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Art of Loving Italy

Art of Loving Italy

Art & Beauty are all around us.

Melissa Muldoon Author of Dreaming Sophia


Melissa Muldoon’s Author Site: MelissaMuldoon.com

Melissa Muldoon is the author of Dreaming Sophia a novel about Italy. The story weaves together fact and fantasy and takes the reader from the vineyards of Sonoma California to Florence, Italy. The novel is the result of Melissa’s Italian language studies, travels in Italy, Art History background and curation of the Studentessa Matta Italian language blog.

Melissa Muldoon’s Goodreads Author Page  /  Dreaming Sophia on Goodreads

Melissa Muldoon Amazon Author Page

Visit Melissa Muldoon’s Independent Author Network Page 
(find her on Twitter #IAN1)

Melissa Muldoon is also the author of the Italian language blog  Studentessa Matta”. In Italian “matta” means “crazy” or “impassioned”. Melissa has a B.A. in fine arts, art history and European History from Knox College, a liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, as well as a master’s degree in art history from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. She has also studied painting and art history in Florence.

Melissa promotes the study of Italian language and culture through her dual-language blog,Studentessa Matta.com (studentessamatta.com), the Studentessa Matta YouTube Channel, the Podcast Tutti Matti per l’Italiano and through Matta Language Immersion Tours she co-leads with Italian Partners in Italy. She began the “Matta” blog to improve language skills and to connect with other language learners.

As a student, Melissa lived in Florence with an Italian family. She studied art history and painting and took beginner Italian classes. When she returned home, she threw away her Italian dictionary, assuming she’d never need it again. But after launching a successful design career and starting a family, she realized something was missing in her life. That “thing” was the connection she had made with the country and with friends who live there. Living in Italy was really a life-changing event! Wanting to reconnect with Italy, she decided to start learning the language again from scratch. As if indeed possessed by an Italian muse, she bought a new Italian dictionary and began her journey to fluency—a path that has led her back to Italy many times and which has enriched her life in countless ways.

Having a chat with Eleonora

Now, many dictionaries and grammar books later, she dedicates her time to promoting Italian language studies, further travels in Italy, and sharing her stories and insights about Italy with others. When Melissa is not wandering about Italy, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is married and has three boys and two beagles named Sinbad and Moka.

Melissa designed and illustrated the cover art for Dreaming Sophia. She also designed the Dreaming Sophia website and created the character illustrations that can be found in the book and on the Dreaming Sophia website and Dreaming Sophia Pinterest Site.

The Medici Chapel in San Lorenzo

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Follow along on Instagram @studentessamatta

Current status. Boarding plane bound for Rome. Current status. Boarding plane bound for Rome.
Sono pronta per partire! Italia sto arrivando!!! # Sono pronta per partire! Italia sto arrivando!!! #traveling #italy #andiamo
Announcing a new Online Italian Course with LOVE I Announcing a new Online Italian Course with LOVE ITALIAN in BOLOGNA!

The course is called: Bologna in 10 PAROLE! 

The course will be taught by: Greta Boccia, a new Italian teacher at Love Italian in Bologna.

The course is designed for B2 Level Italian Students.

The course aims to explore the city of Bologna through 10 words that distinguish it. 

To get an idea of what the course will entail, here are a few of the words that describe Bologna that will be discussed in depth TORRE, UNIVERSITA’, PASTA FRESCA, COLLI, SEGRETI, MUSICA.

There will be 8 online meetings on Windows Teams.

For more information, contact me

Link in Bio
“Waking Isabella” is about the life of Elenora “Waking Isabella” is about the life of Elenora & Cosimo I de’ Medici’s daughter Isabella. She was murdered by her husband in Cerreto Guidi on the orders of her brother. There is an urban legend that says her ghost still walks the halls of the hunting villa. But my stories are fiction too… and I’ve created a scenario in with there was a particular painting done by Bronzino commissioned by Cosimo of his wife Eleonora and his daughter Isabella that goes missing during World War II

#isabellamedici #bronzino #medicihistory #indieauthor #novelItaly #italianhistory
“Waking Isabella” is a novel set in Arezzo Ita “Waking Isabella” is a novel set in Arezzo Italy! Take a trip to il bel paese in the pages of a book! 

Waking Isabella is a story about uncovering hidden beauty that over time has been lost, overlooked or suppressed. It also weaves together several love stories as well as a few mysteries. Nora, an assistant researcher, is a catalyst for resolving the puzzle of a painting that has been missing for decades. Set in Arezzo, a small Tuscan town, the plot unfolds against the backdrop of the city’s Antique trade and the fanfare and pageantry of its medieval Jousting Festival.

#IsabellaMedici #WakingIsabella #CerettoGuidi #ItalyNovel #Bronzino #StudentessaMattaf #Florence #Tuscany #CosimoMedici #ArezzoItaly #GiostraSaracino #JoustArezzo #Vasari #jewelrymaking #FamousArt
Linguno vi aiuta a dicefrare la torre del codice Linguno vi aiuta a dicefrare la torre 
del codice Babel! È un’ottimo modo 
per apprendere i verbi italiani.

Listen up, language enthusiasts! I’d like to introduce you to Linguno.com an online free language learning site. I think it is an effective digital tool for learning Italian conjugations and practicing listening skills. And believe me; I’ve tried a lot of them!

Learn more in a new post on the StudentessaMatta website. Links in bio. 
#linguno #learnitalian #italianverbdrillsonline #italianverbs
Linguno Helps you Crack the Tower of Babel code! Linguno Helps you Crack the Tower of Babel code!

Listen up, language enthusiasts! I want to introduce you to Linguno.com an online free language learning site. I think it is an effective digital tool for learning Italian conjugations and practicing listening skills. The site is fantastic for all levels of Italian learners, especially those new to the language. With interactive exercises and quizzes, Linguno turns the mundane task of conjugating Italian verbs into a productive and rewarding experience. Read my review!

#Linguno #TowerBabel #StudentessaMatta #PracticeItalianConjugation #ItalianLanguageLearning #italian #learnItalian #OnlineItalianLanguagePractice

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