Services 

Translations (from Italian, Spanish and French into English.  Subjects: wine, immigration, culture, music, sports and agriculture), interpreting, teaching, personal coaching and liaison between Italy and foreign countries (especially North America).

I’ve been told by the players that I’ve so far coached that I’m rather good at motivating people, even as a teacher.  As far as my role as a soccer coach is concerned, well, I'll naturally leave that up to others to decide if I'm good or not at winning (or losing!).

International Relations

I began working in diplomatic missions in 1986.  My first mission was the U.S. Consulate-General in Winnipeg, Canada.  I went to work in the visa section, thanks also to my Master’s degree in Hispanic studies.  Shortly after I moved to Montréal.  Once there, I also worked for the Americans at the Consulate-General, once again in the visa section (I gave visas out to the Rolling Stones, to Jason Bonham, son of John, the former drummer of Led Zeppelin, and to the movie director Stephen Frears, whose actress in 2007 won an Oscar for her great performance in the movie, “The Queen”).  

Once in Rome I worked for the U.S. Embassy as Trade Marketing Specialist.  From the U.S. Embassy I passed over to the Canadian Embassy as Immigration Programme Officer.  From the Canadians I went to work in the diplomatic office of Palazzo Chigi (the seat of the Italian government) with Prime Minister Berlusconi’s “Sherpa” (diplomatic counsellor) and at the Farnesina, the Italian Foreign Affairs Ministry, in the Political, Multilateral and Human Rights office.  I was one of the official “notetakers” of the (disastrous) G8 Summit held in Genoa.  One meeting which I was present at was in March, 2001 at the Farnesina.  It was five hours long on counter-terrorism.  Topics included Pakistan’s president Musharaff, the Taleban and a fellow who was rather unknown to most of the world up until then, Osama Bin Laden.  All these meetings were off-limits to the general public and to the press (and they still are today). At one point, the U.S.delegate said, “We feel vulnerable to an attack”!  And sure enough, on September 11 of that same year, the entire world saw what she was talking about.