Simone Anselmi

Simone Anselmi has extensive experience in consulting, training and coaching, and several years’ worth of experience in organizations as an account and marketing executive. He has developed significant teaching experience in different American University undergraduate programs. At the undergraduate level, Simone teaches Marketing courses for Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence and Marketing, Entrepreneurship and International Business at Syracuse University campus in Florence. His graduate level teaching experience includes Business Planning courses for the Polimoda Masters program in Fashion and Beauty, and International Sales Management courses for the Masters program in International Management at the European School of Economics, Lucca.

Simone completed an MBA from the SDA Bocconi (Milan, Italy) and a Certificate in Marketing/Advertising from New York University (NY). His undergraduate degree is in Economics and Statistics, completed at the University of Florence (Italy). He is also Trainer Certified with NLP, after NLP Practitioner and Master level degree.

Simone is one of the founders of the Italian Coach Federation (FIC), the Italian chapter of the International Coach Federation (ICF), and he was a junior level soccer player and kids' soccer coach. He is also author of various training manuals and check-up analysis tests in areas of competence. He works as a trainer, consultant and business coach primarily with entrepreneurs and medium-to-large organizations on issues related to marketing and sales process, interpersonal communication, leadership and public speaking. Simone speaks Italian, English and Spanish.

Course Taught: International Business

Erika Bianchi, PhD

Erika Bianchi has been teaching Classics and Roman History since 2005. She has been a guest lecturer for American study abroad programs in Florence and has taught seminars on Greek History for the University of Florence. In 2006, she tutored a Master’s dissertation for Middlebury College in Florence.

Erika holds a Ph.D. in Ancient History and a M.A. degree in Classics, both from the University of Florence (Italy). Much of her doctoral research was conducted in Oxford, England. Her current research interests focus on Greek writers in the Roman Empire. She has published several articles in national and international reviews.

Of Italian nationality, Erika speaks Italian, English, French, and Spanish and reads Latin and Greek. She is particularly interested in the history and politics of classical Athens and imperial Rome, and in Greek and Roman historiography. She leads English-spoken walking seminars for Context, a network of scholars and specialists who organize educational tours for enthusiastic travelers. Erika also translates novels from English into Italian for a well-known Italian publisher, a job which she considers the halfway point between two of her biggest passions—reading and writing.

Course Taught: Etruscans & Romans

Luisa Demuru

Luisa has extensive experience in the area of teaching Italian language to non-native speakers. She has taught for several study abroad programs in Florence, including Syracuse University, New York University, the British Institute, and Richmond College. Her language teaching experience also includes numerous collaborations with Folkeligt Oplysnings Forbund (FOF, Cultural Institution for Adult Education) in Aarhus, Denmark as a guest teacher of Italian language and culture. Luisa has worked as a linguistic support teacher for non-Italophone students in local elementary and middle schools.

Luisa graduated with a degree in Modern Foreign Languages and Letters from the University of Florence (Italy), with an emphasis on German language and literature. Her thesis was titled "The Jews in Berlin 1933-1939: Aspects of the Jewish Reaction to Nazi Persecution." She completed a DITALS Certificate (certification to teach Italian as a foreign language), granted by the University for Foreigners in Siena (Italy). Her educational background also includes an exchange scholarship with the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (German academic exchange service), with which she attended the University of Potsdam for one term; a Certificate in German language granted by the International Certificate Conference and Goethe Institut of Bonn; and several specialization courses in linguistic pedagogy.

Luisa has translated academic essays from German to Italian for the Giunti publishing house in Florence. One of her areas of interest, the history of Italian song, is incorporated into Luisa’s didactic methods, and is periodically the focus of conferences led by her.

Course Taught: Italian Language

James Douglas, PhD

Having been hooked on Italian cinema at university film club and film festivals, James pursued a career, alongside his English language and literature teaching, in lecturing in cinema studies. He teaches a variety of students on Italian Cinema in Florence, as well as presenting courses in film appreciation for the general public in and around Florence.

James graduated with an M. Phil. in Contemporary Italian Cinema from Bristol University (UK).

