Faculty

Alessandra Adriani specialized in the methodology of teaching Italian as a second language at the Koiné School for Foreigners (1994); and in 1996, she held a six-month post-graduate position at the European Community in Brussels, Belgium. Before joining Syracuse Florence in 2006, Adriani taught at the University of Florence, Kent State, l’Accademia Italiana, and Pepperdine University in Florence. In addition to teaching Italian language and culture classes at Syracuse Florence, she teaches at the Società Dante Alighieri (2015) where she received her PLIDA Examiner certification. Adriani has also been a private language tutor in Latin and Italian for Italian high school students since 1990.

• Email: aadriani@syr.edu

Laurea in Economics, Università di Firenze; Certificate in Marketing, New York University. Certified trainer with NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). Simone Anselmi has extensive experience training, consulting and teaching Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Human Resource Management, Personal Development and Coaching for organizations like Pirelli, Unicoop Tirreno, McArthurGlen, Intesa San Paolo, Monte dei Paschi , BNL, Electrolux, Whirlpool, Telecom Italia,  BMW, Tod’s, Stefanel,  Ikea, API – IP, ABB, Valtur, and Zegna. He also has executive-level market research and advertising experience with international organizations. He has been a member of the ICF (International Coach Federation) and of the ICF Italian Chapter organizing committee and is the author of numerous training manuals and check-up analyses. Anselmi teaches classes in Global Management, Made in Italy and luxury excellence, and Entrepreneurship at Syracuse Florence.

• Email: sanselmi@syr.edu

Wanessa Asfora Nadler is a historian specialized in Medieval and Early Modern Food History. She has published various articles in scholarly journals on the relationship between food and medicine in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and a book on the medieval history of the Roman cookbook attributed to Apicius (2014). Her teaching experience has included courses and workshops for different institutions in Brazil and Portugal.  She is currently a researcher at the Centre for Classical and Humanistic Studies at the University of Coimbra. Since 2018, she has coordinated a research area of the Laboratory of Theory and History of Medieval Media (Lathimm) of the University of São Paulo and Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. She is also a correspondent member for Latin America of the journal Food & History, published by the Institut Européen d’Histoire et des Cultures de l’Alimentation.

• Email: wasforan@syr.edu

In 2009 Riccardo Avanzinelli won the “Bianchi” Price awarded to leading young scientists in the field of mineralogy and petrology and was a member of the Directive Board of the Italian Association of Volcanology (AIV) from 2014 to 2018. He teaches Petrology and Petrography at the University of Florence. He specializes in the geochemical and isotopic study of volcanic rocks to understand the different geological processes explaining the occurrence and eruptive behavior of volcanoes worldwide and the evolution of the earth’s mantle. His recent research also includes the application of petrological, geochemical, and isotopic analyses in other fields such as cosmochemistry and archaeology.

• Email: ravanzin@syr.edu

Christine Bakker is a researcher, lecturer and consultant specializing in international human rights law, children’s rights, and the relationship between human rights and climate change. She has taught at several Italian universities, including LUISS (Rome), Roma Tre, and the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Pisa), where she currently teaches courses on human rights, as an affiliated researcher. As a visiting research fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (London), Christine leads a consultancy on human rights. She has co-edited two books and published several articles and book chapters.

• Email: cbakker@syr.edu

Dorothea Barrett (PhD Cambridge 1987) has taught at Beijing Normal University (China), Glasgow University (Scotland), and the University of Florence (Italy). She is the author of Vocation and Desire: George Eliot’s Heroines (London: Routledge, 1989) and the editor of the George Eliot’s Romola (London: Penguin Classics, 1996). She has published a variety of essays on nineteenth- and twentieth-century British and American literature and edited volumes of Oscar Wilde, E. M. Forster, James Joyce, Katherine Mansfield, and others. At Syracuse Florence she teaches “Sex, Politics, and Religion in Italian Literature” and “A World of Difference: Literature and Exclusion from 1900 to the Present.” Her research interests are Victorian, modern, and postmodern fiction and the representation of gender, sexuality, politics, religion, and imperialism in literature.

• Email:  llbarret@syr.edu

Victoria Bartels is a cultural historian of early modern Italy whose research focuses on visual culture, weapons, clothing, contemporary notions of gender, the culture of warfare, and the historicization of the Renaissance in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. She has worked on the project “Refashioning the Renaissance” funded by the European Research Council and has held a Kress Fellowship at the Medici Archive Project in Florence. She has presented her research at numerous universities, museums, and institutions across Europe, the UK, and the USA, and her work has been featured on BBC Radio, The Guardian, ABC Radio Australia, and the University of Cambridge.

