Sara is an art historian with doctoral degrees in Medieval and Modern Art History and Classical Antiquities. She is the author of a book, published by the Accademia dei Lincei, on the antiquities collection of Pope Julius II and has written various articles in important scholarly journals on the history of Renaissance and Baroque collections. More recently, she had published a book on some of the most famous paintings of Caravaggio in Rome which introduces a new interpretation of the works, based on philological data, and which is changing the way we look at this artist. For many years, she has combined her philological research with her work as a university instructor, museum educator and professional tourist guide.

Originally from England, Richard has lived in Rome for the last fourteen years. He holds a Master's degree in medieval and twentieth-century history from London University and has a broad-minded and synthetic approach to understanding Rome. Richard works quite frequently with institutional travel organizations, such as museums and church organizations, and as a result spends much of his time traveling all over Europe. He brings this cosmopolitan and pan-European experience to bear on his work with us in Rome, constantly making connections to other cities and countries in the course of his lectures and seminars.

Carol received her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and holds M.A. degrees in Italian literature from the University of Toronto, where she has taught, and in art history from Boston University. Carol has been teaching for five years as adjunct faculty for several Rome study abroad programs and has been a guest lecturer in art history and restoration for numerous visiting American university summer programs. She has been a Visiting Fellow twice at the Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies in Amherst, Mass, where she has given numerous lectures and participated in conferences. Through her affiliation with various art institutes, Carol has participated in a variety of laboratory and fieldwork restoration projects throughout Tuscany and Lazio over the past eight years. She has treated numerous paintings, frescos, and gilded objects, and has worked on-site at locations such as Villa il Farneto in Vicchio, and Santa Maria Castagnolo. She is currently completing her Italian laurea in restoration. Carol also completed the graduate certificate program in Museum Studies from Tufts University with a specialization in conservation. With over five years of professional curatorial experience in the U.S. encompassing the care and treatment of art objects, she has authored numerous conservation grants and was a successful applicant to the Smithsonian Institution’s Collections Care program.