I used to run after Pepper around the red wall, me in slippers, him with the bone. Until age, little by little, came to claim my breath, and I would collapse, exhausted, into the armchair.
Then, from behind the wall, his happy muzzle would appear, one eye lit with mischief, as if to say:
Shall we play?
TITLE: Drop the Bone
SUPPORT:
Cotton canvas on frame
SIZE:
50 x 50 cm
TECHNIQUE:
Oil on canvas
DATE:
March 2026
SERIAL N.:
20260302
NOTES:
Subject from one of my photographs — created with a palette knife.
Logbook – Third dive (the most colorful surprise).
As promised, here comes the third “surprise”: the legendary Parrotfish. Through the third porthole, the seabed looks like an underwater carnival: deep velvet-blue water, seaweed swaying like theater curtains, and a swarm of tiny yellow fish zipping by in formation—basically an “official escort.”
And then, him: feathers? fins? Who knows—but the outfit is pure star power. Red, orange, yellow, green, and blue… a full-on color explosion, with the look of someone who absolutely knows he’s the main character. He stares at you as if to say, “Yes, I know. I’m photogenic even underwater.”
Surprise within the surprise: in the background, a sperm whale appears—huge and discreet—watching the scene with a baffled expression, like the sea’s wise old sage: “A parrot down here? And you in a submarine? The Mediterranean is really putting on a show today.”
TITLE:
When the Mediterranean Goes Tropical
SUPPORT:
Cotton canvas on frame
SIZE:
60 x 60 cm
TECHNIQUE:
Oil on canvas
DATE:
Jan 2026
SERIAL N.:
20260103
NOTES:
Fictional subject, created solely with a palette knife
AI used exclusively for preliminary studies; final work created by hand. When I use AI, I treat it like a sketching lab. For example, here I gave a precise brief—subject, lighting, materials, even an optical lens effect—and then corrected the output with specific indications (the parrot’s head rotation and observation position, plumage colors, and subjects on the seabed). AI doesn’t decide: it speeds up the study phase. Ethics lie in two things: not opaquely copying other people’s material and honestly declaring that it is a design aid, while the final work (and the artistic choices) remain mine.
After our close encounter with the legendary Catfish, here comes the second porthole: the water is clearer, the currents have changed their mood, and in the background an ancient sea story resurfaces… a ghostly sailing ship that seems to whisper, “I was here before you.”
And then he shows up, full-on “captain of the neighborhood” energy: Choco, the Sharkdog. He has the determined look of someone who knows the routes—yet also that goofy, affectionate vibe that catches you off guard and makes you smile: just scary enough to earn respect, but sweet enough to deserve a treat.
Around him: curious fish, tiny bubbles, seaweed applauding softly, and a red coral that looks like underwater fireworks.
TITLE:
The captain of the seabed
SUPPORT:
Cotton canvas on frame
SIZE:
60 x 60 cm
TECHNIQUE:
Oil on canvas
DATE:
Jan 2026
SERIAL N.:
20260102
NOTES:
Fictional subject, created solely with a spatula.
AI used exclusively for preliminary studies; final work created by hand. When I use AI, I treat it like a sketching lab. For example, here I gave a precise brief—subject, lighting, materials, even a lens effect—and then corrected the output with specific indications (swimming direction, movement of legs/ears, and subjects on the seabed). AI doesn’t decide: it speeds up the study phase. The ethics lie in two things: not opaquely copying other people’s material and honestly declaring that it is a design tool, while the final work (and the artistic choices) remain mine.
Logbook – First dive of our submarine in the Mediterranean Sea. I look out through the first porthole… and someone waves at us with tiny paws, like we’re the late bus.
My son Andrea has already given it a title: “The Catfish.” Curious, sweet, and just a little… unpredictable, it peers inside like it’s deciding whether to adopt us. Around us: bubbles, little fish, and that sudden sense of wonder you get when the sea decides to tell you a story.
In the background, a hammerhead stares, baffled: “Sorry… but who invited the new tenant?” And yet this is only the first surprise of the trip. The next window on the seabed… promises an even more unexpected encounter.
TITLE:
An unexpected encounter
SUPPORT:
Cotton canvas on frame
SIZE:
60 x 60 cm
TECHNIQUE:
Oil on canvas
DATE:
Jan 2026
SERIAL N.:
20260101
NOTES:
Fictional subject, created solely with a palette knife.
AI used exclusively for preliminary studies; final work is handcrafted. When I use AI, I treat it like a sketching lab. For example, here I gave a precise brief—subject, lighting, materials, even a lens effect—and then corrected the output with specific indications (the cat’s gaze and subjects in the background). AI doesn’t decide: it speeds up the study phase. The ethics lie in two things: not opaquely copying other people’s material and honestly declaring that it is a design tool, while the final work (and the artistic choices) remain mine.
I saw it — it was there! Alive in my friend’s photograph — a burst of magenta red, with tiny real flowers at the center of the luminous bracts. A few green leaves, oval, sometimes slightly pointed; woody and thorny branches, perfect for climbing the sun-warmed plaster wall. This image was taken on August 11, 2023, on the Greek island of Patmos by my friend Cesare Rotondo, a Milanese manager, photographer, and jazz musician of rare talent.
