hi
this is my surrounding I
you know cold day in January 1977 I’m 40
and so there’s no one the mountain and
the cold has been always part of my life
I am born in a small village of about 60
65 people so it’s pretty small we are
almost all relatives that was yeah which
is good and bad everybody knows my car
and yeah I cannot hide too much so my
family was is from there since ever my
some of my ancestor built my house where
I’m still living and in in the ground of
the house I found some wooden
woodworking tools to make of course it
was to make tools to make things for do
the to work in the ground to feed
themselves and I started to use them to
carve some food and some stuff and when
I was eight years old I met the man that
changed my life which is this man is
Franco is my master he’s has been my he
was my master and he still my master now
II still alive is 87 quite well I have
to say and he was coming to the primary
school to teach us sculpting in wood
because he saw that I love this theme he
took me in his workshop in the afternoon
as well so I teach me a little bit more
and when I was 10 he took me to an
international opener sculpture symposium
so people come to visit and I was
working in public that was pretty pretty
scary because of course you are 10 and
you don’t know what you’re doing but I
learned a lot in that time and the year
later it took me 2 Dolomites
to do some snow sculpture and that was
the first time I knew I understood that
snow could be used without skis because
I live in a ski area so ski is really
you I mean the usual for us after that
experience have been doing many many
works around the world in different
materials wood stone granite some in
Switzerland some in all over Europe
Japan China Australia really everywhere
but there was a place up in the Swedish
Lapland where I really wanted to go and
it was really difficult for me because I
I keep on sending projects and up there
they get something like four five
hundred projects every year and they
choose ten projects so it’s pretty hard
to get in but I never give up I keep on
trying and keep on trying when I was
twenty I received an you TiVo pink
letter and it was for the army I had to
go to to the army of course and it was
Alpine army so again snow and mountain
in my life for the for the next ten
months in that time it was I had no time
of course to to work to to do my
sculpting to practice my my work but I
had a lot of guards to do in the evening
so like to stand like these and guarding
because nothing at this so and I had a
knife in my pocket and in the bathrooms
we have some beautiful soap big like
these deep blue and really compact and I
start to curve to curve these little
things as models maquette and I start to
send these all over the world and one of
these was chosen in Germany in the Black
Forest so not really far from here and
when I was still in the Army they
invited me to represent Italy in in that
sculpture contest so I decided to go I
took a week of all day from the army I
went up there and I got the first price
then again came back I think it was
probably one month left to finish it
army and my captain called me and say he
asked me look what we’ve been doing in
in your holiday and then they say well
went home I did some work because when
you are in the army you cannot go abroad
so then it took from under his desk a
German newspaper with with this front
page and this was my work of 20 years
ago with my name
and and yeah I did not know what to say
so it is stating silence I was quite
afraid to finish my army into jail but
then he smiled to me and he says well
because you represent Italy you want the
price then you can have an extra week of
holiday so this was a good ending for
the story when I went back home I
started to work a lot in sculpting and
sending a lot lot of project abroad and
I I’ve been doing some works around the
world that one with these paper boats
they are in Bondi Beach Australia they
are next to Sydney this one is on the
Black Sea in in Turkey this is near
Bordeaux in France saw his face in the
ocean so I have really works everywhere
and of course I live – I love to travel
then in 2003 I think I get in judgment
by my tunnel to organise Scotto
symposium here in snow and in wood so I
did it and this gives me a lot of
opportunities to know a lot of
colleagues with from other countries
with many other experiences but also
lots of troubles because it’s not easy
to manage artists we are all a little
bit pre-madonna so we like to be the one
what it was good I made time I was
watching reading and magazine and I saw
extremely beautiful pictures of ice and
snow buildings huge buildings in Finland
and I searched the name I contact the
organizer I say to them that I really
would be interested to be to help them
to be involved in this thing they came
back to me we get in touch few weeks and
then they come to visit
and they really trust me so they gave me
the opportunity to be the project leader
of a huge Scotto Park in snow and ice
for the Olympic Games in Torino 2006 and
this was a huge work for me probably the
biggest I have done because I’ve been
working on this project for one full