• Email: vbartels@syr.edu

Antonella Battaglia received her DITALS (Didattica dell’Italiano a Stranieri) certification in the methodology of teaching Italian as a second language from the Università per Stranieri di Siena and studied methodologies in second-language instruction at the Istituto Francese di Firenze and the Università di Siena. Battaglia co-authored the Italian language textbook for beginners Dimmi! (Guerra Edizioni, 1999). She has taught Italian at the University of Santa Barbara in California, the Università per Stranieri di Siena, and the Istituto Universitario Europeo di Firenze. She has been teaching Italian language and culture courses at Syracuse Florence since 1996.

• Email: abattagl@syr.edu

Francesca Bea specialized in the methodology of teaching Italian as a second language and teaching Italian literature to foreigners at the Koinè School for Foreigners.She has been teaching Italian as a Second Language at Syracuse Florence since 2000 and is a faculty supervisor for the Syracuse Florence internship program. In the past, she has also taught at the Florence centers for the Università per Stranieri, Pepperdine University, the Accademia Italiana, and California State University. In addition to teaching Italian as a Second Language to foreigners, Francesca Bea has been a private language tutor in Greek and Latin for Italian high school students since 1995.

• Email: fbea@syr.edu

Lorenzo Benini runs his own company, Kostelia srl, a leader in the fourth-party logistics sector with many sister companies in different sectors of the economy (e.g. boat chartering, agriculture, and trading). From 1987 to 2004 he worked as a manager for companies like SAMEC spa (Unilever Group), DECORLINE spa, and ALPI SERVIZIO MODA srl (Albini & Pitigliani Group). Most of his career has been spent in logistics and supply chain management and he is the founder and operations manager of Purpose Trust Sostratos, which finances archaeological excavation, research, and restoration.

• Email: lbenini@syr.edu

Stefania Berutti wrote her doctoral dissertation “The Iconographical and Iconological Interpretation of the figurative decoration of the Greek Shield-Bands”. She is specialized in the organization of archaeological tours in Greece and Italy with 10 years of experience collaborating with archaeological museums, including organizing a temporary exhibit for the Uffizi Museums. In addition to teaching for Syracuse, she has also taught Greek and Roman Mythology at the Lorenzo de’ Medici Institute in Florence since 2015.

• Email: sberutti@syr.edu

Elisa Biagini has published several poetry collections including “TRÅDAR” (2023), Filamenti (2020), The Plant of Dreaming (2017), The Guest in the Wood (Chelsea editions, 2013 – “2014 Best Translated Book Award”), and L’Ospite, (2004).  Her poems have been translated into fifteen languages, and she has translated several contemporary American poets for reviews, anthologies and complete collections (e.g. Nuovi Poeti Americani , 2006) as well as a selection of Paul Celan’s poems. She is the artistic director of the international poetry festival “Voci Lontane, Voci Sorelle.”

• Email: ebiagini@syr.edu
• Web Site: http://www.elisabiagini.it

Erika Bianchi is a historian specialized in the ancient Mediterranean cultures and in the historical narrative of ancient and modern sports. Her long teaching experience has included courses, seminars and workshops for both undergraduate and graduate students in several study abroad programs in Florence. She is also one of the instructors on the CAS 200 Mapping Italy course. In addition to Syracuse University, she is currently teaching Ancient Rome and Archeology courses at ISI Florence. She is also a published novelist and a literary translator.

• Email: erbianch@syr.edu

Luca Bisconti is an Associate Professor in the “U. Dini” Department of Mathematics and Informatics of the University of Florence. His research concerns Partial Differential Equations in Fluid Dynamics, Dynamical Systems, Nonlinear Ordinary Differential Equations, and Topological Methods in Mathematical Analysis.

• Email: lbiscont@syr.edu

Specializing in Renaissance Mantua and the network of princely courts in early modern Italy, Molly Bourne has published on a range of topics. Her books include Francesco II Gonzaga: The Soldier-Prince as Patron (2008) and, as co-editor, Encountering the Renaissance: Celebrating Gary M. Radke and 50 Years of the Syracuse University Graduate Program in Renaissance Art (2016). She is a member of the Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana and has held fellowships from the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies at I Tatti and the British Library. Bourne teaches art history and coordinates the Florence Graduate Program in Italian Renaissance art history.

• Email: mhbourne@syr.edu

Cosimo Campani is a research fellow at Autonomy UK. His doctoral work focused on the interaction between labor, architecture, and urbanism, particularly the historical implications of capitalist production. He has lectured at the Yale Architecture Advanced Design Studio (with Pier Vittorio Aureli) and organized courses and seminars on architectural and urban design at RomaTre University, Royal College of Art, and the Architectural Association. He has taken part in research projects in Russia, the Pearl River Delta, and California-Arizona-Nevada. His work has been exhibited in various institutions throughout Italy and abroad.

