(ENG-Version)

• When and where did you start Aikido?

I started Aikido at the age of 20 at an Aikido club named “Dojo Nippon” located in La Spezia. The classes were held under the supervision of Master Franco Zoppi (Aikikai 6th Dan) and we were regularly taught by Master Hideki Hosokawa (Aikikai 7th Dan).

• Why did you start Aikido?

I was in university at the time; it was a difficult period of my life; especially since I didn’t really have a clear idea of what my future would be. During that period, I questioned myself a lot and constantly felt as though I was wasting my time. The year before I started Aikido I had many behavioral problems and I was pretty used to physical confrontations.
During that period, Steven Seagal, a very famous martial artist and actor at the time, was in a lot of movies and my friends and I were fans of him. I still remember the first Aikido book I bought. I spent most of a summer reading it over and over again, dreaming of being able to do the stuff described in it.
In those days my mother was working at the local police station and by chance, one day, she discovered that one of her colleagues was an Aikido student. She spoke with him and explained to him a little bit about my situation. Once she learned that Aikido was based on strong philosophical principles and focused on self-control, she decided immediately to send me to the dojo for a trial lesson.

• How was your first trial lesson?

Well, that is a funny question. I don’t really remember what I did but I can tell you that I still remember how I was dressed and how I felt at the end of the class.
I probably joined the first half of the class with everybody, later a senior member took me and two other guys, who were there for their first time as well, into a the corner of the mat and we started to work on ukemi and two techniques. I remember that we spent close to 40 minutes rolling and slapping the mats…. and only after that did I start to realize it was what I really needed.
When the class was finished I remember a wonderful feeling of emptiness, I mean a positive one!! How could all my stress, my negative feelings and my anger be gone? ….This is Aikido guys! This was my new love; my new passion and, most of all, the beginning of a new purpose for my life.
Now 15 years have passed since that day and every time I have an injury or I am afraid that my projects might fail, I take a break and I go back in my mind to that day, I try to enjoy those moments again and once I feel better, I come back to reality and push myself through my problems.

• How many teachers have you study under?

The first five years of my “Aikido life” were spent with Master Zoppi and as I told you before I studied with Master Hosokawa, as well as Master Fujimoto, Master Hiroshi Tada (Italian Aikikai Director) and a few times I had the pleasure of training with Master Jun Nomoto (Aikikai 7th dan). All these masters were and are great but probably since the beginning, the master who kept my attention the most was Master Hosokawa.

• Did you have any experiences with other sports before Aikido?

My life has revolved around sports since I was 5 years old. My father was a professional soccer player and I started soccer too. I couldn’t really express myself in that way, so I started basketball and I really enjoyed it so I played for 10 years, during the same time I enjoyed tennis and skiing.

• Did these early experiences with sports have any influence on your Aikido style?

I don’t know. I love sports, but Aikido and budo are something different. Of course I train in many ways to stay fit, but other than that, the only other sport that teaches me to manage the pain is the gym training I do.

• What are the differences between Italian Aikido and Japanese Aikido?

This is a very difficult question…. and there are many different answers.
Let me be clear that, as a Hombu Dojo student, I’ve had the opportunity to check out Japan and realized that to be Japanese doesn’t mean that you are phenomenal in martial arts. There are many Japanese who do not know anything about Aikido.
Let’s go back to the question; first of all, people need to understand that it is one thing to train in your home country and a different thing to live, train in Japan and try to understand all the aspects of the Japanese culture.
With this in mind, I don’t mean that all the best Aikidoka are raised in Japan, but of course, Hombu Dojo is a special place. Here we are used to training sessions with 6th Dans, and 7th Dans as partners…. How many other dojos can give you this opportunity? So it is logical to think that with this environment, it is much easier to build up professional instructors.
So probably the biggest differences I’ve found between me and the other aikido students are in the potential of the techniques and in our own concepts, rather than in the techniques and their applications as such

• When did you come to Japan?

I came to Japan in February of 2005, one week after my bachelor. The first time was for two months.

• When you started training In Japan, did your idea of Japan change? If yes, what changed?

Well, the first time I came to Tokyo, thanks to the wonderful friendship between Master Zoppi and Master Jun Nomoto, I will never forget it, I was a guest in Master Nomoto's home and I could attend all of his regular classes in his several dojos in Chiba. I enjoyed children and adult classes. At the time I was still 2nd Kyu and I thought I was pretty tough in many techniques, but one day during a children’s class, I can still remember doing suwari waza kokyu-ho with one young teenager.....  he totally threw me away!!... It looked like he was the big guy and I was the young one!!... It was so embarrassing for me, at that point I really understood that I was probably missing the point of the technique, I was probably imitating some empty movement and was only using my strength. That kid clearly showed me that in real aikido size or muscle power doesn’t matter, that what really matters is technique. I will be forever grateful to that kid; he really changed my prospective that day and he pushed me to work harder and harder.
The idea that I have of Japanese budo training, compared to western training, is that here, in aikido, judo or jujitsu, more than the physical training, there is a focus on the basic techniques and on specific perspectives. This type of study probably looks boring but only now do I understand that in the long run it is what makes the difference.