year and the exhibition was two months
from the beginning of the Olympics till
the end of the Paralympics and this was
one of the works everything was at 2,000
meters I in sestra
and we I had to make collaboration with
huge names these for example I made it
together with Sir Norman Foster and
other works with Yoko Ono and a really
big name so also this was a great
experience to manage with these people
that are really well known but it was
still this this little village in Sweden
that was calling me and of course again
I tried and finally I got the most
waited and wanted him and from them that
I have to go out there so I was really
really scared and excited because this
was it is the ice and snow sculptor
authorized the highest level you can
find in the world concerning material
tools and skill nests and yeah this is
still the work and this was the first
time I went in I certain that is ten
years ago and I did this suite so it’s
still one of my favorite because it’s a
little bit in my heart and it’s a really
special place I don’t know you probably
heard about I so tell it’s building
completely made out of water
snow and ice which is the only material
you can find in that place because there
is nothing else they make the hotel and
the hotel is going back to the river in
May and yeah this is the last work I did
three house so within swings and the
swings of course they are also in ice
and this last year work okay these are
the ice blocks just to have an
impression every ice block it weights
approximately 1.7 ton so one thousand
seven hundred kilos they are burst the
ice in march we cut it and when we cut
it it’s it coming out because of the
pressure of the water they take it and
they store it they have to store them
from March to November so they have a
huge freezers because in November call
the artists from all over the world that
have been accepted they go up there to
make to building the ice attack and in
November the ice is now up there is just
like this so it’s not big enough
the really nice thing is that the sweet
I made in 97 in 2007 it melt and maybe
some part of my work it freeze again and
I’ve been using it again and this is the
entrance of the icicles so I would
recommend if you never been to the
Arctic whatever
what above the Arctic Circle you have to
go because the no delight you can see
there it’s it’s the best free natural
show you can see I think in the world
and one advice I would say to all you is
never give up to your dream because if
you keep on trying they will come then
this is my surrounding I
you know cold day in January 1977 I’m 40
and so there’s no one the mountain and
the cold has been always part of my life
I am born in a small village of about 60
65 people so it’s pretty small we are
almost all relatives that was yeah which
is good and bad everybody knows my car
and yeah I cannot hide too much so my
family was is from there since ever my
some of my ancestor built my house where
I’m still living and in in the ground of
the house I found some wooden
woodworking tools to make of course it
was to make tools to make things for do
the to work in the ground to feed
themselves and I started to use them to
carve some food and some stuff and when
I was eight years old I met the man that
changed my life which is this man is
Franco is my master he’s has been my he
was my master and he still my master now
II still alive is 87 quite well I have
to say and he was coming to the primary
school to teach us sculpting in wood
because he saw that I love this theme he
took me in his workshop in the afternoon
as well so I teach me a little bit more
and when I was 10 he took me to an
international opener sculpture symposium
so people come to visit and I was
working in public that was pretty pretty
scary because of course you are 10 and
you don’t know what you’re doing but I
learned a lot in that time and the year
later it took me 2 Dolomites
to do some snow sculpture and that was
the first time I knew I understood that
snow could be used without skis because
I live in a ski area so ski is really
you I mean the usual for us after that
experience have been doing many many
works around the world in different
materials wood stone granite some in
Switzerland some in all over Europe
Japan China Australia really everywhere
but there was a place up in the Swedish
Lapland where I really wanted to go and
it was really difficult for me because I
I keep on sending projects and up there
they get something like four five
hundred projects every year and they
choose ten projects so it’s pretty hard
to get in but I never give up I keep on
trying and keep on trying when I was
twenty I received an you TiVo pink
letter and it was for the army I had to
go to to the army of course and it was
Alpine army so again snow and mountain
in my life for the for the next ten
months in that time it was I had no time
of course to to work to to do my
sculpting to practice my my work but I
had a lot of guards to do in the evening
so like to stand like these and guarding
because nothing at this so and I had a
knife in my pocket and in the bathrooms
we have some beautiful soap big like
