Our Teachers

Chiara Nannicini

Headmaster

Chiara Nannicini was born in Milan.

After her studies in Italian Literature she obtained a PhD in comparative literatures at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University of Paris. She has lectured on the Italian language, literature and culture at the Universities of Paris 3, Paris 12, Caen, Lille 3 and Namur. Currently, she is a professor of Italian literature at the UCL- Saint-Louis in Brussels. She speaks French, English, German and Dutch.

She founded Italia Per Passione in 2008. She is now the director of the school, where she teaches language and culture at advanced level.

Francesco Radicci

Head of Pedagogy and Internships - Teacher

Francesco Radicci was born in Bari (Apulia).

In Italy he gained his degree in Foreign Languages and Literature and he worked as a journalist from 2006 to 2011. At the end of 2011 Francesco moved to Brussels, where he now works as an Italian teacher in several schools. He speaks French and English and he is passionate about music and the history of the 20th Century.

He has been working at Italia Per Passione since 2012. He teaches language courses (all levels, from beginners to advanced students) and leads conversation tables. He also gives courses about Italian history and politics.

Alessandra Maistro

Education Secretary - Teacher

Born in Florence and raised in Lombardy, she has always had two passions: the Italian language and dance. She carries on these two passions together doing classical studies and professional artistic studies. She graduated in Literature in Milan with a thesis on the language of Manzoni’s Betrothed. She decided then to undertake a specific course of study to become a teacher of Italian as a foreign language, obtaining a master's degree in Linguistics and didactics of Italian for foreigners at the University for Foreigners of Siena. She has experience as a teacher of Italian for foreign adults in Italy and for adults and children at the Dante Alighieri Society in Luxembourg. As a dance teacher, she has five years experience as a contemporary and modern dance teacher for all age groups, from children to adults.

At Italia per passione, she currently teaches Italian and dance.

Maddalena Narducci

Logistics Officer - Teacher

Maddalena was born in Cesena, in Emilia-Romagna.

After her high school graduation in foreign languages, she moved for Toulouse, where she stayed for a year as an au pair for a French family. In 2016 she moved to Brussels and enrolled in the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. During her studies she continued to cultivate her interest in photography, long walks and languages, giving private courses in Italian and French. The Erasmus in Alicante (Spain) represents to her once again a way to confront a new culture and question reality. Back in Brussels she enrolled in the Master of Linguistics at ULB and does voluntary work for the association La Voix des Sans-Papiers. Maddalena speaks Italian, French, Spanish and English. She is currently learning Modern Greek.

She collaborates with Italia per Passione in courses for youngsters.

Roberta Mangano

Communication Officer - Music Courses Coordinator

Roberta is originally from Luino, a small town in northern Italy.

Passionate about foreign cultures, she studied Foreign Languages and Literature at the University of Milan and at University College Dublin. She then enrolled in a master’s program for teaching Italian as a foreign language. At the same time, she obtained a Diploma in classical guitar at the Conservatorio G. Puccini in Gallarate and a master’s degree at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels with distinction. She also holds a master’s degree in Musicology from the University of Cremona.

Over the years, Roberta has lived in Italy, Australia, Belgium and Spain where she has worked as a teacher of music and Italian language and culture. She loves to share her passion for literature and music through crossover courses, seminars and performances.

She speaks French, English, Spanish and Catalan. At Italia per Passione she gives language courses for adults and children and is responsible for music history workshops and music courses.

Giulia Colombo

Library Coordinator - Teacher

Giulia was born in Torre del Greco, a town at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, in the centre of the Gulf of Naples. Her desire to learn about the world led her to study languages and comparative cultures at the University of Naples "L'Orientale", specialising in English and Chinese. She then won a scholarship to the Confucius Institute, which enabled her to spend a period of time in Beijing, China, during her Master's degree in History and Oriental Civilisations. Her passion for art inspired her master's thesis, which focused on the mutual influence between Chinese artists and European avant-garde artists. During her studies she dedicated herself to teaching, giving private lessons and doing internships first at a social cultural cooperative for the integration of Chinese children and then at Italia per Passione, through the Erasmus+ programme, where she still holds courses for children and adults.

Michela Sopegno

Children's Course Coordinator - Teacher

Michela was born in Asti, in the heart of Monferrato, Piedmont. Her love for the Italian language led her to enroll in the Faculty of Modern Literature at the University of Turin. During her university years, she discovered another passion for wine and decided to obtain a sommelier diploma from the Italian Sommelier Association.

She graduated in Italian Literature, Philology, and Linguistics. Her thesis on Dante’s criticism honored her of an immediate academic publication and the first prize as outstanding research among all Piedmont Universities.

Starting in 2020, she began working in public schools, initially as a special education teacher, and later as a Literature teacher in various middle schools in the province of Asti. In this role, she had the opportunity to teach Italian literature, grammar, history, and geography.

As of September 2024, following her move to Brussels, she joined Italia per Passione, where she teaches Italian courses for children and adults. She speaks English and is learning French.

Vanessa Pontisso

Teacher

Vanessa was born and raised in Friuli, in a small town in the province of Udine.

Her passion for languages led her to Venice to study Arabic and Persian at Ca' Foscari University and then, wanting to immerse herself in a new adventure, she enrolled in a master's degree in Italian Language and Culture for Foreigners at the University of Bologna. During her master's degree, she also had the opportunity to do an Erasmus exchange in Lyon, France, where she developed a passion for the study of minority languages, particularly Occitan.

She has worked as a language mediator in schools, teaching Italian to children and young people who have just arrived in Italy. She has also taught Italian language courses to adults in professional training centres.

She speaks fluent French and English, but has been bilingual in Friulian and Italian since childhood.

Alongside languages, she has always cultivated a great passion for music: she has always sung, was a member of the Friuli regional choir, and also plays the piano and harp.

External Staff

Elena Tosi

Teacher

Elena was born and raised in Mantua, a small historical and artistic gem in Lombardy. She studied Foreign Languages and Literature at the Alma Mater University of Bologna, where she furthered her studies of German and French. She graduated with top marks by discussing a thesis on Austrian Literature. During the third year of her three-year degree course, she did an internship at the Elfriede Jelinek literary research centre in Vienna, funded by the Universität Wien. After graduation, she moved to Brussels to do an internship as an assistant professor of Italian language, culture and literature at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. She speaks Italian, English, German, French and Spanish fluently and is currently also learning Dutch. In her spare time, she loves reading, going to the cinema, travelling, visiting museums but also enjoys eating, outdoor sports and spending time with friends. Her dream is to work in the art world, because her greatest passion apart from languages is art history.

Laura Streitberger

Teacher

Laura Streitberger was born in Paris to an Italian mother and a German father. She grew up in Belgium and is currently studying Romance Languages and Literature at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Her passions are many and varied. She loves literature as much as theatre (she's member of a troupe), music, sport, chess and cooking.

She speaks French, Italian, German, English and Dutch. At Italia Per Passione, she teaches French at all levels.

Sarah Bonciarelli

Teacher

Sarah Bonciarelli was born in Perugia.
She holds a PhD in Text Sciences in the academic field of Comparative Literature from the University of Siena.
She teaches Italian language and literature at the Universities of Ghent and Brussels. From 2011 to 2015, she was a member of the MDRN research group at KU Leuven, and was a visiting professor at UCLouvain during the academic years 2019/2020 and 2020/2021.
Her research interests focus on the relationship between text and image, the interaction between literature, advertising, and visual arts, as well as textual semiotics.
She speaks Italian, French, English, and basic Dutch.
At Italia per Passione, she leads conversation groups and teaches the culture course.