Born 1928 in Manarola - Cinque Terre.
n 1961 just before his death his father asked him to restore and take care of a cross that stood on the top of the family hill. Carrying out this task Mario decided to decorate the cross with battery controlled lights but soon enough older villagers suggested him that the crosses were three, remnants of ancient ritual representations. In excitement Mario looked for and found the basements from two more crosses close to the father’s. Since that moment Mario’s year has split in two, a part dedicated to assembling holy families, historical scenes and characters, crosses, palm-trees, camels and sheep; another dedicated to walking up and down his hill with his figures on his shoulders and displaying them to create a Christmas crèche and a via crucis at Easter. After his retirement Mario could afford to buy the land close to that his own: today on 43.000 square feet of land Mario rolls out 5 miles of electric cable to turn on more than 250 made of 15.000 lamps and for four months a year he brightens up the nights of a hill that is already world heritage.