The town where I was born is on a hillside overlooking the Padana Plains about 500 meters above sea level which on a clear day can be seen moving a bit higher up the mountain. Mt Mataiur, about 1700 meters, high is the closest mountain and could be climbed in about 3 hours from where I used to live. The climb to the top today is very much easier, accessible by road and cableway.

One early memory I have is when my grandmother died. Sometime later I cut my left arm with an axe. After that I fell from the balcony hurting myself badly. These things happened when I was still very young.

The house I lived in had a fireplace. In wintertime we used to gather around it and play or listen to the stories. There weren't any TV or radios around.

School was hard to get used to. Italian grammar and language were the worst. I could not score well because we used to speak mainly a Slovenian dialect at home and little or none Italian.

The best time of the year was summer, of course, when we used to play much bocce and soccer. But winter wasn't bad all the same because I could ski very well.

Someone in a small town like where I born is almost everybody's good friend because everybody knows everybody else from childhood. I still have good memories of them.