Due to the nature of your program, you’ll be spending your time with the Florence University of the Arts (FUA) staff and professor leading your Italian Civilization and Culture course, and not directly with our site directors below, who are based out of Rome and Florence. However, in case of emergency, they’ll be available to help. Read on if you’d like to learn more about our awesome Italy team!

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Romina Marchionne

CISabroad Italy Site Director

Email: rmarchionne@cisabroadonsite.com

Romina is a native Roman, who graduated with a degree in International Communications at the University for Foreigners of Perugia in 2005. In the same year, she returned to Rome where she started working for the IES. In the following two years she decided to study International Relations and enrolled in the MA in International Affairs at the SIOI school in Rome. In 2007 Romina graduated in International Relations at the same University of Perugia and after completing the MA she undertook an internship at the Italian Development Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome. At the beginning of 2008, after completing the internship, Romina was offered a position to work as a Communication and Public Information Officer within the civilian component of the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Herat for the NATO mission in Afghanistan. Between 2008 and 2009 she accomplished two missions in Afghanistan. In 2009 she started working for the Italian Development Cooperation Office at the Italian Embassy in Beirut. In Lebanon she worked as a Communication and Public Information Officer and she was also in charge of the joint projects which were later carried out together with the Italian troops within the United Nations mission in Southern Lebanon. In the summer of 2010 Romina left Lebanon to work in Yemen, where she held the same office within the Italian Development Cooperation Department of Sana’s. In the spring of 2011, due to the serious and uncertain situation in Yemen, all the Italian Embassy staff was ordered to leave the country for security reasons. Because of the consequences of the Arab Spring in all Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, and in Northern Africa, Romina has decided to work in Rome and enjoy with her friends and family the beauty of the Eternal City.

Alessandro Bruno

CISabroad Assistant Italy Site Director

Email:  abruno@cisabroadonsite.com

Alessandro was born in Maryland and raised in Rome, Italy. He has traveled extensively through Europe, Central America, North America and China and considers himself a citizen of the world. During his travels, he acquired a passion for the environment and its preservation, cultures and languages. This passion led him to obtain a BA in Geography with a minor in Chinese Studies from Humboldt State University. In 2010 he spent a semester studying abroad at the University of Shanghai in China and has since become an even stronger proponent of study abroad programs, no matter where. Alessandro has also successfully completed the National Park Service Law Enforcement Training Program and a Wilderness First Responder course. Among Alessandro’s favorite activities are wake-boarding, kayaking, diving, traveling and getting lost on purpose in new places, eating sushi, learning new languages and cooking.

Travel Tip:  Never be afraid of getting lost.  That’s my favorite way to explore a new city!