Our Story
Passaggi d’Italia grew from a shared belief that travel can be a form of understanding.
For many years, Dr. Carla Simonini and Dr. Chandra Harris have studied the history, cultures, and landscapes of Italy as scholars and teachers. Through their research and travels they came to see how deeply place, memory, and everyday traditions shape Italian life — from the foods grown in volcanic soil to the mountain towns that sent generations of emigrants across the Atlantic.
Passaggi d’Italia was created to share that perspective with travelers who want to experience Italy more thoughtfully. Rather than rushing through famous landmarks, these journeys focus on the places where history and daily life intersect: small towns, working farms, local festivals, and landscapes that still carry the stories of the past.
Traveling in small groups, guests are invited to experience Italy not simply as visitors, but as attentive observers and participants in the living traditions of the regions we explore.
Meet Your Guides
Dr. Carla Simonini, Co-Founder
As co-founder of Passaggi d’Italia, I come to this work as someone who has spent a lifetime helping people understand Italy through its language, culture, history, and lived experience.
As a professor, my work was always outward-facing and community-centered. I designed courses and programs that moved learning beyond the classroom, most notably an immersive summer program in Cefalù, Sicily, where history and language were encountered on foot and in conversation along ancient streets and in open-air markets.
While accompanying my students, I became increasingly focused on building trust with people and places, seeing how historical events shape everyday life, and noticing how the past endures in food, customs, and local craft. This sharpened my attention to the questions thoughtful travelers care about most: what authenticity looks like beyond postcard images, how connection grows through shared time and meals, and how history and daily life give places their character.
Today, I bring that same approach to a new audience. Through Passaggi d’Italia, I apply the principles of experiential learning to cultural travel, guiding guests who want to understand not just what they’re seeing, but why it matters and how it connects to the people who call these places home, and to ourselves.
- Ph.D. in Italian & Italian American Studies from Brown University (2006)
- Associate Professor of Italian at Youngstown State University (2010-2018)
- Editor-in-Chief of Italian Americana (2016-2024)
- Founding Director & Endowed Associate Professor in Italian American Studies at Loyola University Chicago (2018-2024)
Dr. Chandra Harris, Co-Founder
As a lifelong student of Italy’s language, culture, and history, I bring decades of experience, scholarship, and deep personal connection to my work as a co-founder of Passaggi d’Italia. More than anything, I bring a genuine love for Italy and a desire to share that love with those who travel with me.
My youthful passion for Italy grew as an undergraduate in the Stanford-in-Florence program. Living in Florence, I fell in love with the rhythms of daily life as much as with the masterpieces of Renaissance art. Later, I attended Florence’s Istituto per l’Arte e il Restauro, where I deepened my understanding of Italy’s artistic and cultural heritage.
As a Fulbright-Hays Fellow, I lived in Bologna – Italy’s historic breadbasket – where I came to appreciate in a new way how deeply culture and cuisine are intertwined, especially in Emilia-Romagna. Later, my research in Rome led me to sites that tell the more difficult stories of Italy’s World War II past, shaping how I think about history not as something distant, but as something that continues to live in the places we visit.
Over time, these experiences shaped not just what I know about Italy, but how I share it. In collaboration with the late Suzanne Branciforte, author of Parliamo Italiano and director of the Study in Italy program, I designed and led immersive journeys for students across Rome, Southern Italy, Tuscany, and Emilia-Romagna. Together, we focused on creating meaningful connections—to people, to place, and to the everyday cultural practices that define Italian life. Her spirit and dedication to cultural exchange continue to guide me.
- Ph.D. in Italian Studies from Brown University (2004)
- Adjunct Italian Professor, University of Rhode Island (2006-2007)
- World Language Instructor (Italian and Spanish) at Moses Brown School in Rhode Island (2008-present)