Born in South Africa and a citizen of the United Kingdom, James has lived in Italy for almost 20 years. He writes articles on Italian cinema and film reviews for English language newspapers in Florence, as well as program notes for the local English language cinema. In his free time he watches movies obsessively, listens to music, especially Shostakovich, reads, and enjoys the gastronomic and other delights of Tuscany. James’s favorite Italian movie is La Dolce Vita, or maybe Rocco e I Suoi Fratelli, or Il Gattopardo, or…

Course taught: Modern Italian Cinema

Tamara Evans

A native of Baghdad, Iraq, Tamara Evans started her university teaching career in 1982 at Dundee College of Technology (Scotland) and at John Moores when she moved to Liverpool in 1984. She teaches in the areas of International Economics, European Union, International Marketing and Business. She has taught in Florence for several American study abroad programs, including Richmond College in Florence and Gonzaga University in Florence.

Tamara studied at Hull University (UK) where she earned an MSc in Monetary Economics by research. Before embarking on her dissertation, she completed a degree in Economics and Politics at Baghdad University (Iraq), and she spent a qualifying year at Oxford University (UK). In 1973 Tamara won a scholarship from the Ministry of Oil in Iraq to further her study in the United Kingdom.

Tamara lived for several years in the Middle East, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Italy, and she speaks fluently Arabic, English, Italian, and some Swedish.

Course taught: Fashion Marketing & Merchandising

Martina Ghiandelli

Martina Ghiandelli was born and raised in Italy. She has been working with American students since August, 2000, when she moved in Colorado to work for the department of Romance languages in Colorado College. In addition to teaching Italian language at CEA, Martina currently teaches courses titled Italian Language and Culture, The Italian Family and Women, Sex and Marriage at study abroad programs in Florence.

Martina completed her degree in Philosophy, with a final dissertation titled "The Path of Paul Watzlavick: From the Autopoiesis of Life to the Paradox of Suffering" from the University of Florence (Italy). She also holds a Master's degree in Communication and Change in Organizations, completed at the Mental Research Institute (M.R.I.) in Bologna (Italy).

Martina is a licensed art historical tour guide, and in addition to teaching leads tourist and student groups on guided tours of the city of Florence. She is fluent in English.

Course Taught: Italian Language

Katharina Giraldi Haller, PhD

Katharina Giraldi Haller she has taught art history at several institutions and American universities in Florence, such as Richmond University in London, George Mason University Washington, the British Institute, and the Florence University of the Arts. Since 2005, she has worked as a lecturer at the department of art history at Bristol University.

Katharina completed a Ph.D. in Art History at the University of Vienna (Austria), while her Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees were in in Art History, Archaeology and Philosophy, and were completed at the Karl Franzens University in Graz (Austria). After working as a docent at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, where she collaborated as lector and later assistant professor to Professor Josef Mikl, Peter Sloterdijk and the painter Paul Rotterdam, she continued her studies in Florence. Katharina is Austrian, and she speaks German, English and Italian.

Course Taught: The Great Masters: Michelangelo, Leonardo & Raphael

Maximiliano Lorenzi, PhD

Dr. Maximiliano Lorenzi is post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Roma San Pio V. In addition to being a member of the CEA faculty in Florence, he teaches Politics of the European Union at the Lorenzo de' Medici School, and previously taught a Politics of the European Union course at the University of Florence, and a course on the European Union at California State University in Florence.

Maximiliano received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Florence (Italy), his M.A. in European Studies from the University of Siena (Italy), and his undergraduate degree in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Padova (Italy). He has been visiting fellow at the European Centre for Public Affairs in Brussels and has worked for an Italian MEP at the European Parliament.

He has presented at many conferences in Italy and abroad, and published an article on "Power: A Radical View" by Steven Lukes. His research and teaching interests include interest representation and lobbying at the European Union level, public affairs consultancy, non-state actors in global politics, the relationship between business and government, and the quality of democracy.

Course Taught: The Politics of European Integration: an Italian Perspective

Patrizia Marzocchetti

Patrizia Marzocchetti has taught as far afield as Australia, Canada, the US, Austria, and the UK, as well as in Italy. In Florence she teaches American students about the history and Italian cuisine. She has worked as a columnist for VOGUE Entertaining in Australia, and Italianicious: Essence of Italy, a magazine dedicated to Italian culture. Her expertise also embraces experience as a catering consultant, food consultant, chef trainer, and consultant for the Consorzio Chianti Classico.

Patrizia earned a degree in Italian Language and Literature from the University of Florence (Italy), and has since gathered wide experience in teaching courses in Italian language, culture, and sociology.

