I consider myself to be very lucky because when I finished secondary school I immediately knew what it was that I wanted to do in life.

I had already developed a natural inclination towards art; my mother had been complicit in this since she was a teacher and impassioned guide in some of the most beautiful places in Italy.

Along with this, I yearned to become independent and from the age of seventeen I understood that dealing and working with antiques would have become the occupation of my life.

My father was a doctor by profession and welcomed this choice of mine with a certain dose of scepticism since he had wanted me to undertake a more regular path of studies in order to embark upon the world of work. I immediately understood, however, that the profession of antique dealer was constructed upon passion alone, learning from colleagues who were already firmly established and, above all else, gaining practical experience in antique markets where a closer relationship with the public could be built.

This is the reason why I started incredibly early as an itinerant dealer in the most important markets in the north of Italy. This was how I acquired such fundamental experience in recognising works of art and judging their worth.

Right from the very beginning my interest turned towards the Twentieth century in Italy with a preference for Murano glass. My very first purchases I made abroad, above all in France, Belgium and, afterwards, in the United States where Murano pieces were numerous since they had been acquired as souvenirs from holidays in Europe.

My friendship with Marc Heiremans was soon added to these initial professional experiences. He has since become the most important expert in the world of Murano glass and he started publishing his very first catalogues and monographs in those early years in which we both began dealing in the glass from Murano (1986).

In the 1990’s, I opened my first shop in Milan, a city that had always been very generous to me in terms of my professional contacts and which gave me the opportunity to encounter many of the protagonists in the history of Design.

I started working with Silvia and Jean Blanchaert, a historic gallery in Milan which introduced me to the most important collectors in Italy and overseas.

However, being a resident in Venice and cultivating a continuous relationship with Murano has enabled me to fully understand the essence of glass, one of the most difficult materials, unfortunately, to date and one of the easiest nowadays to falsify.

My passion for glass is not, however, the only one that I possess. I am interested in all materials forged by fire - from ceramics to iron.

I have long frequented the city of Faenza where I met that most gifted and cultivated creator of ceramics, Davide Gatti Servadei. I was the organiser for many a year of the antique ceramic market and exhibition (1999-2001).

I also had the great fortune to be the assistant of the architect, Ferruccio Franzoia, the nephew of the master of iron-work, Carlo Rizzarda (1883-1931) and organiser of the museum dedicated to him in Feltre.

It was with him - a man of infallible good taste – that, over a period of twenty years working together in antique fairs and exhibitions, I was able to create one of the most beautiful private collections of Italian figurative arts from the Twentieth century.

I have been lucky to enjoy a highly prolific relationship with a whole host of public museums such as the Castello Sforzesco and the Boschi Di Stefano house museum in Milan. It has been on behalf of such institutions that I have been able to acquire several quite extraordinary works of art.

I have been the Director for five years of the Department of Twentieth-Century Decorative Arts and Murano Glass at the Cambi Auction House in Genoa and Milan. During this period, I have been able to realise some of the most successful auctions in this particular sector.

As for the future, my hope is that a museum truly dedicated to the history of twentieth-century Italian works of art and furnishings may soon be realised. Such a public museum is still lacking and, regretfully, many of the most representative pieces are no longer available for exhibition. Furthermore, I also wish for the creation of an archive that would allow newer and younger generations the opportunity to study such a broad yet still unexplored deposit of the artistic and craft heritage of twentieth-century Italy.