Best Italian Teacher, mother tongue, enthusiastic, passionate, motivating, and motivated. Learn Italian Culture, traditions and if you fancy, even Italian cuisine

Find out more about Domenica

• Do you speak this language fluently because of your origins or because a teacher inspired you to learn?

  I do speak Italian fluently because of my origins, I was born in an Italian family in the centre of Italy, in a colourful town by the sea. I love sharing with my students those amazing aspects of my mother tongue language and the beauty of its culture, the regional cuisine, the different traditions, Italian Cinema (I used to work as a journalist for a local newspaper writing about cinema, books and exhibitions).
  I was also inspired by one of my teachers to share my love for learning foreign languages. (I speak Italian, English French Spanish, Latin and I am learning Maori!

• Can you name a living, historical or fictional character that you think is the emblematic representative of the language's culture?

  I am very honoured to mention more than one if possible!
  Starting with Dante and his Divine Comedy (La Divina Commedia) that I found much more interesting than I thought in my younger years, I could continue with Alessandro Manzoni, less known than the previous one, but the father of the modern Italian and his "I Promessi Sposi" (The Betrothed) is a masterpiece.
  I come from the same area of Giacomo Leopardi, one of the Italian greatest poets of all times, underrated according to me but so enlightening!
  I love cinema and I cannot miss mentioning De Sica, Fellini, Benigni and my contemporary Paolo Sorrentino, highly recommended to get to know the Italian language, history and culture in a better way!

• Is there a typical word, phrase, tradition or behavior in the language that you particularly like?

  Yes, I do like "non puoi avere la botte piena e la moglie ubriaca" meaning -but not literally translated since there is a cultural gap- "you cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hounds" . I remember smiling so much at the university of Reading with my English classmates because the Italian sentence means literally "you cannot have a drunk wife and a full barrel", nonsense, and I was asked "why do Italians need to have a 'drunk wife'"? Well, they don't. It is just a funny proverb!!!

• Why does speaking this language matter to you?

  Because I can fully express myself and I can share of the fabulous variety of shades of my mother tongue language. It made of body language expressions, too. This is what makes Italian pretty unique.

• What is the main difficulty in learning this language and what can help the process of learning?

  Italian is a very melodic language, but it has quite a difficult grammar, full of tenses and declinations, a lot of exceptions in the vocabulary and idioms sentences. Motivation, a professional but friendly guidance can help the learning process and every student can find their personal method to get to thier linguistic goals.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your language learning or your days at school.

  When I was a student at my Italian secondary school I found particularly challenging to learn by heart Dante's Inferno and Purgatorio and Paradiso.
  I worked hard more to get my best mark than the topics, but I fell in love with Dante's works and I was invited by my teacher to join a local newspaper writing about culture. Such an unexpected aftermath!

• How has travel or a specific trip helped you to increase your skill and knowledge of the language?

  I have traveled around the world to improve my knowledge and experience, but I have traveled around Italy a lot, learning from the locals the different dialects, folklore, cuisine, traditions and customs. Italy offers such a great value for curious travellers!

• What makes you a Superprof in language?

  First of all my studies and research in Italian language, history, geography and culture. My long term education, competence, my learning Italian in every single aspect that a language can have is a valuable asset, and I also have twenty five years of experience in teaching Italian, in many countries and different students. I have helped students of every age and different goals, I can proudly share that every single student has been able to achieve their linguist goals and get results beyond the inital expectations. I can use my knowledge and experience to make a personalised plan for every student and apply teaching methods that put the student at the centre of their linguist learning process.