Maria Cristina Peccianti, a native of Siena, received her Laurea from the University of Florence and currently teaches at the University for Foreigners of Siena. She has written and edited books on linguistic education, including Grammatica italiana per la scuola media and Italian as a second language, including Grammatica d’uso della lingua italiana. She was a co-author of the first and second editions of In giro per l’Italia: A Brief Introduction to Italian.