Education

M.A., University of Virginia, Italian Studies; Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese (2015)

B.A., Università degli Studi di Firenze, Organizzazione e gestione di eventi e imprese dell’arte e dello spettacolo; Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia (2005)

Research Interests

• Self assessment in the Italian classroom
• ePortfolios and their possibilities
• Social media and their use in the classroom
• Italian language pedagogy
• Sherlock Holmes and mystery novels

Teaching

Administration:

• Preceptor for ITAL 1000 and 2000 levels (2014-2020)
• Shea Houde Liaison 
• Italian Honor Society "Gamma Kappa Alpha" advisor

Courses:

• Italian 1010
• Italian 1020
• Italian 2010
• Italian 2020
• Summer Language Institute, Italian culture section (2014)
• Summer Language Institute, Italian grammar section (2015)

Publications

Books

His everlasting bow – Italian studies in Sherlock Holmes, co-authored with Alessandra Calanchi, Stephen King, Valerio Viviani, Gabriele Mazzoni, Caterina Marrone, Enrico Solito, Enrico Petrella, Fabio Petrella, Marco Grassi, Luca Sartori. Aras Edizioni, Fano, 2016. Print.

Dulce est pro patria mori - I caduti di Carmignano e Poggio a Caiano nella grande guerra 1915 - 1918, co-authored with Riccardo Fortunato, Edizioni Medicea Firenze, 2013. Print.

Articles

“Giallo deduttivo e letteratura hard boiled. Differenze e similitudini fra tre detective: Sherlock Holmes, Guglielmo da Baskerville e Philip Marlowe,” www.urbinoir.it, 2013. Open access.

Presentations

“The ePortfolio in the Italian language classroom: uses and possibilities”, American Association for Italian Studies/Canadian Society for Italian Studies, Columbus, OH, April 20-22, 2017.

“The e-Portfolio in the Italian language classroom: uses and possibilities”, Northeast Modern Language Association, Baltimore, MD, March 2017.

"The ePortfolio in the foreign language classroom: uses and possibilities", The Association for Authentic, Experiential and Evidence-Based Learning, Virginia Tech, VA, November 7, 2016.

“Using e-Portfolios in the second language classroom: the UVA experience”, roundtable. Mountain Interstate Foreign Language Conference, Harrisonburg, VA, 14 October 2016.

“The importance of self-assessment in the foreign language classroom”, Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, Lexington, KY, 14-16 April 2016.

“Dictionary: The Universe in Alphabetical Order”, American Council of the Teaching of Foreign Languages, San Diego, CA, 20-22 November 2015.

“How can students be motivated in the use of L2 for speaking?”, American Council of the Teaching of Foreign Languages, San Antonio, TX, 21 November 2014.

Grants & Awards

Grant Team Member, Foreign Language Learning ePortfolios, led by Professor Emily Scida, 2016.

Lola Pelliccia Graduate Prize for outstanding graduate performance in Italian Studies, University of Virginia, 2015.

Projects and co-curricular activities

Creator and chapter advisor for the University of Virginia chapter of the National Italian Honor Society Gamma Kappa Alpha.

Co-editor of La Vendemmia, The Newsletter of the Italian Studies Program at The University of Virginia.