Piazza San Salvatore in Lauro, 15. The efforts and perseverance
were greatly rewarded and I remember well the fresh breeze when I
entered the large, old wooden door. I entered into a quiet and
beautiful place. There was a courtyard all surrounded by collonnades
and here and there I could see low reliefs on walls, original Roman
statues, parts of columns and full capitals all resting on the ground;

I could also see large contemporary ceramics all appearing and
disappearing in between luscious foliage. Immediately, the outside

world was forgotten.

I followed an arrow pointing to the Centro Internazionale di Ceramica,
and soon Mr. Caruso came to greet me with a friendly smile. He is

a tall man, well built, very handsome and Sicilian. He is alsoa
member of the Structure Committee of the World Craft Council in New
York and Italian representative to the Council. He is the organizer
and Director of the International Centre of Ceramics of Rome and he is
a true contemporary artist.

I appreciated very much that he took some of his very busy time to
talk to me, and to allow me to take photos of his works (unfortunately
not all came out well). While searching for subjects to photograph,

I discovered in a corner a full size Roman sarcophagus full of clay
ready to be mixed. Well, where else can you afford such a luxury ?
The Centre has many large studios all beautifully kept and a display
room where I could admire some of his latest work. I showed him
photos of my works and we talked. We looked at our works and we
examined those of other Italian artists. We thought they are good.
The design, the technique, were all sound, all contemporary; yet, we
were unable to disassociate them from traditional forms. The
Assyrians, the Minoans, the Greeks, etc. were always present, with
some variation of course. Mr. Caruso's concern was that Italian
Ceramists live in the past, unable to disengage themselves from a
tradition which suffocates any originality. He admired the American
way of sharing ideas and technical information as well as the
attitudes of some American potters who are involved in a formal
research which best represents our time.

Following my brief stay in Rome, I drove to Sicily where my parents

“ie My father is in his 80's, young as always and so my mother.