In my teaching I celebrate diversity, variety and difference, cater for all learning styles, encourage positive group dynamics in class, and accommodate individual needs.

I completed my Bachelor Honors in Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Bari in Italy and also studied for a Master's degree in European Film Studies at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. I hold a Ph.D. in Foreign Language Education and a Master’s degree in Humanities from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

My research interests are in Italian cinema, with a special focus on women filmmakers. I edited the volume Visions of Struggle in Women's Filmmaking in the Mediterranean (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010). I also guest-edited the special issue ‘Cinematic Journeys of Italian Women Directors’ of Studies in European Cinema, 8:2, 2011.

I am the founder and Editor of the book series Trajectories in Italian Cinema and Media and of the Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies, both published by Intellect Ltd.

I organized the international symposium Visions of Struggle: Women’s Filmmaking in the Mediterranean at Wellesley College in 2007, and the international conferences Innovations and Tensions in Italian Cinema and Media in 2017 and Global Intersections and Artistic Interconnections: Italian Cinema and Media Across Times and Spaces in 2019, and Italian cinema and media: Past and present, continuity and change, expectations for the future in 2022, at The American University of Rome.

At Wellesley College, I teach language and culture courses in the Department of Italian Studies. In the Cinema and Media Studies Program, I have taught Introduction to Cinema and Media Studies, Italian Women Directors, and Transnational Journeys in European Women’s Filmmaking.

I acted as Resident Director of the Eastern College Consortium Program (E.C.Co.) for 2000-2001 in Siena and Bologna, also in fall 2018, and summers 2003 and 2006 in Lecce. I also established in 2003 the Winter Session study abroad program in Rome for the Italian Studies 202 intensive course and 250 Independent Study.