After traveling to Florence in 1956 as part of the Fulbright Program, his interest in the art of the Renaissance as well as the history of Italy took root, and he frequently returned while supporting his family with work in graphic design and advertising.
Originally settling in Pian di Scò (where he had purchased a farmhouse in 1970), he began giving art lessons in his studio.
Affiliations with study abroad programs led to the creation of an independently accredited nonprofit institution (SACI) which continues to this day as a degree-granting school at the graduate level.
His work is also in hundreds of private collections including those of the former president of Italy Alessandro Pertini, Elizabeth Sackler, Jose Frentes Antunes, the Pritzker family, Connie Brittan, and Amalie Rothschild.
Many catalogs and interviews have been made about his work and he has been written about by Mario de Micheli, Grace Gleuck, Joachim Burmeister, Carol Becker, and Laura Castro among others.