Claudio Guarnuccio: Director

Claudio has been involved in the teaching of Italian for over 25 years and has extensive experience in a variety of schools in both Australia and Italy. He is co-author of the 'Complete Italian Verb Book' and the 'Ci Siamo' course which has been widely used throughout Australia and in Italy. Claudio has also served as president of VATI (Victorian Association of Teachers of Italian) and been a VCE Examiner.

As Director of CIS, Claudio is dedicated to creating a genuine Italian atmosphere for students and giving them a taste of Italy, its language and culture. He loves travelling with his family and returns to Italy whenever possible. He is also a keen collector of ancient Roman coins and artifacts.

Rita Muzic: Director

Born in Cres (Cherso), a charming Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, Rita moved to Australia when she was 6. Frequent travels as a child have fuelled a life-long passion for other people and places, and her love for languages. She graduated from La Trobe University with a BA in English, Italian and Spanish, and has taught in a number of schools. Rita has also served on the Accreditation Panel for Teachers of Italian and was Treasurer of VATI for several years.

Whilst studying at "La Sapienza" University in Rome, Rita met Claudio, her husband, and they now have two lovely daughters. They travelled extensively throughout Italy and Europe before settling down in Melbourne and taking on the task of directing CIS which has been like their third child, requiring just as much TLC.

Rita is an avid reader, loves going to the theatre and to concerts and has an eclectic tastes in music, but travelling with her family is her favourite pastime.

Maria Liuzzi-Scalpelli: Manager/Teacher

With extensive teaching experience in both Melbourne and Italy, Maria joined CIS 8 years ago. She began as a teacher, progressed into administration and has now been the manager of CIS for the past 4 years; all this while continuing as one of CIS's most valued teachers.

An expert in CIS's communicative and practical teaching method, Maria is responsible for the training of new teachers as well as the efficient running of the Centre and its courses. Maria's family originates from Basilicata, in the south of Italy. Recently married, Maria is looking forward to her trip to Italy later this year.

With their boundless energy, enthusiasm and dedication, Maria and Louisa are the heartbeat of CIS.

Louisa Biviano: Assistant Manager/Teacher

Born here in Carlton, Louisa first went to Italy when she was 3 years old. Since then, she has had a love of Italy and has wanted to live there, but Melbourne, with its Italian culture, will do for now!

With a Degree in Psychology and an Honours Degree in Italian, teaching Italian is something Louisa is very passionate about. Whilst Louisa has taught in a number of institutions, she loves working in the office and teaching at CIS because "We are like one big happy family!" In her spare time Louisa loves to spend time with her son, Salvi and her family. She also loves to read, spend time near the water, cook and watch movies. She considers being a mum her most loved, difficult and rewarding job, and her biggest achievement so far.

Mariangela Caligiuri: Teacher

Born in Calabria in Southern Italy, Mariangela grew up in Piemonte before migrating to Australia where she has been an Italian teacher for over 20 years. A high school teacher by day, Mariangela has been an important member of CIS's teaching staff for the past five years. She returns to Italy regularly and her great passion for all things Italian make her popular with her students. She has two sons who keep her very busy and she enjoys making jewellery in her spare time.

Caity Conway: Teacher's Assistant

Caity was a student at CIS last year while doing her VCE Italian studies. She so impressed those at CIS that she was offered a position as a teacher's assistant.

Over the summer she travelled to Italy and had fun using her Italian in real life situations! Her favourite city was Assisi, although San Gimignano was gorgeous too. This year Caity is doing a double degree in Biomedical Science and Science at Monash University, and hopes her Italian will help keep her sane amidst all that science!

Nancy Cozzo-Barbaro: Teacher/Administrative Assistant

Nancy has taught Italian for many years and is one of CIS's most experienced and dedicated teachers. She has taught at a variety of language centres and has also lived and taught in Florence and Milan. Nancy juggles working with taking care of her husband and their beautiful daughter, Serena.

Although Nancy has a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education, she would much rather share her knowledge in a fun and meaningful manner to children and adults at CIS! Currently, Nancy teaches adults during the week and children of all ages on Saturday mornings as well as working in administration. She has a great passion for teaching and loves working here at CIS.

