I was born in 1962 in Cisterna di Latina (Italy), where I have always lived. After completing high school, I attended the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies at the University of Rome “Sapienza”. There, I managed to achieve very good results that won me a scholarship.

However, I did not conclude my studies because I decided to set up an educational services centre in my hometown where I fully capitalized on what I had learned during my university years.

I could also make the most – though for a different purpose – of the exams I had taken while studying Economics later on, when I decided to attend a Bachelor of Science in Education- "Professional Educator", at LUMSA University(Rome), graduating with honours. Thanks to individual and group projects variously conducted during my professional career, I was able to understand my true vocation: working "with" people and "for" people.

This is my greatest passion, which I cultivated and put to use in the activities both of Centro Servizi Didattici Panta Rei – where I was managing director for almost thirty years – and of the voluntary NPO Il Ponte Onlus, where I have been president since 2006. I am convinced that educating means bringing out the potential of all learners, and this is what I have done with the hundreds of young people I have worked with.  Putting the theories of humanistic-emotional teaching into practice has always been my main objective and it has evolved intoa particular teaching style. This peculiar approach constantly focuses on the attempt at answering the requests for help and is based on the authenticity of the relationship between trainer and learner, between educator and pupil, inspired by Socrates’ maieutics.

This method was also the subject of my graduation thesis and, recently, of my dissertation for a Master in Didattica e Promozione della Lingua e Cultura Italiana (Teaching and Promotion of Italian Language and Culture), which I discussed at the University of Venice “Ca'Foscari” and which is entitled “L’EducazioneInterculturale. Un esempio di didattica di tipo umanistico-affettivo" ("Intercultural Education: An Example of Humanistic-AffectiveTeaching methodology")

 

The long-lasting presence of Centro Panta Rei  in the area both within and beyond my town’s borders has allowed me to consolidate collaborations with state schools, municipalities, the 'Aziende Sanitarie Locali' (child neuro-psychiatrist Service),and the juvenile court. Working together, it has been possible to implement integrated interventions in the interest of more problematic students, some of whom have lived in situations of marginality.

 

In 2006 I started working as the president of OdV Il Ponte Onlus founded on 27 September 1985 with the aim of developing a culture which would promote the human being in their entirety and complexity, enhancing their dignity and autonomy, all the while pursuing goals such as solidarity and the prevention of distress, marginalization and juvenile delinquency, with special attention to situations of drug addiction.

Among other things, together with psychologists, counsellors and entertainers, Il Ponte Onlus has managed the Centro di ascolto, a service for minors at risk located in San Valentino, one of the areas of the municipality of Cisterna di Latina. In 2008 Il Ponte joined Libera, an association against the Mafia’s several forms, quickly becoming a reference point in the area. Since then, my new commitment as representative of Libera along with the work conducted in state schools and with the youth of the town have provided me with one more opportunity to experiment with my teaching on specific issues and to collectively address one of the reasons of the social unease which I had been debating for years.

I have found not only a more individual path for myself as an educator, but also commitment and a social vision to address, as far as possible, the sources of marginality. This further growth – to which the network of Libera strongly contributed –has resulted in the creation of Libreria della Legalità, the Library of legality, a project meant for the 'Sala della Loggia' of Palazzo Caetani and made possible by a private foundation. Hence, a collaboration with the association of cultural promotion Tempi Moderni has become essential for promoting the rule of law and fighting the Mafia and 'Caporalato' (the system of hiring day labourers through an intermediary) in our territory.My interest in people and working online has allowed me to meet the young people of Scugnizzeria and ofthe publishing house Marotta&Cafiero based in Scampia (Naples). I have been able to create an effective and lasting collaboration with them, since their purposes and methods are very close to Il Ponte’s ones.

 

I have walked along two key paths, which are different but at the same time overlapping. Following them I have been able to understand and experience the complexity of the individual. I have had to learn how to face it, being brave, professional, generous, and respectful. I have realized that differences exist only insofar as we perceive them. All of us proceed from our own stories. And I like all kinds of stories.

I love them.