TITLE:
Bougainvillea
SUPPORT:
Cotton canvas on frame
SIZE:
50 x 60 cm
TECHNIQUE:
Oil on canvas
DATE:
July 2025
SERIAL N.:
20250701
NOTES:
Subject taken from one photographs, created solely with a spatula
A rider, elegant and steady, gallops at full speed, facing with a watchful gaze the charge of a young bull. Rays of light vibrantly cut through the lush landscape, amplifying the sensation of speed and motion. Between man and nature unfolds a dialogue of strength and harmony: the bull’s instinctive energy against the controlled precision of the rider and his steed. A suspended moment, full of sunlight, color, and movement.
TITLE:
Corsa in Camargue
SUPPORT:
Cotton canvas on frame
SIZE:
50 x 50 cm
TECHNIQUE:
Oil on canvas
DATE:
August 2025
SERIAL N.:
20250801
NOTES:
From one of my photographs, created exclusively with a palette knife.
I resume: A crouched child covers his head with both hands. He opens one eye and looks around, bewildered, at a world lashed by the wind. The grandfather hugs him, wraps him up warmly. He takes his tiny hand and whispers, “don’t worry,” before accompanying him outside on one of the very first walks of his life.
TITLE:
The Grandfather and the Little Grandson
SUPPORT:
Cotton canvas on frame
SIZE:
50 x 50 cm
TECHNIQUE:
Oil on canvas
DATE:
January 2025
SERIAL N.:
20250101
NOTES:
A fantasy subject, painted with a brush.
AI used exclusively for preliminary studies; final work is handcrafted. When I use AI, I treat it like a sketching lab. For example, here I gave a precise brief—subject, lighting, materials, even a lens effect—and then corrected the output with specific indications (wind direction, shape of the peak). AI doesn’t decide: it speeds up the study phase. The ethics lie in two things: not opaquely copying other people’s material and honestly declaring that it is a design tool, while the final work (and the artistic choices) remain mine.
A wheel of cheese, fragrant bread freshly baked from the old wood-fired oven, a glass of red wine that gathers the light of day.
And a little robin in flight, like a light thought, come to celebrate this sacred daily communion.
This was the authentic happiness that accompanied our grandparents when they returned from the fields, or after leading the animals along the paths of the mountain pastures.
A happiness made of little, yet so full.
Outside, the sky could be heavy with rain, low clouds crawled among the Alpine pastures, but inside the hut burned the flame of refuge, of quiet, of peace.
The shepherd, a simple man, did not torment himself with questions about tomorrow.
He walked in the present, with dignity, facing every unexpected event without worry.
Worry is the disease of the man of the city, who runs without rest, stumbles over his own desires and complains about every obstacle on his path towards ambition.
The shepherd does not.
He lives in silence and waiting, he ignores the deep reason for events, but he knows how to recognize the beauty of the small and sincere gifts that life offers him. In the warmth of his cabin, in the light of a sunset that dyes the wine ruby, he gives thanks – in silence, with his heart – for the bread, the cheese, and the gentle flight of a robin
Ride the summer like a rebel queen, the girl on the Vespa crosses the rows with the wind in her hair. Her gaze, proud and light, reveals the secret of the Versilian hills, where the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay mature silently, between caresses of the sun and scents of youth.
Behind her, like a portal in the sky, Monte Forato watches over the Apuan Alps, witness of childhood walks and whispered loves.
This is a sip of timeless Tuscany, a toast to life that runs, to beauty that doesn’t ask permission, to wine that preserves memories in a bottle.
Visual arts exhibition that celebrates the awakening of spring through multiple contemporary artistic languages. The exhibition, which will be held at the prestigious Galleria degli Artisti in Via Nirone 1 in Milan, takes inspiration from the mythological figure of Persephone, whose ascent from the underworld marks the beginning of spring in the Greek pantheon. According to the myth, when Persephone returns to earth on the occasion of the spring equinox, her mother Demeter, goddess of agriculture, adorns nature with flowers, buds on the trees, dyeing the meadows green and the sky blue. This mythological theme becomes a metaphor for a double awakening: the external one of nature and the internal one of the human being. The selected artists are invited to explore this concept of rebirth and transformation, interpreting through their works the moment in which the renewed energies of spring manifest themselves both in the natural world and in the human soul. As evoked in the verses of Pablo Neruda quoted in the project: “It is that behind things there is you, Spring, who begins to write in the humidity, with the fingers of a playful child, the delirious alphabet of time that returns.” The exhibition is proposed as an opportunity for artists and visitors to undertake a path of reconnection with their own creative essence and with their “heart projects”, drawing on the inner resources that the spring season naturally awakens.
Event information
Period: From 21 to 29 March 2025, with inauguration on Friday 21 March at 18:00
Where: Galleria degli Artisti, Via Nirone 1, Milan
Below you can consult the catalog:
I had the immense pleasure of participating in this event together with my Art Teacher, the Painter Massimo Fontanini who brought a splendid work entitled “Rinascita”