• When did you get Shodan?

I got it in December 2006 under a commission directed by Seki Shihan (Hombu Dojo 7th dan).

• Did your state of mind change after getting Shodan?

Not at all! At the time I was training like crazy; 4 hours of Aikido a day, and after that from 7 pm or 8 pm, I would do another two hours or more of judo and jujitsu. I was used to going back home for dinner around 11pm. At the Hombu the training was very difficult: with many Senseis, there are many ways to do the same techniques. There were a lot of strong Senpai... All of my focus was to become uke for all the teachers and little by little get the respect of all of them.

• When did you decide to become a professional?

 I decided way back during those couple of months on my first trip to Japan. During those two months I had the great opportunity to train in Iwama with a few friends. It was an unusual day because it was snowing and really cold. When we reached Iwama Dojo, Master Nemoto came to welcome us and he introduced us to the other teachers and to the one and only deshi.
After a painful and intense training session, we had a hot meal all together and we visited O'Sensei’s House. After that, we enjoyed a pleasant time drinking some hot tea. It was on that occasion that Nemoto Sensei asked me about coming to Iwama and training regularly there and he opened my mind to the possibility of becoming a professional. I don't remember at what time during that trip it happened, but the only thing that I still remember is how his words produced in me a wave of emotions that were impossible to ignore and of course I couldn't go back to my old life again and pretend that nothing had happened.
Once I came back to Italy, I trained harder and harder but something had deeply changed. I really couldn’t enjoy anything anymore and I started to only think of my time in Japan. These feelings became stronger and kept growing and because of this I even broke off my engagement and left my job. Later, I made the decision. I wanted to start my life over again from zero; begin a new life in Japan and become a professional Aikido Master.
In September 2005 I left from Milan airport with a small bag full of hopes.

• What is the difficult thing when you teach?

Right now, I mainly teach at seminars, but apart from the normal stage fright before I walk on the tatami in front of everyone, it is pretty obvious that when somebody in my position, after many years abroad, comes to teach a seminar, everyone expects something special and different and this is challenging and at the same time stressful. Sometimes, I'd like to only work on basics but that could become boring for some people. Except for those few things, I experience mostly beautiful emotions during my seminars and I miss everybody afterwards.

• How often do you practice?

I’ve practiced every day from morning until late in the evening or night since I started Aikido. Even in Italy my life was not that different. I try to rest on Sundays but sometimes I have to train even that day.

• Is your way of prating changing?

Yeah, of course: the more you get particular, the more you get new perspectives and the older you get, you automatically change it.

• What's your favorite technique? Why do you like it

It has been for 6 years and still is nikyo (the ura version of it); I also have a secret passion for choking techniques.... hahaha! Don't tell anybody please!!
Why? .... I don't know..... The sensation of connection and domination I get from applying them to my partners…maybe….

• How do you take care of your body?

I am a strong believer in physical training as health care and in martial arts it is very useful for preventing injuries. Every week I try to find the time for a long workout session and once a week I get a massage and some acupuncture therapy.

• Have you ever experienced injuries?

Yes, I’ve almost broken all of my body training hard and fighting in more than three disciplines. It’s a part of the game. I don't believe in people's techniques if they have never experienced an injury.... Budo is not that easy to understand, you need to bring your body to the limit and then things can easily happen.

• What did you learn from your injuries?

I learnt how to be patient and out of necessity I built up, each time, a different training system. During an injury the best decision one can make is to keep training and sweat in other ways. For example: I broke a finger in my hand so I couldn't train in aikido or judo, so I started kick boxing focusing more on leg techniques and shadow combinations, it kept me pretty fit and opened my mind to a different sense of ma-ai in Aikido.

• Which season is the best for training?

I like every season......it’s like eating fruits! Each season has hard weather conditions and creates different body stresses so to have a stronger body we need to train ourselves under these different conditions.

• At what age is it best to start Aikido?

For the types of techniques in Aikido, it is probably more helpful from the age of 13 or older. Any way, you can apply some of the concepts with even younger kids too, but the training will be mostly based on body conditioning

• Have you ever used Aikido or your budo experience outside the dojo, in a real situation?

Yes, more than once and they were effective each time.

• What were your happiest and hardest moments in Aikido?

Well, until now Aikido has brought me mostly happy moments and huge satisfaction, such as, for instance: my first "Aikido All Japan Demonstration", the "IAF demonstrations", my first seminar...... I’ve never had any hard moments, because the only obstacles I’ve met until now have been the times when I was injured, which for me are only challenging moments and not defeats.