• Email: ccampani@syr.edu

Lidia Casado Ledesma is a postdoctoral researcher in Developmental and Educational Psychology at the University of Florence. Her research focuses on writing and reading processes, reasoning and learning processes, and instructional methods in scholarly settings. Recent publications include “Learning science through argumentative synthesis writing and deliberative dialogues: A comprehensive and effective methodology in secondary education”, Reading and Writing, co-authored with Cuevas, I. and Martín, E. (2021); “Teaching argumentative synthesis writing through deliberative dialogues: Instructional practices in secondary education”, Instructional Science, co-authored with Cuevas, I., Van den Bergh, H., Rijlaarsdam, G., Mateos, M., Granado- Peinado, M., and Martín, E. (2021).

• Email: lcasadol@syr.edu

Tommaso Ciuffoletti has worked for the Chamber of Deputies and the Regional Council of Tuscany and written about the agricultural market for the economic daily ItaliaOggi and was a columnist for the Tuscan edition of Corriere della Sera. For 8 years he was marketing manager of the Domini Castellare di Castellina group, which includes 4 major Italian wineries. He is a partner in and Head of Content for Treedom and runs his own winery in southern Tuscany. He now writes for Italian wine website Intravino and teaches for the Master in Scientific Disclosure at the University of Siena and the Master in Green economy & sustainability management at Radar Academy. He has published the books Photos du XXe siècle: Une histoire en images (2015) and Giacomo Tachis e la luce di Galileo (2016).

• Email: tciuffol@syr.edu

Olivier de Maret is a food historian who teaches food studies. His academic interests focus on alternative food systems, Italian and Florentine food history and the relationship between food, migration and identity. He has published articles and a book on Italian migrants and food businesses in Brussels just before the first world war. Between 2017 and 2021, he was production co-editor for the journal Food & History. He has been teaching at Syracuse University’s program in Florence since 2016 and currently teaches “Farm to Fork”, “Feeding the City: Urban Food Systems” and “Food, Culture and Identity”.

• Email: odemaret@syr.edu

Giovanni del Giudice has taught Italian as a foreign language in various capacities since 2010, including for political refugees. In 2015 he completed a course in the theory and methodology for teaching romance languages at the University of Carolina at Chapel Hill. Since 2007 he has taught U.S. college students both in the U.S. and in Italy, including at Pepperdine University in Florence since 2016. Del Giudice teaches courses in Italian language and culture at Syracuse Florence.

• Email: gdelgiud@syr.edu

Luisa Demuru has been teaching Italian language and culture at all levels at Syracuse Florence since 2002. She has taught for other study abroad programs in Florence including New York University, the British Institute, Richmond College, and CEA Study Abroad Program. She has also collaborated on numerous occasions with the Folkeligt Oplysnings Forbund (Cultural Institution for Adult Education) in Denmark as a visiting teacher of Italian language and culture, and she has been a linguistic support teacher for non-Italophone students in local elementary and middle schools. Her laurea degree from the University of Florence focused on German language and literature and her thesis was entitled “The Jews in Berlin 1933-1939: Aspects of the Jewish Reaction to Nazi Persecution.” She received a DITALS certificate to teach Italian as a foreign language from the University for Foreigners in Siena, Italy. Demuru’s educational background also includes an exchange scholarship with the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (German academic exchange service) through which she attended the University of Potsdam for two terms. In addition to teaching, she has translated academic essays from German to Italian for the Giunti publishing house in Florence.

• Email: ldemuru@syr.edu

Matteo Duni wrote the books Tra religione e magia: Storia del prete modenese Guglielmo Campana (1460?-1541), (1999) and Under the Devil’s Spell: Witches, Sorcerers, and the Inquisition in Renaissance Italy (2007). He has also published several articles in scholarly journals like Archivio Storico Italiano, Mélanges de l’École française de Rome, and Studies in Church History; as well as entries in reference works like The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Western Tradition (2006). He has organized and co-edited the proceedings for conferences, including “Prescritto e proscritto: Religione e società nell’Italia moderna” (2013).

• Email: mduni@syr.edu

Chiara Faggella is a fashion historian whose research focuses on Italy’s fashion industry and its postwar trans-European connections. She was a Visiting Fellow at the European University Institute of Florence in 2019-2020 and a Research Fellow at the Politecnico di Milano in 2021-2022. From 2013 to 2022 she was an adjunct lecturer in fashion studies at Stockholm University and she currently teaches Italian fashion culture and fashion history at Lund University. In 2023 she received a scholarship from the Lerici Foundation to research Italian fashion in postwar Scandinavia. She collaborated on the Salvatore Ferragamo 1898-1960 exhibition and catalog and co-edited L’Italia al lavoro (2023). Her book Becoming Couture: The Italian Fashion Industry after the Second World War is forthcoming with Manchester U. Press.