A native of Vasto in the Abruzzo region of Italy, Patrizia’s interests include reading, writing, travel, photography and other visual arts, and she is fluent in Italian, German, Spanish, and English. Patrizia's aims as a teacher are to share her passion for Italian culture and to help students gain a new awareness of the unknown aspects of foreign cultures.

Course Taught: The Culture of Food & Wine in Italian Society

Angela Oberer, PhD

Angela Oberer was born and raised in Germany. She has been working with American students and teaching at American colleges and universities in Florence since 2003.

Angela completed her Ph.D. at the Technische Universitaet of Berlin (Germany), with a thesis titled "The Fresco Cycle of Signorelli and Sodoma in Monte Oliveto Maggiore," and a Master's degree at Bonn University (Germany), with a thesis titled on "The Cross Relic at the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista in Venice." After a Fellowship at the Bonn Graduate Colloquium "The Renaissance in Italy and its European Reception: Art/History/ Literature," Angela won a Scholarship at the Kress Foundation at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

Angela is a licensed art historical tour guide, and in addition to teaching leads tourist and student groups on guided tours of the city of Florence. She is fluent in German, English and Italian.

Course Taught: Iconography: The Secret Language of Italian Renaissance Art

Nicoletta Peluffo

Born in Savona in the Italian region of Liguria, Nicoletta Peluffo has lived in Florence since 1986, where she attended the Superior School for Interpreters and Translators. She teaches Italian Language and Civilization for American universities in Florence, including Kent State University, Georgetown University and Miami University (Ohio) where she is involved in syllabi development and tests design. She is also involved in a program that aims to teach Italian to foreign workers.

Nicoletta completed a Master’s degree in Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Milan (Italy), and a DITALS certificate for teaching Italian to foreigners from the University of Siena (Italy).

Nicoletta is fluent in English, French and German and has worked as an interpreter and translator.

Course Taught: Italian Language

Lorenzo Picchi

Lorenzo Picchi’s fields of expertise are Media & Communication and Italian History, and his research areas include the history of the Italian mafia, in particular the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, new trends and globalization of organized crime, and the control over the media in Italy from the Fascist period until today. Lorenzo teaches mass communication and history at American Universities and study abroad programs in Florence.

Lorenzo graduated with a degree in Political Science from the University of Florence (Italy) and he holds a CEMS Master certificate in European Media Studies from the Victoria University of Manchester (UK) with a final dissertation on Italian Neorealist Cinema. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Freie Universitet of Berlin (Germany), with a dissertation on the recent developments of the Italian mafia. Lorenzo has held conferences on the Italian mafia and the Italian media in Italy and the U.S.

Lorenzo is an honorary member of the Antimafia Association Fondazione Caponnetto, through which he organizes conferences and congresses in Italian schools and other institutions on organized crime. Lorenzo is the Editor-in-Chief of The Florence Newspaper. He has played guitar since he was 15 years old, and in 2006 he recorded and distributed worldwide his album, If Prince Calls I'm Not In, featuring music entirely composed by him. He is Italian and speaks English fluently.

Course Taught: The Social History of the Italian Mafia

Fabrizio Ricciardelli, PhD

A native of Florence, Fabrizio Ricciardelli has taught for American programs in Florence such as Sarah Lawrence College and Richmond University. His main field of study is Italian city-states in the social, economic, political, and cultural landscape of Medieval Europe. His academic experience includes several reviews, conference presentations, and journal articles. He has recently embarked upon the study of the forms of political propaganda used in the Italian Republics from the 13th to the 15th centuries.

Fabrizio completed a Ph.D. in History at the University of Warwick (UK), an Advanced Degree in Pedagogical Studies at the University of Siena, and an undergraduate degree in Medieval History at the University of Florence.

Fabrizio has authored and co-authored numerous textbooks on institutional and political history, and among his more recent publications is “The Politics of Exclusion in Early Renaissance Florence” (Brepols: Turnhout, 2007). He is also a musician, and he recently released an album with musical partner Adrian Blanchard titled “London Bound.”

Course Taught: The Medici: History of a Dynasty

Sirpa Salenius, PhD

Sirpa Salenius is a native of Helsinki, Finland. In addition to being a member of the CEA faculty in Florence, she has taught English and American Literature at the Rome Study Center of Richmond.

