I obtained a Doctorate Degree in Comparative Languages and

Literatures at the University of Pisa.

I was helped in writing my dissertation with a Fulbright Scholarship

which allowed me to study at the University of Texas for one year.

I was subsequently invited to the University of Texas to teach

Italian and pursue a post doctoral program in American, Spanish and

Latin American Literature. It was then that I married a Texas lawyer,

William Wells, and all my ideas of returning to the University of

Pisa were abandoned, with great regret of my professors in Pisa.

I have taught at the University of Texas for thirty years, where I

also held the position of Curator of Italian Collections at the

Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center. In this capacity I prepared

twelve major exhibitions and published three catalogs. Other

publications include articles , in Italian, English and French on

topics of Literature, Arts and Theatre, for American and Italian

journals.

I have been the liaison between the University of Texas, the Italian

Embassy and the the Consulate in Houston for more than  twenty years.

For my academic and scholarly work and my organization in all

diplomatic events concerning the Embassy and the Consulate, I was

awarded one of the highest honors of the Italian government, the title

of Cavalier in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

I received a second Fulbright award o do research in the Carlo Levi's

Archives, in Rome. As a result of this research I have published

several articles on the topic of Levi's painting and narrative.

I have participated in numerous national and International

conferences, the most recent ones in Honolulu, Oxford, and Italy, on

the topic of arts and Theatre, Film and literature, and Linguistics,

Politics, and History.

I am presently holding the title of Adjunct Professor in the French

and Italian Department and that of consultant for Italian Collections

at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.