• Email: cfaggell@syr.edu

Rossella Falciai has taught in several US programs in Florence as well as technical schools in Belgium and France. She has a level II Master Itals in teaching language and culture to foreigners from the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and completed the program at the Nova Terra Coaching School in Brussels to become a Professional Certified Coach. She is a “mental coach” specialized in learning coaching and intercultural coaching. She is particularly interested in finding the best ways to transmit culture.

• Email: rfalciai@syr.edu

Marco Klee Fallani has participated in numerous shows in painting and sculpture, winning awards like the Premio della Pittura from the city of Lucca. He worked as a set designer for Luca Ronconi’s production Lo Specchio, helped produce the monument to Joe Louis for the City of Detroit, and prepared the molds and plaster casts of the Gugliemo pulpit for the Cathedral Works Museum of Pisa. His privately-owned works include a bronze portrait bust for a German government official, a series of paintings for Ron Dennis, and a large-scale painting, The Citation of the Mona Lisa, for the Gherardini Company. His paintings and sculptures have been exhibited in Italy, the U.S. and Netherlands.

• Email: mkfallan@syr.edu

Laura Fenelli, originally from Parma, has been living and working as an art historian in Florence since 2007. She works on the history of medieval and early modern images and saints’ iconography and hagiography. She has received several national and international fellowships (in Paris, EHESS; Berlin, UdK; London, the Warburg Institute, Bologna, Università degli Studi, Florence, KHI; Niki & Istituto Sangalli) and has published widely (including two books and several articles). Since 2009 she has taught medieval and modern art history for U.S. college programs in Florence and since 2013 she has helped develop high school art history textbooks for Italian publishers like Giunti TPV and Loescher. She is also one of the instructors on the CAS 200 Mapping Italy course.

• Email: lfenelli@syr.edu

Peter Fischer’s research focuses on sustainability in higher education, Mediterranean food history, and modern Italian politics and history. He is currently writing a textbook on “Food and Culture in the Mediterranean World” for use in sustainability curricula. His published works include Atomenergie und staatliches Interesse: Die Anfänge der Atompolitik in der Bundes-republik Deutschland 1949-1955 (1994) and “The Origins of the Federal Republic of Germany’s Space Policy 1959-1965 – European and National Dimensions” in Report ESA HSR-4 (1994). He has also published numerous articles on Italian food culture.

• Email: pfischer@syr.edu

Carlotta Fonzi Kliemann has published several essays of criticism and articles on Italian film, international political film, and women’s films, and co-authored the books Abbasso i bulli (Ponte alle Grazie, 2012) and Diversamente uguali (Gedi, 2020). She has also translated articles and books from English and French into Italian, notably Shakespeare’s Restless World by Neal McGregor (Il mondo inquieto di Shakespeare, Adelphi, 2017.) In addition to serving as a jury member for film festivals (SguardiAltrove, 2009, and Balkan Florence Express 2012), she has participated in round tables on film in Turin, Florence, Milan, and Rome. Kliemann teaches contemporary and Italian film.

• Email: cklieman@syr.edu

Martina Franci, a Tuscan native, has taught Italian as a foreign language in several contexts and countries, including Guatemala, Melbourne, Argentina, Istanbul, Boston and London. Since returning to Italy in 2018 she has taught Italian language and contemporary Italian literature for various U.S. university programs and language schools.

• Email: mfranci@syr.edu

Tulia Gattone specializes in Development Economics and Applied Econometrics. She has worked for the World Bank Group in Washington DC, the Implementation Support Unit of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention in Geneva, and the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington DC. Gattone has also worked as a teaching, graduate, and research assistant at Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY where she earned an M.A. in International Relations from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

• Email: tgattone@syr.edu

Olivia Gori is an Italian architect whose work focuses on public space and urban regeneration. In addition to her post-graduate studies at the University of Florence, she also studied at the ENSA de Paris-Belleville. In 2016 she co-founded the architectural practice ECÒL. Since then, the group has developed several projects on public space and public art in Italy and Europe involving unconventional strategies and aesthetics to address contemporary issues and needs. She has been active in the research and creation of alternative practices in the field of urban design and has worked as a research fellow for the architecture department of the University of Florence.

• Email: olgori@syr.edu

Dr. Kyle Griffith earned his doctorate in Urban Studies at the University of New Orleans. Before joining SU Florence, he worked as a scholar and practitioner in England specializing in increased diversity and inclusion in the workplace. He teaches Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises and Production and Operations Management.