Carmel D'Andrea: Teacher

One of our longest-serving and most respected teachers, Carmel has been teaching with CIS on and off since 1983! She has lived in inner city Melbourne all her life and has an Arts Degree from Melbourne University, majoring in Italian and Linguistics. She also teaches English, Italian and French at De La Salle College and has been a VCE Oral Examiner. She loves grammar, reading and politics...and hates sport!

Ginevra De Benedetti: Teacher

Ginevra is from Genova, a gorgeous city in North-West of Italy; the home of Christopher Columbus and the yummy original Pesto alla Genovese! After graduating from the University of Genova, Ginevra came to Australia and has been a teacher of adults and children at CIS for 2 years now. Melbourne has cast a spell on her and she has decided to stay here.

As well as teaching, Ginevra does freelance work at the National Gallery of Victoria as an education officer in the European painting section, and is about to complete her Diploma in Tourism Management. She is also co-author of Explora! Senior, an Italian teacher resource book for secondary school students, just recently published. She lives in groovy Richmond with 3 multicultural friends and is passionate ("mental") about international films, art exhibitions, travel, live music, cakes and chocolate, kiwi rugby players, swimming in the ocean and of course a good old Aussie BBQ with her mates!

Aurelio Denaro: Teacher

Aurelio comes from Pozzallo, a city in the southernmost part of Italy, in Southern Sicily, where the sea is blue and the sun is always shining.  He loves to travel and learn about other places and cultures. Aurelio has always been fascinated by Australia and in 2008 arrived in this magical place and fell completely in love.  He travelled along the east coast down to Melbourne.  When he had to leave, he realised that he missed Australia so much that he came back to have another beautiful experience. 

He has a Bachelor in Languages and International Communication that he completed at Roma Tre University.  After finishing his degree, he taught in Italian schools and travelled around the world in his holidays. Aurelio is a happy-go-lucky person and enjoys spending time with his friends or cooking Italian recipes and as a die hard "surfie" and lover of the beach, he thinks he has found the right country!

Ilaria Della Casa: Teacher

Ilaria comes from Genoa where she graduated from her 5-year university degree in Translation studying English, Russian and German.  After having travelled around Europe and Russia, Ilaria decided to pursue her dream to visit Australia, and came last year on an Exchange Program.  This country impressed her so much that at the end of her teaching experience in Wangaratta, she decided to come back again, this time to Melbourne.  

Sociable and positive, Ilaria loves travelling and always visiting new places.  She likes going to beach and hanging out with friends, as well as enjoying a good movie, not necessarily a blockbuster.  The only thing she cannot adjust to in Australia is bacon and eggs for breakfast!  She keeps on having her big slice of mud cake instead, horrifying her Australian friends! 

Giovanni Di Fabrizio: Teacher

Giovanni was born in Penne, a beautiful village overlooking the Adriatic coast. He moved to Melbourne 2 years ago to be with his lovely wife Sandra whom he met in Florence where he completed his studies and worked on and off for many years. In fact, Sandra went to Florence on a CIS study holiday! He still thinks it was a strategy to recruit Italian teachers.

He has travelled extensively and has always been interested in different languages and cultures. He is also an accredited tour leader and used to lead bus tours around Italy. He loves cooking, eating, travelling, playing guitar or piano and listening to music. He remembers visiting CIS after only a few days in Melbourne and today he is honoured to be one of its teachers. He says that this school is a little window to his past which takes him home like a time machine.

Emily-Rose Guarnuccio: Teacher's Assistant/Administrative Assistant

Emily has literally grown up at CIS, beginning as a student in the children's classes for 3 year olds and working her way through to her current position. She has always had a passion for the Italian language and anything Italian, so she considers herself extremely fortunate to have grown up surrounded by Italian teachers in an amazing environment like CIS.

She has travelled to Italy several times and her favourite destination is Scoglitti, a small seaside town near Vittoria in the extreme south of Sicily, which is where her family originates.

