City Experts |
Michael Karris
City Expert
A Chicagoan by birth, Michael Karris grew up in Indiana, where his decision to take the “useless” subject of Latin at East Chicago Roosevelt High School led him to a life-long interest in all things Italian. His educational background include a B.A. in Italian Language and Literature at Indiana University in Bloomington followed by an M.A. in Italian Studies from the University of California at Los Angeles; at UCLA he also obtained a Graduate Certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language.
He has resided in Italy for the last quarter century—in Bologna, Sardinia, Perugia, Naples and Rome. Along with years of experience teaching English at the universities of Rome and Naples, Michael taught Humanities courses including Roman history and archaeology and Italian art history classes as an adjunct instructor for the University of La Verne (California) Naples Residence Center. He was also responsible there for developing a Cultural Tourism in Italy program and took up scuba diving to do underwater archaeological investigations in the Bay of Naples. He is also one of the founders of the International Archaeological Society of Naples.
He is currently working at the Rome University of Fine Arts as the Director of the Anglo-American Language & Culture Institute, for which he also organizes a series of cultural tours called “Secret Walks.” As part of the various activities of the Rome 101 cultural association he founded, he loves accompanying tourists who crave to learn more about the history and heritage of Rome through the ages and enjoys immensely the stimulating questions which come out of the visitors’ rich and varied professional backgrounds and life experience.
|
Giusy Gurrisi
City Expert
I was born in Sicily, this splendid island right in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, but I grew up and went to school in Rome. I learned foreign languages during and after high school and lived abroad for a while. Then I went back to college where I studied history, archaeology, art history, and history of the Church, courses geared for the training of tourist guides in Rome and the Vatican and eventually got my degree in History of Religion at the Pontifical Lateran University of Rome. In addition, I did course work in Italian Cultural Heritage at Tor Vergata University of Rome.
I’m also a member of ARCHEOCLUB of Rome, a cultural association devoted to the fostering of knowledge of Rome and its cultural heritage, in which renowned teachers and scholars give courses and organize visits in Rome, Italy, and abroad, too.
I’m an officially licensed tour guide for Rome and Italy in general. Many people think I’m lucky because I live in such an historical town, where every single stone speaks to you of its history; just for the same reason it is not so easy to be a guide here -- you have to study a lot to become one! It is my desire to impart to others my understanding of and enthusiasm for my city and country. If you intend to come to Rome and take a tour contact me at giusyland@mclink.it or giusyland@libero.it.
I did this job for Home & Abroad with great care and enthusiasm.
Thank you, Home & Abroad!
|
Photographer |
Sarah Marugan
Photographer
In Sarah's words:
I was born in Rome, a town which I love so much. But my roots are both Sicilian and Spanish. It is for this reason that sometimes I feel sort of Turkish, which I love as well.
I've always had a predisposition for drawing and manual work, so I went first to the Artistic Lyceum and then to the academy of Fine Arts in Rome, specializing in Stage Design. After many curious events in my life, I started to work in the theater as a light designer and scenographer and I've been doing this work for the last 9 years: a difficult and tiring job, but also fascinating and highly fulfilling.
I feel the need to express my inner creativity; without being able to do so,I think I would wither away as a person. So when I have time, I also do some painting, photography, and other activities which I love, and which make me feel alive (this is also all very therapeutic, you know).
Currently, to make ends meet (at times living on one’s own means stretching one’s capacities in order to survive), I also work in a book bar where I principally catalog and put the books on the shelves, and read them, too!
I would love to open a little “art school” for kids, a place where they could express themselves freely beyond words and where they could, as happened to me, grow up and become adults learning how to keep alive that free and open “kid’s” part of them capable of achieving the wildest things. Who knows, maybe one day in the future your own kids might attend!
Thank you, Home & Abroad, for the curious and satisfying experience of doing this job for you; I have been able to rediscover my own hometown by capturing it in my camera lens!
|