Sirpa received her Ph.D. in English Studies from the University of Joensuu (Finland), and her M.A. in English Studies from the University of Florence (Italy), where the main focus of her studies was on American Literature. She has received various grants for doing research at the Pierpont Morgan Library (New York), the Longfellow House (Cambridge, Massachusetts) and the Houghton Library (Cambridge, Massachusetts).

She has written many articles on nineteenth-century American authors, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, and Mark Twain, and has participated in many international conferences. She is the author of Set in Stone: 19th-century American Authors in Florence (2003) and Florence, Italy: Images of the City in Nineteenth-Century American Writing (2007); and editor of Sculptors, Painters, and Italy: Italian Influence on Nineteenth-Century American Art (2009) and American Authors Reinventing Italy: The Writings of Exceptional Nineteenth-Century Women (2009).

Sirpa's interests include music, dance, and visual arts, traveling, hiking, and cooking. She has studied seven languages, and uses Italian, English and Finnish on a daily basis.

Course Taught: Exploring Italy: The Literature of Travel

Jacopo Santini

A Florentine native, Jacopo Santini he has been involved in photographic projects since 1992, mostly consisting of documentation of unseen areas of his birthplace and of Tuscany. On the trail of Eugene Atget, his primary motivation is to attempt to save the memory of places just before their renovation or death, as well as the drawing of an alternative visual map of Florence. Past projects include the 2001 photographic documentation of the former Florentine convent and prison called "Le Murate", just before it was transformed into a residential structure as well as work with Albergo Popolare, a shelter for homeless people in the San Frediano Quarter, since 2002. Since 2004, Jacopo has taught photography at SACI in Florence. Apart from teaching he also works as an archaeological photographer.

Jacopo completed a Law degree at the University of Florence (Italy). His deep passion for literature and music (classical and jazz), but also for other, less academic aspects of a country's culture (food, traditions) often affect his choices and the content of his courses. Jacopo speaks fluent English.

Course Taught: Photography in Florence

Antonella Salvia

Antonella Salvia has been teaching Italian language since 2000, when she moved to Belgium to teach at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. After returning to Italy, she began teaching American students in September, 2001 and since then has taught Italian language for several study abroad programs in Florence, including Syracuse University, Richmond College, Florence University of the Arts, Pepperdine University and the British Institute of Florence.

Antonella graduated from the University of Pisa (Italy) with a degree in Classics, with a final thesis in Economic and Social History of the Ancient World titled “The Role of Wealth in Athens During the 5th Century B.C. Nikias’ Case.” She completed the DITALS certificate to teach Italian as a foreign language, granted by the University for Foreigners in Siena (Italy). Antonella also completed a Master's degree at the University ‘Ca Foscari in Venice (Italy) in Pedagogy and Advancement of Italian Language and Culture to Foreigners, with a final thesis titled “From Television Talk Show to the Cinema: Four Didactic Proposals. The Audio-Visual in Teaching Italian to Foreign Students.” Her educational career also includes an Erasmus scholarship with which she attended the University of Poitiers for one semester.

Born in La Spezia in the Italian region of Liguria, Antonella speaks Italian, English and French.

Course Taught: Italian Language

Martino Traxler, PhD

Of Italian and Anglo-American parentage, Martino Traxler has taught mainly moral and political philosophy at Cornell, Ohio University, and Agnes Scott Women's College. He lectures occasionally at the British Institute on contemporary Italian problems, and teaches courses in various periods of Italian history. Martino Traxler completed a PhD from Cornell University (NY) and Bachelor’s degree Tufts University (MA), both in Philosophy.

Course Taught: Living Italy: Contemporary Culture & Society

Zachary Androus, PhD

Zachary Androus was born in Alexandria, Virginia. His doctoral research addressed the role of culture in medical practice, particularly the controversies surrounding culturally-motivated surgeries on children. He has presented papers at academic conferences in the U.S. and Europe, and published in both books and journals addressing various aspects of these practices, including human rights, gender, and research methodology. He is currently engaged in a long-term research project investigating immigration and multiculturalism in contemporary Florence. Zachary has taught at American University, the SUNY Fashion Institute of Technology, the CAPA Florence Program, and at the Istituto Lorenzo de’Medici in Florence. He has guest lectured at Lorenzo de’Medici and the Institute at Palazzo Rucellai in Florence. As anthropology has a long tradition of investigating culture firsthand through participant-observation, students in Zachary’s course at CEA are encouraged to think critically about their own experiences abroad, often one of their greatest resources.