• Email: kgriff17@syr.edu

Francesco Guazzelli is a professional photographer, teacher of photography and graphics technician. His photographic work focuses primarily on Italian fashion. Since 1996 he has been the official press office photographer for Florence’s Pitti Immagine and event photographer for the Stazione Leopolda exhibition center. Over the past 25 years Guazzelli has collaborated with numerous international fashion magazines including the Spanish Divos, the German Textil Wirtschaft and Textil Mitteilungen, the American Robb Report and the French Monsieur. His work has included the editorial page for the Italian magazine Benissimo and stage photography and set design for the theatrical company “Macchine di Bosco.” Guazzelli has also taught photography at Fortman Studios from 1986 to 1990 and the “Art…è” School of Design from 1991 to 1994, both in Florence. In addition to teaching at Syracuse Florence, Guazzelli is also graphics technician for the photo lab.

• Email: fguazzel@syr.edu

Before getting his doctorate in Ireland, Leonardo Lastilla received a Laurea in Humanities from the University of Florence, an MA in Teaching Italian Language from the Università per Stranieri of Siena, and an MA in Intercultural Education from Roma 3 University. He has taught Italian language and literature, travel writing, English literature and humanities, and food and wine for many schools, institutions, and universities. He is also a poet and the author of several books as well as many pieces published in volumes, magazines, and journals.

• Email: llastill@syr.edu

Matilde Milanesi is Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics and Management of the University of Florence where she teaches Marketing and Management. Her research interests include international business and international marketing, industrial marketing, buyer-supplier relationships, and luxury and fashion marketing. She has published in top-ranked academic journals such as International Marketing Review, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research, Journal of International Management, and Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing. She has also authored chapters in edited books and recently published a book on liabilities and networks in the internationalization of fashion retailing and a book on the internationalization and business models of luxury fashion SMEs.

• Email: mmilanes@syr.edu

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, Jamie Miller Morris has made Florence her home for more than 30 years, relocating to Europe after majoring in painting and minoring in drawing in graduate school. Jamie has taught in study abroad programs in Florence since 2007, and has held various workshops for people of all ages. The winner of the European Public Tender For Painting in the city of Pergine Valsugana, Trento, 2008, her work has been exhibited in the USA and Europe. Along with painting, drawing and mixed media work, Jamie has experience with wall restoration and decoration.

• Email: jamorris@syr.edu

Jonathan Nelson has published extensively on Italian Renaissance art. His research interests range from representations of Blacks and of women to economic approaches to art and responses of contemporary artists to the Renaissance. His books include Risks in Renaissance Art: Production, Purchase, and Reception (2024), The Patron’s Payoff: Economic Frameworks for Conspicuous Commissions in Renaissance Italy (2008), and monographic studies/exhibition catalogues on Filippino Lippi (2022, 2004), Robert Mapplethorpe (2009), Plautilla Nelli (2008, 2000), Leonardo da Vinci (2007), and Michelangelo (2002). He co-edits “Elements in the Renaissance” (Cambridge University Press) and is a Research Associate at Harvard University’s Kennedy School.

• Email: jnelso03@syr.edu

Sean Nelson teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on the Global Renaissance, with particular interest in cross-cultural interactions between Early Modern Florence and the Islamic Lands. He has received fellowships from the Kunsthistorisches Institute in Florence; the Max-Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin; the Getty Foundation’s “Connecting Art Histories” Initiative; the Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations, Istanbul co-sponsored by the Harvard Center for Renaissance Studies, Villa I Tatti; and CRAASH at the University of Cambridge among others. He has published several essays on the Early Modern Collecting of Islamic spoils by the Medici and their extended socio-political network.

• Email: sanels02@syr.edu

Elia Nichols is a Public Speaking and Communication coach and professor, a TEDx Speaker Coach, a keynote speaker, as well as a tv, film and stage actress. She has coached 21 TEDx speakers from all over the world and is the lead public speaking coach for companies and institutes like Menarini Pharmaceuticals, Confindustria, Aquarance (Greece), Lions + Tigers (USA), and the European University Institute. As an actress, Elia is best known for her starring role as Professor Tucker in the TV series Maggie & Bianca Fashion Friends on the RAI Gulp channel in Italy and in 180 countries on Netflix. She is also a co-founder of the F.E.S.T.A. Theatre Company.

• Email: etnichol@syr.edu

Eric Nicholson teaches courses in dramatic literature and theater history. An active member of the international research collaborative “Theater Without Borders,” with Robert Henke he edited Transnational Exchange in Early Modern Theater (2008) and Transnational Mobilities in Early Modern Theater (2014). His recent publications include Lovers’ Debates for the Stage, a translation/edition (with Pamela Brown and Julie Campbell) of Isabella Andreini’s Fragmenti di alcune scritture… (ITER, 2022). At Syracuse Florence and elsewhere, Eric has directed classic plays, and in Italy he has worked as a professional actor and speaker in theater, film, audio guides, and animated cartoon productions.

