I was born in 1984 and according to my parents at the time it was raining cats and dogs. This is a rare occurrence in Sicily, but they say it brings good luck. I completed my school studies focusing on the fields of literature and classics, and at the age of 18 I packed my bags and was off to specialize first in Modern Literature and then in Modern Philology at the University of Sienna, finally gaining a Ph.D in Italian Literature and Language at the University for Foreigners Sienna (one of only two Italian Universities which specialise in the teaching of Italian as a Foreign Language). I have done a thousand different jobs! And I’ve enjoyed them all, notably working as Executive Director at the publishing house ‘Editori del Grifo’ (publishers of the illustrations of Milo Manara, Federico Fellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Roberto Benigni, Hugo Pratt); then Director of the Italian Press Review at the European Commission; and finally becoming a member of the Commission of Experts for the Candidacy of Sienna (in Tuscany) as European Capital of Culture 2019 (this project is on going). As a scholar I’ve worked for a number of humanistics research foundations in Tuscany, and I’ve published articles and books on both medieval and contemporary Italian writers such as Umberto Saba, Mario Tobino e Pellegrino Artusi. This year I have commenced a tour of Italian secondary schools, teaching the history of the poet Umberto Saba, about which I am currently completing a critical edition. I am also touring abroad, the next lecture will be at the University of Toronto, at which I will outline my proposals for new didactic methodology in the field of Italian literature. Since 2012 I have been presenting a programme every Monday on a Sicilian TV channel about culture and society: ‘Così è (se vi pare)’. Since 2009 I have been directing courses of Italian as a Foreign Language in Sicily and Tuscany at a variety of organizations. And now of course this new adventure of the school by the sea together with a few friends! What do I like? Sharing a good glass of wine with a few friends and maybe smoking a Tuscan cigar on an evening by the sea…