Patrizia Palumbo received her Ph.D from Columbia University where she is currently a lecturer of Italian. At Columbia University, she has taught language courses from the elementary to the advanced level and courses focusing on Italian Cinema and on Italian Culture from the Middle Ages to the present. She has written a number of articles on Italian medieval culture and on Italian colonialism in Africa and has presented papers on teaching pedagogy and on Italian emigration to Germany and France at various conferences in the United States and in Europe. Currently, she is developing an advanced language class based on Italian opera, in collaboration with many Columbia University students - talented singers, critics, composers, and musicians - who share her dedication to this important element of the Italian cultural patrimony.