ON DEMAND • Celebrating Valentine’s Day with Dante’s Inferno

About the Speakers:

Maria Bonavita was born in Rizziconi, a small town in the province of Reggio Calabria. She majored in Italian and French at Brooklyn College. She holds two master’s degrees from CUNY, one in Italian and the other in Educational and Community Counseling. She is a dedicated teacher who worked hard to promote Italian language and culture at the high school level as well as colleges and universities on Staten Island. She has written an article on classroom strategies in the teaching of Italian, which appeared in Italica and has collaborated with her husband on the publication of an intermediate textbook in Italian. For the past decade, she has conducted beginners and advanced courses in Italian at Casa Belvedere.

Giusy Lo Schiavo is an Italian actress who was born in Calabria in 1989. She graduated from the University of Rome at La Sapienza with a degree in music and theatre. She is a member of Dramatic Art Cassiopeia Experimentation Theater (2012), taking part in many theatrical performances, including “Iphigenia,” “The Daughters of Magdalene”, “Chat Room,” “Il Condominio,” “Blind,” and, most recently in “About Elisabeth.” She recently appeared in the TV series “Caccia ai Narcos” with popular Italian actor Raoul Bova.