Silvia is married to Mark, has a very talented son, David, and her 92 year-old farther Romeo lives with all of them in a flat three doors down from the villa. Her husband, Mark, is a principal at Renzo Piano’s office here in Genova and was once a student here at the villa. I think a couple of the students this semester were hoping they would meet the love of their lives here in Genova too, but I am not sure that happened!

Silvia’s son David, whom was born in Brazil, is a very talented musician. It is wonderful to hear Silvia talk about him, you can see her face light up every time she does. Her love for her son is undeniable.

Nick shares a photo of David with Silvia (middle) and Lucia

Silvia’s responsibilities include, but certainly are not limited to, organizing all Italian paperwork for the students and visiting professors. This obviously happens many months before our arrival. She organizes all of our travels including day trips and our long ten day trips. This includes booking our hotels, arranging train tickets and buses and pre booking any museums as needed. She assists students with any questions about their own travel or helps with scheduling doctor appointments (needless to say she did a lot of this for us). Like I mentioned earlier, Silvia is what makes this villa run!

Nick and I are forever grateful to her, not only for welcoming us to Genova with open arms, but for everything that she has done for us in regards to Nick’s accident and recovery. She has been at every surgery, at every necessary doctor appointments and made tons of phone calls on our behalf. We would have been completely lost without this lady and needless to say without her our trip would have been cut short. We will never be able to repay her for her kindness! I keep joking with her that she will be happy to see The Kanable-Ault’s return to the States! We will certainly miss her, that is for sure!