ALBERTA NOVELLO has a PhD in Linguistics from Ca’ Foscari University (Venice) and is a researcher (with the qualification of Associate Professor) in the Department of Linguistics and Literary Studies at the University of Padova. She is the Academic Coordinator for the ‘Itals’ Master in Teaching Italian as a L2/SL (Ca’ Foscari). Novello is a member of the scientific board for Italian-SL junior secondary school examination (Bolzano area) and she is in the chief editor of Rila and ISSA journals. She is a member of DILLE society. She is the author of several essays and three monographs. Her main research areas are: giftedness, language assessment, early bilingualism.