• Email: eanichol@syr.edu

After completing his doctoral degree in 1997, Roberto Pacciani started working at the Research and Development Department of GE Oil & Gas (formerly Nuovo Pignone) as a turbine and compressor aero-design specialist. Since 1999, he has been a member of the mechanical engineering faculty at the University of Florence. He is presently an Associate Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering. At the School of Engineering of the University of Florence he teaches courses in Fluid Dynamics and Turbomachinery. His research involves the development of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methodologies with a special focus on turbomachinery design and analysis. He has contributed to the development of CFD codes which are currently used by several industries and research centers. Pacciani currently teaches a course in thermodynamics at Syracuse Florence (spring semester only).

• Email: rpaccian@syr.edu

Francesca Parotti is a freelance engineer and professor of materials technology at the Florence Institute for the Industrial Arts (ISIA). Her research focuses mainly on material technologies for environmental sustainability, including developments in bamboo as a construction material.

• Email: fparotti@syr.edu

Before completing his doctorate in Scotland, Guglielmo Perfetti received a BA from La Sapienza University in Rome (2008) and an MA from Roma 3 University (2010). His research interests include Italian pop culture, cultural studies, youth culture, and the arts, especially music and cinema. He has taught students at various levels, including pre-teens and teens, undergraduate and postgraduate university students, older learners, and those suffering from life-changing conditions like dementia. He is also one of the instructors on the CAS 200 Mapping Italy course. In addition to Syracuse, he is teaches Italian Pop Cultures at Dickinson College in Bologna. He also works as a music event organizer and DJ. He hosted Lafropunk Radio Show on Subcity Radio Glasgow for 8 years (2014-2022) and he has been hosting the web radio show Permanent Daylight on Radiostart since 2020.

• Email: gperfett@syr.edu

A native of Tuscany with Serbian background, Professor Perugini is fluent in Italian, Serbian and English. She earned her Laurea Magistrale (MA comparable) in English and Russian at the University of Siena and her doctorate in History of Performing Arts from Tufts University. She has been the Director of Syracuse Florence since 2011 and acts as the program’s legal representative. She teaches cross-cultural management and communication. Perugini has published five books and many scholarly articles on topics ranging from language to food to AI and bias. Recipient of the Chancellor’s Fellowship in 2023. She is involved in advocacy for women in leadership, and regularly leads dedicated seminars on the subject.

• Email: perugini@syr.edu

As an expert in Etruscan, Greek, and Roman history with a focus on Etruscan maritime activities and links with contemporary Mediterranean civilizations, Giulia Pettena has published numerous articles and books on Etruscans and underwater archaeology including Gli Etruschi e il mare (“The Etruscans and the Sea”), Edizioni Ananke, Torino 2002, and the exhibition catalogue The Etruscans – An Ancient Culture Revealed on the Cambi Collection (Atlanta 2004). Since 2008, she has been teaching courses on ancient art, history, and mythology and conducting tours of archaeological sites for various American study abroad programs in Florence.

• Email: gpettena@syr.edu

MA, Italian Studies, University College London; Laurea, Political Science, University of Florence. Natalia Piombino completed postgraduate studies in modern and contemporary Italy and problems and methods of historical research at the University of Florence. She has received research grants from the Central Research Fund of the University of London and her publications include Focus on the Family: Germi’s Cinema as a Map of a Country in Transition (forthcoming); and Il Sud di Rossellini (forthcoming). She teaches courses in Italian history and society at Syracuse Florence.

• Email: npiombin@syr.edu

Isabella Pistolozzi received her Master’s degree in Education with honors from the University of Florence specializing in Psycholinguistics and Foreign Language Teaching. Her thesis was entitled “Neurolinguistics in Second-Language Learning in Adults: Teaching Italian Language Acquisition.” She is a recipient of the National Certification in the Methodology of Teaching English as a Second Language and has taught Italian language courses at schools for foreigners throughout Florence. At the Hantarex S.p.A company in Florence, she developed and coordinated the company’s English as a Second Language program for employees at all levels. She has been teaching Italian language and culture courses at Syracuse Florence since 1989.

• Email: ipistolo@syr.edu

Luca Miles Ponsi is co-founder of Studio Ponsi – Architettura e Design and has worked in the United States, Switzerland, Portugal and Italy. During his studies, he was awarded with a Fondazione Maletti Scholarship and an Erasmus Programme grant to study at the Universidade Luisiada in Lisbon. Ponsi has worked for Mark Mack Architects in Los Angeles and Moretti Costruzioni Spa in Italy to develop a prefabricated concrete housing system, now in production by the company. In 2013 his work was exhibited at the Lisbon Architecture Triennale. He is a licensed architect in Switzerland and Italy.

