Board of Directors
Officers
Alberto Orioles MD, Interim President
Joe Tamburino, Vice President
Mariateresa Maruska Monaco, Treasurer
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Astrid Garino MD, Membership and Sponsorships
Anna Olivero, Director Italian Adult Language School
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Pieranna Garavaso, Ph.D., Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Division of the Humanities, University of Minnesota Morris
Luke Olson, VP, Senior Corporate Counsel, U.S. Bank
Marco Pavoloni, Honorary Consul of Italy in Minnesota
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Massimo Bonavita, Co-Founder
Anna Bonavita, Co-Founder
Emanuela Corbetta, Founding Member
Nancy Schaefer, Founding Member
Elena Wilsey, Founding Member
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Tiziana Cervesato, Events Director and Director of the Italian Film Festival
Tiziana joined the ICC in September 2015. Italian and Belgian national, Tiziana was born in Rome and has been immersed in different cultures all her life: Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Niger, Somalia, Morocco, France and the U.S. Although Minneapolis is the 8th place she calls home, Friuli Venezia Giulia, her family's home region, remains her sweet spot.
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Cristina Cocchi, Instructor
Cristina was born and raised in Modena, Italy, and moved to Minnesota in 2003. She holds a university degree in Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures, from the University of Bologna, Italy, and an M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction (Second Language Education) from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She has 25+ years of Italian teaching experience in a variety of settings, including university and adult education. She always strives for innovative and enjoyable ways to help people better learn the Italian language and culture.
On temporary leave
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Michelle DeBace, Office Manager
Michelle’s love of Italian language and culture began after studying abroad in Florence during her college years. She began taking language classes at the ICC in 2019 and joined in an administrative role in 2022. She is currently in the process of having her Italian citizenship recognized.
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Brook Dell’Anna, Instructor
Brook as a Navy brat, has lived all over the United States, and then spent her young adulthood in Naples, Italy, where she met and married her napoletano husband, Giuseppe. While living in Napoli, she taught at the Anglo-Italian Montessori school, and more recently, she was employed at Iowa State University as a Lecturer of Italian and International Studies. Brook attended St. Mary's College of Maryland, where she earned a bachelor's degree in Political Science. Soon after, she earned a Master's degree in Human Relations from the University of Oklahoma. Brook moved to Minnesota with her husband and their three children in 2020 and looks forward to joining the Italian community here.
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Pierangela Garau, Instructor Pierangela is an Italian artist born in Sardegna, a beautiful island in the center of the Mediterranean sea and lived in Brescia, Lombardia, for twenty years. After graduating from Liceo Classico, Pierangela earned a degree in Visual Arts from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milano followed by a Master in Visual Design from Nuova Accademia del Design (NAD) in Verona. She moved to Minnesota in 2021 and joined ICC in January 2023. Pierangela enjoys teaching Italian language and culture to students at all levels of proficiency. She likes to spend her free time practicing CrossFit and Yoga, traveling, and pursuing her passion for photography.
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Mariateresa Maruska Monaco, Instructor
Mariateresa relocated to Minnesota in 2019 with her husband and children. Born and raised in Cuneo, Piemonte, after attending Liceo Classico, Mariateresa earned a Laurea in electrical engineering from Politecnico di Torino and a Diploma in Piano from the Conservatorio Verdi di Torino. During her engineering studies she met her husband, and after working in Italy for a while they decided to follow their “American Dream” and moved to the Boston area for graduate studies at MIT, in engineering and business. They spent many years studying and working in Boston, and then they moved to Iowa and now Minnesota! After raising three bilingual children (now all in college) and a long career in the stock market, she’s exploring her old passions for piano and Italian teaching, along with her finance and investment interests. Mariateresa joined the Board of Directors as Treasurer in 2023.
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Romina Montanari, Food and Wine Events Manager & Instructor
Romina grew up in the food valley in the province of Modena in Emilia Romagna. She received her Bachelor degree in “Economia Aziendale” from the University of Modena and a Professional Diploma in Marketing from the University of California-Berkeley. She has been teaching Italian joyfully for more than 15 years and loves to share her passion about the Italian “Eno-Gastronomic” tradition and culture by organizing food and wine events. She is also pursuing the Italian Wine Scholar Guild Certification.
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Luisa O'Gara, Instructor Luisa was born and raised in Puglia in the Southern part of Italy, the land of the Trulli, and famous for Tarantella and Primitivo wine. Luisa is the youngest of three siblings. Her mother was a school teacher, which inspired Luisa to earn a degree in Education from the University of Firenze. Luisa met her future husband while in college, they live in the metro area with their two children. She joined the ICC Adult school team in Spring 2012 and directed the Youth School Program from 2015 to 2021.
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Anna Olivero, Adult Language School Director & Instructor
Anna was born and raised in Asti, Piemonte, a region of wines and hills in Italy. She has been teaching Italian and foreign languages in college and adult education since 2002 within various settings, including the University of Minnesota, St. Olaf College, Carroll University, and the Italian Institute of Culture in Chicago. Founder of the ICC Adult Language School, she has been a Board Member since ICC's inception.
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Mirella Rossi Heimpel, Instructor Mirella is a native of Rome. She holds a Laurea in Psychology from the University of Roma "La Sapienza". Mirella has lived in the United States for 23 years and taught Italian privately and through different community programs. Besides focusing on the four basic skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing, she attaches equal importance to learning about Italy and its rich culture.
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Rosanna Staffa, Instructor
Rosanna is an Italian writer living in Minneapolis. Born in Naples, she holds and MFA in writing from Spalding University and a PhD in Foreign Languages and Literatures from Statale University in Milan. She has taught at The Loft, NYU, UCLA, and The Getty Institute. Her work is included in the Best Small Fictions 2021. Her essays and short stories are published by New Rivers Press American Fiction Anthology, The Best New and Unpublished Writers Vol. 15, Tampa Review, The Sun and others. Teaching combines sharing her passion for languages and literature with the joy of creating a community of curious learners.
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Ileana Tamberlani Kraft, Instructor and Administrative Support Manager of the Italian Film Festival
Ileana was born and grew up in a town by the coastline 30 miles south of Roma. She studied Political Sciences at the University in Roma. After living in Belgium for four years and traveling around Europe with her family, she met her husband and moved to the Twin Cities in 2010. She has been teaching Italian online to students from all over the world since 2011 and she also does interpreting and translating jobs. She strives to integrate Italian culture in her classes and daily life with students, family, and friends.
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Teresa Walsh, Volunteer Coordinator
Teresa was fortunate enough to have experienced a year of high school and a semester of college with a wonderful family in Nettuno, Italy. She continues to stay in touch with her host family after 20+ years. Her desire to practice Italian led her to start volunteering for the ICC five years ago. Teresa enjoys meeting the diverse ICC members, and especially looks forward to the Italian Film Fest every year.
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01 Jan 2022
ONLINE
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26 Mar 2023 2:00 PM
Mid-City Kitchen, 693 Raymond Ave., St. Paul, 55114.
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27 Mar 2023 5:30 PM
Traffic Zone Building,250 3rd Ave N. Suite 625, Minneapolis, MN 55401
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27 Mar 2023 5:30 PM
250 Third Avenue N. Suite 625, Minneapolis 55401
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27 Mar 2023 5:30 PM
Traffic Zone Building, 250 Third Avenue N, Suite 625, Minneapolis 55401
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27 Mar 2023 5:30 PM
ONLINE ZOOM
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17 Oct 2022 3:57 PM
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13 Oct 2022 3:33 PM
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