Meet our teachers
CIS teachers are native Italian speakers with the qualifications, proficiency, training and experience to teach language at any level.
Importantly, they are self-motivated to create compelling classroom materials and keen to share their love of Italian and Italy on a personal basis.
There is no substitute for personal experience.
Elio Guarnuccio - CIS Founder and teacher
Patient, full of ideas and a great leader, Elio founded CIS in 1979 when as a young teacher creating his own materials, he saw an opportunity. CIS quickly became a successful language school and publishing company. The first language course that he co-wrote, Avanti!, changed the way languages are taught and how language textbooks are designed. In 2020 Elio launched Lingopont, a new groundbreaking publishing company with high ambitions. Elio’s passion for languages represents not only communication, but also cultural richness, new friendships, personal development and fun times. These are all things that he instills in our school. His hobbies include traveling, Opera, reading, playing golf, and watching sports . Lucio Battisti is his favourite Italian singer and Il Postino is one of the best Italian movies he recommends.
Carla – General Manager & Teacher
Serena – Teacher
Stella - Teacher and Admin
Reliable, smiling and enthusiastic. She joined the CIS team in 2022 and she’s been always passionate about teaching Italian grammar and culture, fashion and food. She has an obsession with authentic Italian gelato and her hobbies include travelling and going to yoga and pilates classes. Stella loves strolling at the beach or in the parks and she likes watching Italian movies starring Claudio Santamaria. Subsonica is her favourite Italian music band. She believes that “everything happens for a reason”. Born in Milan
Cristiano - Teacher
Passionate, curious, and with a research background in Australia, Cristiano joined the CIS team in 2022. He believes that learning a language requires cultural immersion, spontaneous connections, and authentic communication. A traveller at heart, Cristiano has used his skills in European languages to connect with people from dozens of countries. Some of his favourite Italian novels include “Timira” by Wu Ming 2 & Antar Mohamed and “La dismissione” by Ermanno Rea, whereas Italian filmmakers he usually recommends are Pier Paolo Pasolini, Michelangelo Antonioni and Claudio Caligari. He loves indulging his passion for urban photography while listening to old school Italian rap. Born and raised in Napoli.
Oriana - Teacher and Italian Experiences Coordinator
Available, reliable, tenacious and hard-working, she has always worked in contact with people from all over the world.
She has joined the CIS in 2023 and her passion for teaching Italian has become contagious among aspiring new teachers. Oriana's hobbies include swimming, jogging and baking cakes for her 4 children.
For her, irony and self-irony are forms of intelligence.
The famous quote of the Italian writer Roberto Rigoni: "Kindness is a form of elegance. The best I know" is a source of inspiration for her. She loves Carlo Verdone's 80s films and Leonardo Pieraccioni's Tuscan comedy.
Fabrizio De Andre' is her favourite Italian singer.
Born in Siracusa (Sicily)
Lorenzo - Teacher
Welcoming, patient and witty. Lorenzo joined the CIS team in 2024. He loves to stimulate his creativity and the creativity of students in the classroom, and he believes that learning, to be true, must be an obligatory consequence of free experimentation. When he is not busy teaching, he plays with his folk trio, walks around and, if the weather is good enough, pretends to know how to play soccer. His motto is a Latin phrase from the poet Ovid: "numquam quaerenti defuit orbis," he who seeks the world will always find it. His favourite poets are Giovanni Raboni and Guido Gozzano, and his favourite songwriter is Luigi Tenco.
Gaia - Teacher
Kind, resourceful and curious. She likes to create a relationship of trust with her students, allowing mutual growth and making lessons a moment of exchange and curiosity. She is passionate about travel and discovery. Her favourite singer is Tiziano Ferro, a great artist and representative of important human rights. She likes autobiographical books, her favourites being those on the Second World War by wonderful authors such as Levi, Kraus, Boyne, and Frank.
Sergio – Teacher
Francesca - Teacher and author
Enthusiastic and curious, she is passionate about teaching Italian and yoga, her surname “Lavagna” means “blackboard" so her destiny was to be a teacher! She started working at cis in 2013 and she is one of the authors of the TuttoBene textbooks.
Her quote is "il cielo è un punto di partenza, non un limite" which means "the sky is only a starting point, not a limit". She listens to Italian rap music and her favorite writer is Gianrico Carofiglio who has a very engaging way of letting the readers deep in the stories he tells. She suggests to all her students to watch the series "La mafia uccide solo d’estate" directed by Pif.
