Staff
New York, NY
Laura Harrison
President
A graduate of Harvard and Stanford Universities, Laura is also an award-winning documentary filmmaker. Laura launched her film career in France, where she worked for eight years as an editor on French feature films before returning to the US to make her own documentaries. A prevailing interest in non-mainstream communities has guided her creative trajectory throughout the years. She co-directed Secret People (2000), a chronicle of the past and present of leprosy in America, which was broadcast nationally on PBS' Independent Lens series and won a silver medal at the SXSW Film Festival. In 2010, she co-directed Space, Land and Time: Underground Adventures with Ant Farm, which won the Grand Festival Award in Documentary at the Berkeley Film Festival in 2011. Since 2012, Laura has worked for the Center, focusing on expanding diversity and inclusion, and ensuring the long-term future of the program. In addition to Bogliasco, Laura is devoted to her family, ashtanga yoga, hiking, and sea swimming.
Bogliasco, Italy
Ivana Folle
Director of the Bogliasco Study Center
Ivana Folle has worked at the Bogliasco Center since it opened in 1996: first as Associate Director, and beginning in 2010 as the Senior Residential Director and Vice President. She owned and operated the Galleria San Bernardo in Genoa from 1993 to 2008 and occasionally was the Artistic Director for the Galleria Ghiglione in the years to follow. Thanks to her many years of experience in the Genoa art world, Ivana maintains important connections to the local cultural environment and beyond. Ivana holds a degree in Visual Arts at the Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti in Genoa. She has not pursued a career as an artist, but in her free time she likes to paint and draw en plein air, perhaps after a long walk in nature.
Bogliasco, Italy
Valeria Soave
Human Resources Manager
Valeria has worked in the administrative and management office of the Bogliasco Center since 2009. She is married to Luigi Crovetto, with whom she shares - in addition to the workplace - a passion for creativity. They have two children and a granddaughter, who is the focus of their family life. Before Bogliasco, for many years she worked in a construction engineering and interior design firm. She enjoys graphic design and informal collage, to which she dedicates herself in her spare time. Valeria and Luigi live in Sori, a small town near Bogliasco, with their dog Kiba.
New York, NY
Arielle Moreau
Program Director
Originally from France, Arielle Moreau has been living in New York since 2010. She holds a BA degree in art history from the University Pierre Mendès-France in Grenoble, France and a State Diploma as an Interpretive Cultural Guide from the University of Lyon. Prior to New York, she resided in Italy for several years and worked there and in France as a tour guide and Trip Specialist for the American active travel company Backroads. She then worked for various cultural institutions in France and came to New York to assist a curator in running an experimental, contemporary art space before embarking on her journey with Bogliasco. As the Program Director, she brings her organizational skills, her Italian experience, and her sensibility to the arts and humanities to oversee the Bogliasco Fellowship program.
New York, NY
Emily Kiacz
Development Associate
Emily Kiacz has been living in New York since 2011. She is a painter and arts administrator. She received her MFA in painting from Boston University and her BFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Kiacz has exhibited her work in many New York galleries, including Cuevas Tilleard Projects, Morgan Lehman Gallery, and White Columns. She has been awarded fellowships at Yaddo, Tilleard Projects Residency, The Edward F. Albee Foundation, and the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, among others. She brings her experience as a practicing artist to her development role at Bogliasco.
Bogliasco, Italy
Daniela Poggi
Housekeeping and Kitchen Staff
Daniela began working at the Center in 1997, performing duties related to housekeeping, kitchen assistance and table service. She loves tidiness and cooking, particularly experimenting with new dishes, in which she combines Ligurian tradition with small creative innovations. Her beautiful family keeps her busy outside of work. In her free time, she loves to walk in the mountains around the small town where she was born and raised and where she still currently lives.
Bogliasco, Italy
Raffaella Folle
Housekeeping and Kitchen Staff
Raffaella has been a member of the Bogliasco team since 1997. She is in charge of room and kitchen cleaning but also helps with table service and meal preparation when needed. She speaks English and is learning Spanish. She is a cat lover and has three cats, which she considers an integral part of her family. She has many interests and passions: reading, especially thrillers, but also biographies and essays; Soccer, which she follows with great enthusiasm and excitement through the matches of her favorite team, Genoa CFC; rock music; and, above all, photography and exploring abandoned places. Fascinated by the stories and secrets that these places hold, she not only explores them but with her smartphone captures their beauty and mystery, adding an artistic touch to her adventure.
Bogliasco, Italy
Franco Romeo
Gardener and General Maintenance
Franco Romeo has been a gardener at the Bogliasco Center for more than 25 years. In his job he maintains the grounds and plants, a passion he learned from his grandfather and father. Together, they created vegetable and floral gardens since he was a little boy. His hobbies are car and motorcycle engines, which he enjoys tuning to enhance their performance. He loves the mountains and the sea, hiking and fishing, which he shares in his free time with his partner and daughter.
Bogliasco, Italy
Manuelita Britez
Hospitality and General Assistance
Manuelita is the most recent addition to the Bogliasco staff, having begun working for the Center in 2023. A marketing and advertising graduate with a master’s in social media, she is currently tasked with housekeeping, hospitality and general office assistance. She lives in her small apartment inside the Bogliasco Center with her family and two beloved cats, Romeo and Anahí. She was born and raised in Paraguay, the heart of South America, but for the past seven years has lived in Italy, where she has found her paradise surrounded by natural beauty. She is very hospitable and friendly, has a big smile and loves ethnic food, flowers and reading.
Bogliasco, Italy
Luigi Crovetto
Gardener and General Maintenance
Luigi has been working at the Center since 2006. With a background as an artist and craftsman, he has brought his creativity to the garden maintenance of Villa dei Pini, which is just one of his many responsibilities pertaining to the general maintenance of the property. He has participated in several art exhibitions and had an artisan store in the historic center of Genoa, where he was active in restoration and metalworking, intaglio production, ex libris, and hand-painted icons on wood. In his spare time, he enjoys music and hiking in the mountains. He is married to Valeria, who works in the Bogliasco office.
Bogliasco, Italy
Sara Bozzo
Kitchen staff
Sara has been working in Bogliasco’s kitchen since 1999, honing her skills over the years until she was promoted to the position of main cook several years ago. Her favourite dishes to make are traditional Ligurian dishes such as pasta with pesto sauce, vegetable pies, and the typical Recco cheese focaccia. She has a passion for exercise, particularly weightlifting and running. She loves animals and has a particular affection for cats - especially her own Tato, who is like a child to her.
Bogliasco, Italy
Danilo Taffurelli
Housekeeping and Kitchen Staff
Since 1997, Danilo has performed a wide variety of duties at the Bogliasco Center, including custodial oversight, housekeeping, general maintenance, table service and cooking. Given his passion for good food, on Monday evenings and occasionally on Sundays, he assumes the role of cook at the Center. He is known for his many culinary specialties, which include delicious desserts. In his spare time, he likes to play billiards and cards, and during summer vacation enjoys long walks in the mountains.