I confess finding my way was more complicated than originally thought. It was 1994 when I quit the faculty of Aeronautic Engineering and my head was filled up with fears and doubts. These feelings led me to draw and paint, passions, which turned into a restorative vocation. I realized in that way that I had a peculiar gift for reproducing different techniques and styles by paintbrush. My years of restoration study in Rome were rewarded in 1999 when professor Rodolfo Lujan Lunsford invited me to Nepal to begin my first project. My maturation as a conservator can solely be accredited to this man.
In the nature of true Himalayan journey this opportunity was unexpected and unknown, so mysterious, in fact, that I had to search for the Himalayan region I was about to go upon a map for at that time there was no Google Earth! As assistant to the direction I started my career under a prestigious restoration project sponsored by The American Himalayan Foundation and executed by the John Sanday Associates. I became director and expanded the projects from Italy and Nepal to other countries including Bhutan, China and Thailand.
My job has taken me all over Asia to restore wonderful paintings, statues and artifacts as well as to teach my craft to the villagers. We have specially trained over seventy local individuals as restorers. Of this achievement I am most proud. Working on masterpieces of oriental art has become a means to the virtue of helping others, who otherwise would have spent their lives struggling elsewhere.
The Himalaya means more to me than just restoration. In the silence of the mountains I have discovered true voice and creative expression. Behind a lens, with a paintbrush, or through a conservation project, my experiences have become manifested.