Florin - Teacher
Passionate traveller, theatre lover and always ready for new challenges. Florin joined CIS in 2022. Let's meet him in the intermediate classes where his focus will be on fun communication based on functional language. He loves using the target language in a natural context and getting to know the students. His favorite readings are Luigi Pirandello's plays such as Enrico IV and Così è se vi pare. His favorite movie is Il Postino (the Postaman) and he likes to listen to Renato Zero and Lucio Dalla! Raised in Rome.
Erika - Teacher
Active, outgoing and positive. Erika joined the CIS team in 2022 after being an Italian tutor for more than two years in Australia where she arrived in 2018. Food & wine lover, Erika also adores spending time at the beach surfing or just relaxing with a book. Alessandro Baricco is her favourite Italian author. Her motto is "Be the change you wish to see in the world". Born in Asti (Piedmont)
Luca - Teacher
Smart, friendly and adventurous, Luca has joined the CIS team in 2023. His passion for cinema and music makes him a creative and lively teacher. Learning a language means much more than being familiar with grammar rules: it also entails learning in depth about the culture it represents, this is why his lessons are filled with many useful activities for learning how to deal with real-life situations. He loves every movie directed by Sergio Leone or Ettore Scola while Elsa Morante and Niccolò Ammanniti are his favourite italian authors. Nature and fitness lover, Luca enjoys doing outdoor activities, from surfing to hiking. Born in Latina (Lazio).
Antonio - Teacher
Active, patient and with a good sense of humour, Antonio has over 40 years of experience in education. He loves to engage in the learning of others and experience their enjoyment through learning a language. To Antonio language is not just words and phrases, it’s a reflection of the people, the history, the culture, the food, the music and traditions. “Take as much out of your day as you can but make sure you give as much in return” was his father’s advice, which has stood by Antonio all his life. His favourite Italian singer is Gianni Morandi and his favourite Italian writer is Carlo Levi.
From Basilicata
Carmel – Teacher
Anna - Teacher
Fun with a positive attitude, she put human relationships at the centre of what she does! Anna has joined the CIS team in 2021. She loves human beings and with teaching, she creates empathic relationships. Her lessons are serious and focus on learning with an underlying fun environment. This is the phrase that represents her the most: “Be like the sea: transparent and thoughtless on the surface and deep in the soul”. She loves horse riding and reading. Giorgio Balzano is her favourite writer. She loves being the grandmother of her 3 little babies.
Francesca - Teacher
Positive, motivated and creative, Francesca has joined the CIS team in 2021 but she has been working as a teacher since 2011. She loves teaching using different techniques to make her classes always fun and dynamic. The phrase that she always keeps in mind is: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”. Carmen Consoli and Brunori Sas are two of her favourite Italian singers while Erri de Luca, Marco Malvaldi and Antonio Tabucchi are her favourite Italian writers.
She also loves cooking, watching TV series and playing tennis.
From Reggio Calabria
Stefano - Teacher
Friendly, patient, a great communicator and listener, Stefano has joined the CIS team in 2022. His goal is to create enjoyable and interesting learning experiences for curious and passionate students who want to discover Italian from “A” to “ZETA”. Stefano’s interests range is very wide and varied. He cooks and bakes a lot of Italian food and has an obsession with everything Disney. He loves singing Italian songs from all Sanremo Music Festival playlists available with friends and finds solace in fantasy sagas on the page and on the screen. He is an avid reader, adores musicals and plays and goes to the gym most mornings. And much more! Stefano was born in Brescia (Lombardia) and moved to Melbourne 10 years ago.
Lorenza - Teacher
Curious, open-minded and smiling. She joined the CIS team in 2022. She is always enthusiastic about teaching the Italian language and culture and is passionate about contemporary jewellery, art and fashion. Lorenza likes travelling, walking on the beach and swimming in the ocean. Jazz is her favourite music. Born in Bologna (Emilia Romagna)
Luciana – Teacher
Life enthusiastic, music lover and always smiling, Luciana joined CIS in 2020. You can meet her in the beginner classes where she loves engaging the students to develop a passion for learning the language and to learn more about Italy itself. Her favourite readings are Oriana Fallaci’s books and L’amica geniale and Suburra are the Italian tv- series she likes watching the most. Her favourite Italian singers are Eros Ramazzotti and Fabri Fibra. Born in Melbourne