Maria Masini: Teacher

Maria has been teaching Italian and English for over 20 years. She has taught all levels from kindergarten to adult education and in a variety of settings from the United States to rural Zimbabwe. Maria has been at CIS since 2000. She thoroughly enjoys her classes here, and doesn't see it so much as work, as an opportunity to have a break from managing her children's needs, wants and demands. But when Maria visited Italy in 2007, she rekindled her great love for Italy, its language and culture, and this comes through in her teaching.

When she's not teaching, Maria enjoys spending time with family and friends, travelling and going to the theatre and cinema. She is also an avid walker and is currently training for her second Oxfam Trailwalker 100 kilometre challenge.

Chiara Morabito: Teacher

A recent addition to the teaching staff at CIS, Chiara was born to southern Italian parents and has always stayed close to her Italian roots. She has been teaching Italian since 2005 and is passionate about sharing her knowledge of Italian language and culture with her students. Chiara has travelled to Italy on several occasions and in 2008 lived in Florence, where she worked at 'The Florentine' - Florence's local English newspaper.

Eleonora Morelli: Teacher

Eleonora was born in Ferrara, a beautiful medieval town in North-East Italy. She decided to pursue her dream of travelling the world by studying foreign languages. Her degree "cum laude" from Ca' Foscari University in Venice repaid her for months of winter hibernation spent at Moscow University doing research and translation of a controversial Russian contemporary writer. She came to Australia as a Language Assistant in 2005, and then the following year Eleonora was awarded two scholarships by Monash University, thanks to which she is still in Australia, currently completing her PhD in Russian Literature.

In May 2006 she embraced CIS, where today she still engages in the daily challenge of taking her students on a journey through Italian contemporary literature, cinema, music and society. Eleonora is currently teaching adults and children of different ages. Her interests outside work? Her weakness is a glass of buon vino, accompanied by stimulating conversations with friends. And why not spice up the night with a bit of Salsa dancing?

Salvatore Rapisarda: Teacher

Born in Sicily, Salvatore, aka Sam, moved to Australia with his family when he was only 10. He has been back to Italy quite a few times, mainly to visit, but also to complete a refresher course for teachers at 'La Sapienza' University in Rome. He has 25 years teaching experience, and has been teaching here at CIS for 11. He loves to teach adults here because it is a break from teaching teenagers which is what Salvatore does as his day job. In his free time, Salvatore likes to garden and renovate.

Chiara Registro: Teacher's Assistant

Chiara was a student at CIS while completing her VCE studies. She made such an impression that she was then offered a position as a language assistant in the children's classes. Chiara has held that position for over a year now and she loves working with the kids. She is in her 2nd year of Psychological Science at La Trobe University and would like to become a Child Psychologist when she finishes. In her spare time, she enjoys shopping, going out and spending time with her friends.

Carola Scatizzi: Teacher

Carola originally comes from Milan, one of Italy's biggest and busiest cities.  Since she was young, Carola has had a passion for travelling and adventure so when she was 18, she decided to come to Australia, the furthest country she could think of.  Well, she loved this country so mcuh that in 2006 she decided to move here permanently.  In 2008 she graduated in Languages and Applied Linguistics at Griffith University and while studying she started her teaching career at the Dante Alighieri Society in Brisbane.  In late 2009, she moved to Melbourne together with her partner, seeking more opportunities and new excitement.  Carola is interested in languages, travel, photography and she loves cooking.  She loves to meet people from all over the world and, most importantly, she is very passionate about teaching her own language, both to adults and kids.

Barbara Vincenzi: Teacher/Administrative Assistant

Originally from beautiful Venice, Barbara (aka Barbie Girl) has been teaching at CIS for 4 years. She graduated in Foreign Languages and Literature at Ca' Foscari University and then was able to spend one year in France studying French Literature.

Barbara won a scholarship to Australia in 2005, and worked for one year as a Language Assistant. During this experience she discovered her passion for teaching and so, while teaching at CIS she did her Graduate Diploma in Education at ACU.

As of January 2008 Barbara is the very proud owner of a cute apartment in the city which she shares with her hamster Jake. When she's not teaching Barbara likes to read books, take ballet classes, drink no less that 4 cappuccini a day, listen to rock music and wear pink gloves in her Boxing Classes.