The most important works I have been doing in these last years is part of the «Scagliola Project», a technique that I am absolutely fond of:
it includes manifold creative aspects, such as three-dimensionality, colors, traditional natural materials and,
the most appealing to me, the challenge to imitate what nature has created.
Click here for more about scagliola technique.
The imitation of something that exists in nature has been a goal for many artists, in the past and still is in the modern times,
even though this is achieved by means of more and more "high tech" instruments.
In this regard Raniero Gnoli, a great connoisseur of the stones and marbles used by Romans and author of the book “Marmora Romana” states:
“…another thing that affects and humiliates marble, is modern times’ working methods and the excessive use of the machines:
The perfection of sawed and cleaned by machines slabs generates a dead thing.
Every sort of marble - as well as any kind of wood or metal - responds differently to the human efforts and the
diversity of this response is, for the connoisseur, its appeal, its value, its beauty...
The machine does not take into account any of this diversity, and under its action, everything is dulled...
The life of the matter depends on the traces that man, by his hand and his intellect,
leaves on it in the effort to dominate it.”
Enjoy colors and
shapes!
 Farnese BasinInspired by the twin fountains of Piazza Farnese in Rome |  Lapis ObeliskA centerpiece with a precious lapislazuli-like obelisk |
|---|---|
 Still LifeTransposition into scagliola of a Flemish painting |  San Marco's FrameInspired by a decoration in the famous Venetian Basilica |
 Aquitanian ObeliskA tribute to the famous "Marmor Celticum" of the Romans |  HeliosTransposition from a Roman stone inlay decoration |
 Table top with a mapA scagliola-made trompe l'oeil |  Dresser TopImitation of the Breche de Vimines stone |
 Parrot on a BranchTransposition of an inlay marble decoration of the 16th century |  Horse FrameA grotesque inspired decoration |
Another reason that makes me love scagliola is my passion for the «ancient» marbles.
By the word “ancient” are meant those stones imported by Romans from their colonies around the Mediterranean Sea,
used for sculptures and for covering floors or veneers on the walls of their villas and in the public palaces.
Those marbles have acquired for Romans but also, later on, for Byzantines a very important symbolic significance.
My works in scagliola are based on classical canons and designs, sometimes directly inspired from existing works of art
that are re-elaborated through my personal aesthetic perception and are
part of a project called «Roman Memories», since Rome has
been part of my everyday life for
almost 45 years.