Meet the language guide bringing Italian to life for our students, Giulia Massetti.
Giulia is fueled by a belief that language is a bridge that connects people, and that learning to say something in another tongue is a step toward seeing the world through someone else’s eyes. That understanding drew her into teaching and shapes the warm and generous way she coaxes others to learn Italian.
Her own relationship with language started early. In high school she studied Latin and Greek, tracing English and Italian words back to their roots. Then came three years of Japanese, a language fundamentally different from anything she’d undertaken before. Now she is pursuing a university path that she crafted herself, weaving together Italian linguistics and Spanish and American culture and language. The unusual combination suits her vision of the ways languages bring disparate people together.
She joined Esperienza in 2022, when a chance meeting with a colleague — over lunch at her family’s restaurant — turned into an invitation to try guiding a tour. From there, her work grew to include private lessons, book clubs, conversation groups, and eventually the language program itself, which she now leads. She recently sat for her certification exam to teach Italian to foreigners, a natural next step for someone already beloved by four years of students.
Guilia with her family at the restaurant her family owned.
While Giulia grew up in Verucchio, she didn’t always appreciate the quiet hill town perched in the Apennines of Romagna. It took encounters with language students and curious travelers to open her eyes to the beauty that was there all along. Her family has been steeped in the place for a long time. For many years, they ran a restaurant and wine bar on the main square. Her father grows grapes that are descended from vines the Villanovans grew centuries before and farms land in the valley below Verucchio, growing ancient grains. Her mother cooks meals that showcase the farm’s bounties and taste like the place itself.
All of this connection to the place and hospitality to others informs the way Giulia teaches. Verucchio itself is a reminder that language, place, and family are never really separate things. Giulia’s gift is helping students fall in love with Italian the way she fell back in love with it herself: slowly, with the help of others, and for good.