Viviana Ardesia PhD is a native of Pescara, a tiny city on the Adriatic Sea, where she attended high school in Classical Studies. She has a degree in Literature and Philosophy from the University of Bologna, the oldest university in the world, and a PhD in Italian History from the University of Udine. She has lived in Pisa, Milan and Turin teaching Italian Grammar and Literature at the public school level and History at university for more than 10 years. Viviana moved to Florida with her family and is enthusiastic about sharing the language and culture she loves.

Viviana Ardesia

Federico Buonafede is a native speaker of Italian, born in Pontecorvo, Lazio. He holds a BA in Communication Sciences from the University of Perugia; is fluent in English and Spanish, and has taught Italian in the Naples area for two years. Federico is a passionate entrepreneur with background in the customer service, wine and the travel industry.

Alessandra Castoldi MS was born in a city near Milan where she completed Classical Studies at the high school level and graduated in Italian Language and Literature at the University of Milan. She taught Italian and History in public school in Italy for almost 20 years. In 2016 she moved abroad with her family and started teaching Italian as a second language at all levels. She loves to meet people from different cultures and to share the Italian language and culture.

Alessandra Castoldi

Gabriella Di Palma M.A. earned her Master’s of Arts in Italian Studies from University of Notre Dame where she taught Italian from 2017-2019 before moving to Naples FL. Previously she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Italian Studies and Art History from Indiana University, and spent a year abroad in Italy teaching English and Italian art.

Gabriella Di Palma

Joan Hoffmeister MA was born in Italy and moved to Buenos Aires with her family at the age of 5. She grew up speaking Spanish and Italian in the home, and later moved with her family to NY at age 15. With a Masters Degree in Spanish and French from St. John's University, she went on to teach in NY public schools, the Tehran American School and at the British Council in Bahrain. After extensive travel in Europe and the Middle East, Joan moved to Naples, Florida and taught in the public schools where she was awarded Teacher of Distinction from Collier County School System.

Joan Hoffmeister

Grace Mannino PhD is a native-born Italian, author and educational consultant who received her doctorate at SUNY Stony Brook, brought 33 years of high school and college teaching experience in NY to the ICS program in 2003. In addition to teaching Italian, French and Spanish, Grace was President of the American Association of Teachers of Italian of Long Island, President of Long Island Language Teachers, and a member of numerous committees on the national, state and regional level. Since retiring, Grace's enthusiasm in promoting Italian language and culture has found a new home in Naples.

Dr. Grace Mannino

Nancy Sguera MA was born in Italy and moved to the United Sates with her family when she was 12. As an adult, she majored in Italian to continue to learn of her language, heritage and people. After receiving a Masters Degree from CUNY (Queens College), she taught Italian and Spanish in the public school system for 18 years and retired from George W. Hewlett High School in NY in 2008. While teaching, Nancy received scholarships to L'Università per Stranieri di Siena, The Summer Institute of Spanish Language and Culture in Salamanca and the NHE Summer Institute in Rome.

     Nancy Sguera

Kate Jansky MSN is the language coordinator. For questions about the language program, or to suggest new classes or events email language.ics.naples@gmail.com or SMS 425-765-7922. Join us in our love of learning La Bella Lingua!