Pino has said

The War.

“They obliged me to pick up the corpses […], to wash them one by one with the pump, to lie them down in the coffins and then nailing them. It was a shock for me. Suddenly, I became an adult, moving from a dream world to a tragic reality.”

Venice.

“The day of my arrival I walked for hours and hours, with my suitcase by the hand. I was enchanted. I had no hesitation: that is my city, I said to me. I found a room to rent in Calle delle Testa and then I commenced to be a Venetian. Suddenly I discovered that Venice was the city I had always dreamed of. It appeared under two aspects: that of a huge proscenium of a total scenography that affected the life itself; and that of the cultural dimension. For someone like me, coming from the province of Emilia, it was an exciting experience to find himself, suddenly, in the midst of the cosmopolitan culture of Venice. I, who had not the possibility to accomplish regular studies, felt the need of a true culture, lived and not only glimpsed.”

Painting Venice.

“For a year I wasn’t able neither to set a painting about Venice. I commenced starting from far, from the “poor” landscapes of the estuary, from Burano. Only after came out my Venice: I had to harbour for an entire year.”

 

The Abstractionist, the Informalist. 

“These artists did not interest me neither my friends, so entrenched were our figurative beliefs. What we wanted to do was narrate.”

 

The life of a painter (1962, round-table at the “Gazzettino” of Venice):

“In the specific field of painting, in my continuing contacts with galleries for exhibitions and events, I found a great confusion. Many pretty clever people are impressively taking advantage of this situation. I believe this phenomenon could be included under that big plague that is afflicting the entire world, not only Italy: the intellectual plague, which we can define as intellectualism. Maybe it is also affected by a completely Italian political situation, that is this “unconsciousness” that the common man has. Perhaps it has to do with the poetic situation of the contemporary man, who remain in the surface of things […]. In the last months we found that exists the so called boom of paintings: it has reached incredible, fabulous amounts, as the auctions of Turin and Milan reveals, where half a billion is an order of the day.”

 

Venice.

…has remainded a great love.

 

Preganziol.

…is good for me. The countryside nurtures my life style.

 

Spain.

It is the joy of living outdoor, in January, with twenty degrees.

 

Active artists and non-conformist artist

I see things from another point of view. I see emerging virtues. Today a great number of people runs only for political motivations. In this situation, an artist without a party is cut off and cannot influence…

But the word ‘artist’ doesn’t like to me: I prefer artisan.

 

Letters from Spain to home

Arcos, 1.2.69- I’m drawing with many colours of Indian ink and tempera. I’m trying a new way. I had to go to Delgado but the day had vanished with the drawing. After all, I prefer to carry out the impulse of the moment. […] I found a place where I had never been which is wonderful, where I will paint a lot…

19.2.69- Today I worked a lot, all figurative things that come out from the drawings and from the direct impressions that I have with the “calle”. They seem to me as new, and most of all with new ideas. I painted all the afternoon in that new way mixed with oil-tempera, and come out so many good idea.

Arcos de la Frontera. Just today, I thought I never gave background to the emotions of Spain. Who knows why, maybe this was the occasion when I was more inside things…

Ecija, 27.2.69 at 12:30 am – Today three canvases, they seem very good to me. What drives you mad is the light, the sun. However, I think I’m closed to…

March 8.69 – In Cordoba, I have also the Toros Museum scheduled.

Ecija, March 9.69 – Today it was a wonderful sunny day, almost summery. In the morning exploration. I had never seen a place like that in Spain. Of an incredible beauty. I’ve already found a “muchacho” to come with me. He helps me bringing my cases and canvases. […] Just one compliment to me about my nose (as for hunting dogs) in detecting the right places where to paint. I spent all the morning drawing. What a wonderful thing!

 

San Fernando, Cadice 71. – I’m a bit tired and a bit happy because a work a lot. I stopped in Sidonia, 3 canvases! And a lot of drawings. I go back and forth from these villages and San Fernando, where the good Puja helps me unload the car and males me prepare a nice dinner. […] I’ll also go to Vejer de la Frontera. ‘cause you just need to move the easel to have facades for new works…

Mojacar (Almeria) January 24. ‘71.- Yesterday I painted 3 canvases in Bedar, a village in a mountain where time seems to have stopped two or three centuries ago. This is one the poorest provinces of Spain. So in these villages of 300-400 people you do not see anyone, except for some old men and dogs.

[…]. That’s a wonderful way to work. […] I made heaps of drawings. But what interests me are oil paintings […]. Mojacar is strange, completely Arab whit cube-houses and roof half-sphered, all over each other.

Nearby, on the coast, there’s a village Garruca, with a harbour of fishing boat. I made a lot of drawings about boat…

Ubeda, March 24. ’71. – I revisited Ubeda after many years; it’s always wonderful. There have been some restorations, but the centre it’s always the same, silent and desert, the only “human” things are ‘los perros’. So that I work with more tranquillity between the alleys. […] Here you can find the Spain of long time ago…

Ubeda March 25. ’71. – This morning I went to visit again Baeza, it’s near: 8 km, a kind of Florence full of inestimable monuments, almost all in ruins […]. I found the same dogs and the same absolute silence; those dogs from space, remember? Here you don’t see anyone, only these vagabond dogs […]. But tomorrow I come back to Cordoba, I’m afraid the elevation is too much and I don’t want it to damage me right now that I’m feeling quite good and am exploding with love of life.

Ubeda – Yesterday I met again with the farmers that came back from the field with the “burro” and the “perro”. An ancient figure, timeless, in a very strong landscape, the houses made in yellow stone (here there’s not the white from Cordoba) against the blue sky. Anyway, you’ll see what I’m doing: it’s a mistery!

Cordoba March 27. ’71 – I popped to Medina Azhara (the Moorish city’s ruins, remember?). Also here there’s a treasure trove for drawings and paintings.

Madrid September 14. ’76 – I made a stop and I’m here […] to see some museums. […] I’ll probably exhibit in Madrid. […] The gallery is good. I was tempted to stop for painting or thinking.

Cordova 13.1.85. …There is already a great amount of difficult things, and I should eliminate a bit of this irritability. Many time I realised […] a deficient side of me, of not helping in this field. But I’m also able to see into many problems and to analyse them. I think that almost all of us make this silent work. One struggles to live. And it can be done without many scenes. Many times the silence is sign of a greater responsibility and maturity. Fine. I’m not going to talk about these things anymore. Lately I spent a pretty tough period. Perhaps a greater adherence to the things of life. But I have changed. What I’m worried about is solitude. It’s an inexpressible feeling, I do not know what it is, but you feel it in the inside. But I assure you that I’m fighting as I was twenty. Better times will definitely come, or maybe everything will remain as it is. In any event, in my own way, I’m serene.