these deep blue and really compact and I
start to curve to curve these little
things as models maquette and I start to
send these all over the world and one of
these was chosen in Germany in the Black
Forest so not really far from here and
when I was still in the Army they
invited me to represent Italy in in that
sculpture contest so I decided to go I
took a week of all day from the army I
went up there and I got the first price
then again came back I think it was
probably one month left to finish it
army and my captain called me and say he
asked me look what we’ve been doing in
in your holiday and then they say well
went home I did some work because when
you are in the army you cannot go abroad
so then it took from under his desk a
German newspaper with with this front
page and this was my work of 20 years
ago with my name
and and yeah I did not know what to say
so it is stating silence I was quite
afraid to finish my army into jail but
then he smiled to me and he says well
because you represent Italy you want the
price then you can have an extra week of
holiday so this was a good ending for
the story when I went back home I
started to work a lot in sculpting and
sending a lot lot of project abroad and
I I’ve been doing some works around the
world that one with these paper boats
they are in Bondi Beach Australia they
are next to Sydney this one is on the
Black Sea in in Turkey this is near
Bordeaux in France saw his face in the
ocean so I have really works everywhere
and of course I live – I love to travel
then in 2003 I think I get in judgment
by my tunnel to organise Scotto
symposium here in snow and in wood so I
did it and this gives me a lot of
opportunities to know a lot of
colleagues with from other countries
with many other experiences but also
lots of troubles because it’s not easy
to manage artists we are all a little
bit pre-madonna so we like to be the one
what it was good I made time I was
watching reading and magazine and I saw
extremely beautiful pictures of ice and
snow buildings huge buildings in Finland
and I searched the name I contact the
organizer I say to them that I really
would be interested to be to help them
to be involved in this thing they came
back to me we get in touch few weeks and
then they come to visit
and they really trust me so they gave me
the opportunity to be the project leader
of a huge Scotto Park in snow and ice
for the Olympic Games in Torino 2006 and
this was a huge work for me probably the
biggest I have done because I’ve been
working on this project for one full
year and the exhibition was two months
from the beginning of the Olympics till
the end of the Paralympics and this was
one of the works everything was at 2,000
meters I in sestra
and we I had to make collaboration with
huge names these for example I made it
together with Sir Norman Foster and
other works with Yoko Ono and a really
big name so also this was a great
experience to manage with these people
that are really well known but it was
still this this little village in Sweden
that was calling me and of course again
I tried and finally I got the most
waited and wanted him and from them that
I have to go out there so I was really
really scared and excited because this
was it is the ice and snow sculptor
authorized the highest level you can
find in the world concerning material
tools and skill nests and yeah this is
still the work and this was the first
time I went in I certain that is ten
years ago and I did this suite so it’s
still one of my favorite because it’s a
little bit in my heart and it’s a really
special place I don’t know you probably
heard about I so tell it’s building
completely made out of water
snow and ice which is the only material
you can find in that place because there
is nothing else they make the hotel and
the hotel is going back to the river in
May and yeah this is the last work I did
three house so within swings and the
swings of course they are also in ice
and this last year work okay these are
the ice blocks just to have an
impression every ice block it weights
approximately 1.7 ton so one thousand
seven hundred kilos they are burst the
ice in march we cut it and when we cut
it it’s it coming out because of the
pressure of the water they take it and
they store it they have to store them
from March to November so they have a
huge freezers because in November call
the artists from all over the world that
have been accepted they go up there to
make to building the ice attack and in
November the ice is now up there is just
like this so it’s not big enough
the really nice thing is that the sweet
I made in 97 in 2007 it melt and maybe
some part of my work it freeze again and
I’ve been using it again and this is the
entrance of the icicles so I would
recommend if you never been to the
Arctic whatever
what above the Arctic Circle you have to
go because the no delight you can see
there it’s it’s the best free natural
show you can see I think in the world
and one advice I would say to all you is
never give up to your dream because if
you keep on trying they will come then
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