enzo Maiorca (lineage)

Why Apnea Academy (Umberto Pelizzari)

Apnea Academy is the freediving teaching and certification body founded in 1995 by Umberto Pelizzari, a 17-time world-record holder across all freediving disciplines, and its instructor course is taught by Pelizzari himself alongside a faculty of elite freedivers, making it one of the sport's most authoritative instructor pathways.

Schools in Apnea Academy / Italian Mediterranean

Checked by hand against each school's own course pages. No school paid to be listed.

• Apnea Academy (Umberto Pelizzari)
  Apnea Academy Freediving Instructor Course
  Founded and run by 17-time world-record holder Umberto Pelizzari, the Apnea Academy instructor course is a 7-day intensive of theory and water work: relaxation and breathing technique, respiratory and
  https://apnea.academy/en/instructors/freediver-instructor/
• Apnea Academy (Umberto Pelizzari's school)
  Apnea Academy Instructor Course (7-day residential)
  Apnea Academy is the freediving instruction and research school founded and led by world-champion Umberto Pelizzari, whose flagship 7-day residential Instructor Course covers physiology, teaching methodology and in-water static, dynamic and depth disciplines.
  https://apnea.academy/
• Y-40 Deep Joy (Montegrotto Terme)
  Freediving courses in the Y-40 deep thermal pool
  Y-40 The Deep Joy in Montegrotto Terme is a 42-meter thermal-water pool (a Guinness-record depth) offering scuba and freediving courses from beginner to professional level, including training in its 60 meters of underwater caves.
  https://www.y-40.com/

The room

• Group — Small by necessity — usually a few students per instructor in the water, for safety.
• A normal day — Mornings on breath-hold theory and dry technique, afternoons doing supervised dives in open water or a pool.
• Who comes — Often solo travellers, divers and freedivers of mixed levels, 20s–50s.

Want the rest — a normal day, first hour to last? Ask the school; a serious one answers in two minutes.

The credential

AIDA 1-4 / Molchanovs Wave 1-3 -> Instructor · Certifying body: AIDA / Molchanovs / Apnea Academy / SSI

A recognised qualification an outside body stands behind is not the same as a certificate a school prints itself. We name which it is — you should ask the school the same.

Also for Freediving

What I check before I send you anywhere

I'm Arnaud. I cook for a living, and I've spent fifteen years on the water — so I know the difference between a real school and a good-looking website. I built the Atlas because I got tired of the second kind. Here is what a place has to clear before it goes on here, and what I'll tell you straight when it doesn't.

• The craft is actually alive there. A working scene, with people who do this every day — not a demo put on for visitors.
• There's a real teacher behind it. Named, still practising, and certified where the craft has certificates.
• The credential is what it claims to be. A state diploma and a certificate a school prints itself are not the same thing. I check which, and I say which.
• I tell you how sure I am. Most pages here are verified by hand. A few say "still checking" — I'd rather admit that than pretend.
• Nobody pays to be here. No commission, no selling the trip. The order on this map is the strength of the community, never the size of the wallet.
• If I wouldn't send a friend, it isn't on the map.