Zachary earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology with a concentration in Race, Gender, and Social Justice from American University (Washington, DC) and a Master’s degree in Anthropology from the University of Montana (MT).

Apart from his academic work, Zachary is an accomplished goldsmith and artistic jeweler, and he has exhibited his work in galleries in the U.S. and Italy. He enjoys art and live music, particularly avant-garde and experimental genres. Zachary has lived in Florence since 2006 and is fluent in Italian.

Course Taught: Communications & Global Competence

Christie Barakat

In addition to teaching, Christie has experience as a social worker, a copy-writer, a public relations specialist and freelance writer. Her teaching experience includes a range of psychology and communication courses and most recently, social media. She is presently working on developing courses in European media and culture, and media studies courses for today’s new media landscape such as digital literacy, digital media theory and media convergence. She teaches at Florence University of the Arts and is also a guest lecturer for creative writing students participating in a master’s level winter workshop at FUA.

Christie received a Master’s degree in Mass Communication from the University of South Carolina. Her undergraduate degree is in Psychology. She completed an Associate Degree in Criminal Justice.

Course Taught: Social Media

Elisa Innocenti

Elisa Innocenti has been teaching Italian language since 2002, when she moved to Russia to teach for an Italian-Russian Center in Vladimir. After returning to Italy, she began working for IES Rome and has since continued to teach Italian as a foreign language to American students abroad. Elisa also has teaching experience at the Korean Embassy at the Holy See in Rome. Since 2007 she has been teaching Italian language for Richmond College, Florence, and Monash University, Prato.

Elisa completed a specialization course on Teaching Italian as a Foreign Language, granted by the University of Rome “Roma Tre” (Italy) and has attended a training course for instructors at Dilit International House in Rome (Italy). Elisa graduated from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (Italy) with a degree in Foreign Languages and Literatures, with a final thesis in Russian Literature titled “Poetics and Poetry of the Sonnet Sequence Lunaria by M. A. Vološin.” Her educational career includes several scholarships in Russia and Czech Republic, where she attended language courses and conducted researched for her thesis.

Course Taught: Beginning Italian I

Margherita Abbozzo

A native Florentine, Margherita Abbozzo is a practicing artist who exhibits nationally and internationally. She teaches Studio Arts, History of Art and History of Photography for study abroad programs including SACI, Florence University of the Arts and Studio Marangoni. Margherita lived in London for several years, where she worked as an independent artist and taught at the National Gallery.

Margherita studied Art and History of Art in both Florence and London. She graduated with a degree in History of Art from the University of Florence (Italy) and later completed a B.A. and an M.A. in Fine Arts at Saint Martin’s School of Art and Camberwell (United Kingdom).

Margherita has written professionally on art and photography since 1984, and she keeps a blog on visual arts for the Florentine radio station Controradio. Married to an American and mother of three American-Italian children, Margherita speaks Italian, English, Spanish and French. Her website is www.margheritaabbozzo.com.

Course Taught: Florence Sketchbook

Ian J. Bickerton

Having made frequent television appearances as a current event commentator for Middle East and U.S. policy, Dr. Ian J. Bickerton has taught and lectured around the world. Both the University of California Santa Barbara and the University of Missouri at Kansas City have housed Ian as a professor, where he’s instructed classes covering the modern U.S., Italian-American relations and immigration history, and the history of the Arab Israeli conflict. He currently sits as a senior Visiting Research Fellow in the School of History and Philosophy at the University of New South Wales where he has been a member for the past 42 years.

Ian received his Ph.D. at the Claremont Graduate School in California, his M.A. at Kansas State University and his B.A. with Honors in History at the University of Adelaide in Australia. Within his teaching career, he has been invited to attend the prestigious Salzburg Seminar in American Studies, and has twice been a Visiting Scholar at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C.

Ian’s most recent publications include: A History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 6th edition, The Arab-Israeli Conflict, Unintended Consequences: The United States at War with Kenneth Hagan, and The Illusion of Victory, the True Costs of Modern War. This Spring Ian will be joining us as to teach The American Idea of Italy: The 1880s to the Present.

Course Taught: The American Idea of Italy: 1880s to Present