Maria Cuffaro

Born to an Italian father from Sicily and Indian-Swiss mother, from 15 to 22 years old she painted and tried to launch her career as a painter with two personal exhibitions: At 16 years old she held her first exhibition of drawings at the gallery "il Torchio" in Rome (1980). At 20 years old, she held the second and final exhibition in Athens (1986). She worked for the art magazine Leader which, however, ceased publication after a few issues. From 1985 to 1986, Cuffaro was a teacher of English at two elementary schools in Rome. She then worked with il Manifesto, for whom she was sent to India, Pakistan and South Africa. In 1986 she became a radio broadcaster at Italia Radio, and also writes for Sette, Il Venerdì di Repubblica, Annabella, Avvenimenti (for this newspaper she has also edited a book on immigration), Die Tageszeitung, Nordreihnishcer Rundfunk (German radio) and Nuova Ecologia. In 1989 Cuffaro headed the programme 'Il filo d'Arianna' on Rai 3, which deals with inquiries from abroad.