• Email: lponsi@syr.edu

Daniele Profeta is an Italian architect and designer. He is the Director of the Architecture Program of Syracuse University in Florence. He has previously taught at the Yale School of Architecture and at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). Daniele is a partner at A/P Practice, a collaborative partnership with Maya Alam. Their projects combine everyday digital habits, contemporary imaging technologies, and traditional craftsmanship to surpass an introverted conversation and open up novel forms of practice. Past work ranges from small scale public installations to sites of speculative re-use.

• Email: dprofeta@syr.edu

Massimo Rosati is a senior business consultant and academic with over 20 years of experience. He holds a postgraduate master’s in human resources management and is an Adjunct Professor of Management and Marketing at the University of Florence. He has been a visiting professor at Deakin University (Australia), Université de Rennes, and Université La Rochelle (France). Rosati has co-authored three books and numerous papers on branding strategies, innovative distribution models, blockchain, entrepreneurial behavior, and digital innovation. He is a member of SIM (Italian Society of Marketing) and AIDEA (Italian Academy of Business Economics).

• Email: mrosati@syr.edu

Luca Salvatori is Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation of Structures at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Florence. He is a consultant for structural engineering and computational-software development and is the designer of the computer-code SMARTmasonry. His scientific interests focus on the development and implementation of computational models. He has developed numerical schemes for bridge aerodynamics, dynamics of quasicrystals, concrete cracking, liquid-solid phase-transitions, optimization of shell structures, multiscale models, masonry structures, seismic analysis, cold-formed steel, computational geometry and topology, mesh generation.

Antonella Salvia has been teaching Italian language courses since 2000 when she moved to Belgium to teach at the University of Brussels. After returning to Italy in 2001, she began teaching American students and since then has taught in several study abroad programs in Florence. She is also one of the instructors on the CAS 200 Mapping Italy course. Salvia regularly engages in professional development opportunities to stay updated on the latest advances in the fields of linguistics and Italian language learning and teaching.

• Email: asalvia@syr.edu

Born and raised in Florence, Niccolò Sbaraglia is an economist specialized in statistics and a production manager dedicated to luxury accessories with a niche in product communication strategy. After living in New York City for 8 years and having founded two companies , T-project showroom and PLUMA – ITALIA, Niccolò returned to Florence after accepting a teaching position in the Undergraduate and Master programs at Polimoda fashion school, for the course Craft to Business. He has worked as product manager of leather jackets for Kering Group. Later he was Head of Business & Art Direction Department at Polimoda and in 2020 was appointed Head of Commercial Development at Polimoda. Niccolò believes in the power of art and fashion to bring about dialogue among all cultures of the world.

• Email: nsbaragl@syr.edu

Marcello Simonetta has authored several books including his Medici trilogy, The Montefeltro Conspiracy (Doubleday, New York: 2007, translated into 10 languages), Volpi e Leoni. I Medici, Machiavelli e la rovina d’Italia (Bompiani, Milan: 2014, translated into 4 languages) and Caterina de’ Medici. Storia segreta di una faida famigliare (Rizzoli, Milan: 2018, translated into 4 languages).  He has also published monographs on Petrarch and Machiavelli, Guicciardini, and Pier Luigi Farnese, and many scholarly articles. He has edited sources in Renaissance literary, historical, and diplomatic history. He currently manages the Arte del Negozio Project.

Debora Spini has published essays in English and Italian on democracy and globalization, human rights, and European identity. Her publications include La Società civile post nazionale, Meltemi ed., Roma, 2006, and Le parole del mondo globale (co-editor with Andrea Giuntini and Piero Meucci). Numerous essays and book chapters include: “Of Leviathan and other animals: Notes on European Identity,” in L. Leonardi, ed.; “Sociology of Europe,” Firenze University Press, 2008; “Lobbying for Values. La società civile e la governance europea,” in Imago Europae, Dec 2007; “European Civil Society, Identity and Legitimacy” in F. Cerutti, S.Lucarelli, eds.; “European Union: Identity and Legitimacy,” London: Routledge, 2008; and “Fra Valori e Interessi: la società civile in un mondo post nazionale,” in Iride, 2008, n. 1. Her early research interests focused on the history of Protestant theology and early contractualist political thought. On these topics she has published the monograph “Diritti di Dio, diritti dei popoli: Perre Jurieu e il problema della sovranita 1681-1691″, Torino: Claudiana, 1997. Her more recent research focuses on political and social philosophy. At Syracuse Florence she teaches courses on European politics, citizenship, and identity.

