Director PATRIZIA SAGLIO, director of Collina Italiana (CI), was born in Lugano, Switzerland and grew up speaking Italian, French, and German. She graduated in political science from the prestigious Universita' Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, where she worked for several years as an assistant professor and private teacher of Italian and French to college students and in international corporations. Patrizia moved to New York in 1998 and after a stint as co-owner and manager of an international trade company she decided to open an Italian language and cultural center on the upper east side of Manhattan in 2006. In founding Collina Italiana, the director's mission is to offer Italian language classes in an authentic cultural setting and context: all Italian language classes include an introduction to Italian culinary arts, wine, and film.

Creative Consultant ROBERTA FINEBERG Creative Consultant collaborates on a wide spectrum of projects with clients in education, publishing, business, and advertising. Based in Paris and New York over the last 20 years, Ms. Fineberg has contributed writing and photography internationally to print media and online (including the CI Web site). Also a trained ESL teacher, Roberta Fineberg is assisting CI in developing its ESL program. In Paris, South of England, and New York, Roberta taught members of the international community in diverse venues: French CEOs in the South of England, cabinet members at the Ministry of the Economy in Paris, and college-bound foreign students in New York City, among others.

Instructors

LAURA CAPARROTTI, TEATRO ITALIANO teacher, has a doctorate in Performing Arts from the University "La Sapienza" in Rome, Italy. She studied with Dario Fo (Nobel Prize for Literature 1997), Annie Girardot, among others. In New York Laura performed in several Off - Off - Broadway productions. She is the artistic director of KIT - Kairos Italy Theater Inc www.kitheater.com. She has directed and performed several K.I.T. productions such as The Papaleo Case — Il Caso Papaleo by Ennio Flaiano, A, B, C (a one-woman show), and Philosophically Speaking by Eduardo De Filippo. Laura has been teaching Italian Theatre to adults and children for many years.

RICCARDO COSTA, instructor of Italian language and culture classes (cooking and film), was born in Bologna, one of Italy's food capitals. From the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, Riccardo earned a BFA. In Italy and New York he worked as an assistant to director Spike Lee, among others. He has written and co-written 10 feature screenplays, including Queen of Harlem, and plays for Off-Broadway. As a director he has received awards and recognition in more than 60 festivals worldwide and on CBS. Presently, Riccardo is the President of Blitz Entertainment, a production company in Italy and NYC, and the American representative of Cinecitta Studios. In his free time Riccardo is an accomplished chef. Learning to cook from his grandmother, a famous Bolognese socialite from the '50s, he assimilated all the century-old family culinary secrets. He has recently penned a cookbook of some of these traditional Italian recipes, which he shares with friends, acquaintances, celebrities, intellectuals, politicians, and artists who come to his apartment to eat exceptional food, discuss ideas, and network. Riccardo has worked as an Italian teacher and translator for Fortune 500 Companies, taught at the Italian Culture Institute, and now at Collina Italiana.

RAFFAELLA "RAFFY" GALLIANI, Italian language instructor and assistant to CI director is a graduate from Università degli Studi of Bergamo, Italy. She holds degrees in Anthropology, Literature (History and Methodology of Literary Criticism), and Foreign Language. Her foreign language studies include: Comparative Philology, Philology of Romance Languages, Linguistics, Italian as a Second Language, and Philosophy of Language. RAFFY teaches both adult and children's classes.

CARLO GIULIANO, language instructor, was exposed to Italian, French, and German from a tender age. Subsequently, he went on to study English, Latin, and Ancient Greek—a triple-major at New York University, he has been working as both English teacher in Italy and Italian teacher in the US. In New York City, Carlo has taught Italian at Parliamo Italiano and CI. In 2003 at Berlitz, Carlo underwent intensive training in teaching languages without the use of grammar and then became one of the most sought-after Italian instructors at the school. That same year, Carlo was selected by the faculty of Aero-Spatial Engineering at the University of Naples (Italy) for the highly coveted position of bilingual English-Italian instructor for the freshman year students. More recently, Universal Pictures selected Carlo as the Italian narrator for an interactive CD Rom "Jurassic Park Explorer", to be released in the Italian market at the end of 2007.

LUCRETIA MORONI, artist, designer www.fatto-a-mano.com, chef (trained at "Ristorante Manuelina"), and mother of 2 (ages 4 and 6) instructs the PICCOLI CUOCHI, ARTE INSIEME, GIROTONDO, and DECORATIVE PAINTING classes. Master of teaching art and cooking for kids, Lucretia encourages and develops creativity in children of all ages. Teaching kids early on how to cook "la dieta Mediterranea" and to eat well and is one Lucretia's greatest passions. She prepares typical northern Italian dishes from Lombardia, Veneto and Liguria.

MANUELA LATINO, Italian language instructor, graduated summa cum laude in Foreign Languages and Literature from the University of Cagliari in Sardinia, Italy. Her foreign language studies included English and Italian Linguistics, Philology of Germanic Languages, and Education (teaching English and German). Manuela also earned a Diploma in Piano from the Conservatory of music 'P. da Palestrina' in Cagliari. She has sung in operas such as 'La Boheme' by Puccini, 'Carmen' by Bizet, and 'Aida ' by Verdi. As a result of her musical studies, she strongly believes in the power of music as a linguistic communication medium. In Italy, Manuela taught Italian and English and in New York she teaches both adult and children's classes at CI and Bebilingual.

WILLIAM LA RICHE is an architect and writer who was educated at Dartmouth and Princeton and has taught architectural history, among other subjects, at universities in the New York area for several years. His book on the ancient lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt, Alexandria: The Sunken City, was accompanied by a film in the Nova series on PBS. His new book, an epic satire in verse, will be published later this year.

FABIA PULCINI, head teacher of the children's program at CI, was born and raised in Rome where she earned a Master's Degree in Art History from La Sapienza University. A professional dancer in Italy and France, Fabia moved to New York in 1999, joined the Martha Graham Dance Ensemble, and taught dance to children at The City Center Outreach Program. As a teaching artist she has taught dance and movement in New York City's public schools. Fabia has been an instructor of Italian as a Second Language in private schools for more than ten years. Teaching Italian to 2-5 year olds at Italian for Toddlers for three years, Fabia knows the importance of incorporating movement and creativity in language classes with children.

NAIKE NAY NEGRETTI LET'S DANCE! instructor, moved two years ago to New York City from Italy where she began performing at the age of seven. Teaching dance and choreographing for TV and theatre throughout Europe, Nay is now collaborating with DANCE 2XS and many local artists in New York. In addition, she teaches workshops all over the United States and Europe and dances with DECADANCETHEATRE, one of the most popular female hip-hop dance companies in the world.