Ever since I was a young man, I became more aware and appreciative of my Mother's tales of where she and my Father were born: a Southern Central Italian mountain village, Pescopagano.

Many years later, I was fortunate enough to visit this small town of my ancestral past. It was emotional to say the least. To walk the narrow shadowed pathways into sun-bathed cobbled courts knowing that I might be retracing the footsteps of my parents and their parents; visiting the dwellings they grew up in; looking down at the valleys below, which they may have spent time appreciating during their growing years. The homes, seemingly clustered like an unshuffled array of stucco-sided, red-roofed dominoes, were quaintly serene. The hot summer air, cooled by mountain breezes, was clean and devoid of modern- day decibels of sounds. These, and many more memories of the senses, both tangible and intangible, I shall never forget.

After revisiting "my Village", where cousins, aunts, and uncles still embrace their past, I promised myself that I would someday paint the nostalgic feelings of my memories there. So it is that I present my efforts here.

I wish to point out the reasons for the unusualness of the variety of expressions that I have presented. My intent was to paint in a traditional, or should I say, a representational way. And so I began. As I worked through the first several pieces, my brush became quite restless. It wanted to move more quickly, more intuitively. The nature of my work began to change. It became more expressive, presenting impressions. What occurred was an alternating mood of canvas work. I decided to express my work as a retrospective of my styles, trying to maintain the integrity of the Village. I hope that I achieved it. I hope you enjoy the work, as I enjoyed and had fun doing it.