• Email: dspini@syr.edu

Kirsten Stromberg (b. San Francisco, CA USA) is an artist and educator who lives and works in Florence, Italy.  She teaches classes on painting and sound art and runs workshops and residencies on contemporary art practice. Previous positions include SACI MFA Program Director, SUF Studio Arts Supervisor, and SUF Studio Arts Coordinator.  Working with both experimental music and visual art, her work focuses on practices of listening and decentering as forms of critical resistance and reparative practice.  Her work has been shown/performed internationally in solo and group exhibitions, including Florence, London, Berlin, Warsaw, New York, L.A., and San Francisco.

• Email: kstrombe@syr.edu
• Web Site: https://www.kirstenstromberg.net/

Since 1980, Stefania Talini’s work has mainly focused on the music and fashion industries. From 1985 to 2000, she was the official photographer for Florence’s Pitti Immagine. She has made record covers for companies such as RCA, EMI, Cramps, and Indies, has collaborated with the RAI Italian television network and has worked on stage installations and video clips. Her photographs have been published in leading national and international magazines, her independent projects have been exhibited internationally and her work is included in several public and private photographic collections. In 2003, Talini co-authored Foto Parlanti (Bonacci Ed.), a photographic collaboration with American students on Italian culture. Her personal research in photography concerns the use of diverse techniques and supports in black & white, Polaroid and digital photography. In addition to Syracuse Florence, Talini’s teaching experience has included courses and workshops for the American Institute for Foreign Studies, Blith & Co., Nasson College and several private schools in Florence. Her intense didactic activity concentrates primarily on the expressive and cultural content of photography together with an accurate technical preparation. Since 1989 Talini has been teaching photography at Syracuse Florence, where she was also coordinator of the art department from 2006 to 2009

• Email: stalini@syr.edu

Christian Tarchi is a Researcher and Lecturer in Developmental and Educational Psychology at the University of Florence. He has also taught several courses in psychology for study abroad programs in Italy, including cross-cultural psychology, human development in culture, and diversity in education. His research focuses on reasoning, learning, and intercultural competence. He has published extensively in prestigious academic journals and presented his work at several international conferences. Recent publications include “The influence of thinking dispositions on integration and recall of multiple texts,” British Journal of Educational Psychology, co-authored with Villalon, R. (2021); “Promoting intercultural competence in study abroad students,” European Journal of Psychology of Education (2021); “Effects of think‐aloud on students’ multiple‐documents comprehension,” Applied Cognitive Psychology (2021); “Learning from text, video, or subtitles: A comparative analysis,” Computers & Education, co-authored with Zaccoletti, S. and Mason, L. (2020).

• Email: ctarchi@syr.edu

Martino Traxler has taught university students in both the US and Italy, including for several study abroad programs in Florence, since 1996. In addition to publishing essays in various academic journals, he has also served on the Atlanta Children’s Hospital Bioethics Committee and Agnes Scott College’s Institutional Review Board. His research focuses on migration and morals, global moral problems and international affairs, and preservation ethics. He has been a licensed tour guide for Florence and its province since 2018.

• Email: mtraxler@syr.edu

Lorenza Tromboni has broad experience with digital tools for the arts and humanities and is actively involved in sharing academic research with the general public through blogs, websites, videos and articles. Tromboni is the author of Inter omnes Plato et Aristoteles. Gli appunti filosofici di Girolamo Savonarola (2012) and the co-editor of Lenten Sermons: Fast of the Body, Banquet of the Soul (2017). She has also published articles in various journals as well as entries in reference works like the Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy (2014-) and the Encyclopedia of Medieval Chronicles (2016). In 2018 Tromboni organized the conference The Making of Political Thought: Ruptures, Trends and Patterns between Henry VII and Louis the Bavarian in Strasbourg.

• Email: ltrombon@syr.edu

Margherita Velucchi is Full Professor of Business Statistics at the European University of Rome and has taught Economics at New York University in Florence. She also teaches International Economics and Statistics at Corce Master (Italian Trade Agency), CEIDIM Master (Università Tor Vergata, Roma) and many others. Her research interests include business demography models, financial econometrics and models for international trade. She works on Survival Models for business demography, Multilevel models for Panel Data, and volatility models for financial markets. She has published in several academic journals, including the Review of Economics and Statistics and Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, as well as in international collections. At Syracuse Florence she teaches a course on healthcare in Europe.

• Email: mvelucch@syr.edu

Jane Zaloga is a Fulbright Fellow and teaches art and architectural history courses for Syracuse University Florence.

• Email: jlzaloga@syr.edu