Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
Three Italians graced UIC Women’s Volleyball Team with her talents during the 2025 season.
What would compel a young Italian to leave her home and family to enroll at a state-run university in Chicago? For the three Italians on the 2025 Women’s Volleyball Team at the University of Illinois Chicago, the answer is a combination of wanting to travel, the desire for a challenge and knowing they would be part of a robust community of international students.
Francesca Venturini, who grew up in Bergamo, a city of around 120,000 residents northeast of Milan, was the first of the trio to enroll at UIC, arriving for the fall 2022 season.
“It was hard at the beginning, I missed speaking Italian, and it’s always good to have somebody from home,” Venturini says. “So, when Beatrice came my junior year and when Emma came this year it was a big help.”
Beatrice Carulli, who grew up in Rome, played for Miami Dade College in 2022 and 2023 before transferring to UIC in 2024. She says having an Italian on the UIC team when she arrived helped a lot.
“I wanted to leave my comfort zone, I wanted to make my parents proud, so I decided to make this big change,” Carulli says. “I’m just so happy, grateful, proud.”
Venturini and Carulli are both seniors, so this was their final season as UIC Flames.
Kimi Davis, UIC Women’s Volleyball assistant coach, says each has made a lasting impact on the team.
“Fran was recruited for her strong volleyball IQ, her ability to manage an offense and her experience competing at a high level in Italy,” Davis says. “Bea brings an intensity felt by both teammates and opponents, and she is coachable and driven to improve not only for herself but for the team. Her work ethic and standards will positively influence our program for years to come.”
But freshman Emma Colombari’s collegiate playing career is only just beginning. Colombari also grew up in Bergamo and played for the same club team as Venturini.
“She gave me a lot of information that was useful to me,” Colombari says of Venturini. “But also having Bea to talk to here is really comforting to me, it’s like having a bigger sister.”
Davis says Colombari is an important part of the program’s long-term vision.
“As she gains experience, she has the potential to become a consistent scoring option and a dependable six-rotation player,” Davis says.
It’s becoming more popular for Italian volleyball players to play at American colleges, Venturini says, but getting scholarships is increasingly competitive, in part because of how strong the level of play is.
“This level is the same high level I was playing back at home,” Venturini says. “The way of playing, it’s way faster here, the ball flies way faster. I feel that I improved all four years.”
One reason UIC ended up with three Italian players this season was the emphasis the program places on recruiting international talent. Ten out of the 18 members of the UIC squad are international students. Besides the Italians there are two Argentinians, a Brazilian, a Serbian, a Bulgarian, an Egyptian and a player from the Czech Republic.
“Our staff invests time connecting with these groups, learning about athletes early and understanding their academic and athletic goals,” Davis says. “International prospects see that UIC offers high-level volleyball, strong academics and a diverse campus in a major global city, which makes it an attractive destination.”
Colombari says having so many other international students has been a huge help.
“It’s like having a second family, it’s our family away from home,” Colombari says. “It makes you aware of the fact that you’re not alone, many other girls did the same thing that you did.”
The above article appears in the February 2026 issue of the print version of Fra Noi. Our gorgeous, monthly magazine contains a veritable feast of news and views, profiles and features, entertainment and culture.
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