In my life as a person, scholar, teacher and fiber artist I seek an understanding of, and participation in, the universal quest for psycho-cosmic union, surrender and  illumination.
Over the years, this has meant embarking on a passionate journey into the esoteric, heretic, hermetic and exilic dimensions through which such a quest has always been — and continues to be — carried out by human beings of all traditions, so that the spark of inner fire, whichever form it may take in time and space, may survive societal normalization.
As a scholar, I have moved from the study of various Renaissance expressions of spiritual dissent and hermeticism (La parola riscritta, 1985; La tragédie du sac de Cabrières, 1990; various articles on Montaigne), to the comparative, Indo-Mediterranean hermeneutics of the symbolic processes that sustain the human psyche along its journey to holistic wisdom and ultimately to inner transmutation (Il volo della mente. Falconeria e Sofia nel mondo mediterraneo, 2003; Dreams and visions in the indo-mediterranean world, ed., 2009; Transmutatio, the Hermetic Way to Happiness, ed. and contributor, 2013; and various articles on on Dante and the way of the heart). In more recent years, this journey has led me into a sustained conversation with the works of C. G. Jung and Henry Corbin, with the vision of deep ecology, with the processes of reconciliation through indigenous education. Oikosophia: from the intelligence of the heart to ecophilosophy (ed., 2018) is my latest reflection in this regard.

As an artist, the language of the hands at work with natural fibres — learned as a child, then somehow forgotten, then re-learned as an adult in a different context and for a different purpose— allows me to explore and express non-verbally the visionary dimension in which psycho-cosmic union may take place. Les and less occasionally, a writing rooted in story, and archetypes, and poetry anticipates, or complements, this process.
My scholarly and creative work mirror and nourish each another, helping the inner journey to unfold in a spiraling way. Today for me there could be no scholarly research without fiber art, no fiber art without scholarly research. The encounter and dialogue with students in the event of the classroom vivifies both.