To watch above countries, castles, cities, valleys... I've always liked, since as a child I spent with my family summer holidays in Serrada di Folgaria, a small village in Trentino crouching in the mountains at about 1200 meters high. One of our favorite spots was the viewpoint of the panoramic viewpoint "La Cógola" under which suddenly opened a sheer drop of 600 meters, and down at the bottom - but you could almost touch it! - the small country of Terragnolo with its huts gathered around the church, or scattered in the valley along the white threads of dirt roads ... What a thrill!

Many years later, during the summer holidays with Luciana and Caesar, other landscapes full of suggestion: the countries of Puglia perched on the cliffs of the Gargano (Peschici, Vieste), or those on the coast of Tuscany and Liguria (Porto Santo Stefano, l'isola del Giglio, the castle of Lerici), and with many dogs in tow the Euganean Hills (I colli euganei) just four steps from Padua: churches, monasteries, hermitages, dirt roads, houses, silence...

My passion for 3D models began many years ago, around 1990, when I made the first ceramic models handly molded and painted: it was simple country houses, little churches on top of a hill, landscapes born from my imagination or inspired by a memory or a nice photo: the more successful you can see on my website "Poetic landscapes" (Paesi e poesie) that I uploaded in 2005.

The ceramic has given me great satisfaction, both in the design phase and in modeling and painting: it is very rewarding handle the clay, carve and engrave it, and shape it, control and contain it to describe the smallest details, prevent it from cracking during the first cooking, the one that allows us to obtain the so-called bisque, and then again paint it with powder colors and dunk it in the glaze which gives it a milky appearance, and finally commit it to the purifying fire of the oven that does the last metamorphosis and return it colored and sparkling!

The real passion for 3D models has matured in 2007 when, browsing the internet, I accidentally discovered the Google Earth application - and I could watch, from the sky, countryside roads houses of Rovereto (my hometown), Padova (my adopted city) and... widening increasingly... the whole world - then I discovered that on this simulated world were sprouting here and there, in the city in the countryside on the hills, buildings, monuments, cathedrals... It was a real thrill for me, comparable to that which I experienced in the mountains of my childhood.

From the emotion to the curiosity: who had created those model of houses cathedrals monuments "intangible" but so... "real"? how could they do them? how difficult was it? could I do something like this? So I came to discover SketchUp.

Before then I had never used a 3D tool, besides ... Power Point and simple free programs to create three-dimensional solid, and I thought it was necessary to describe all the points one by one providing perhaps exact measurements... but SketchUp reserved to me pleasant surprises: in addition to being completely free (a great place to start!) it was not a simple "play", it had a very intuitive interface that anticipated my every desire (dividing into two or three a segment, grouping, creating and reusing objects, rotating, resizing) and turned out magically ergonomic - and  I was an expert in "software usability" because it was one of my responsibilities in the company where I worked. Then I downloaded the excellent and comprehensive manuals in pdf that I studied well, as if I were preparing for a university exam, I did not want to lose any of its capabilities and features...

The choice to build the churches was for me, passionate about ancient and modern art, rather than natural: the churches were and are, at various times, one of the highest manifestations of the artistic abilities of humanity, so much so that in carrying out such masterpieces they been engaged the most renowned among architects, sculptors, painters of all time.

For my first models I chose buildings that were familiar to me, very close to my house, easily to access and photograph: I started with a simple but charming capital then move on to more complex buildings such as a nearby church or the parish church of my town, Sant'Andrea di Campodarsego (Padua).

My first "challenging" model was the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua: due to the complexity of the building I have adopted the method of ancient Roman emperors ("divide et impera!", "divide in order to control") by breaking down the structure into simpler elements: the façade, transept, steeples, domes, etc.. while for textures I found on the web good documentation that I have integrated with numerous photographs that I have taken in the field from all possible points of view. With regard to the construction of the domes (objects that are particularly interesting and challenging for a 3D modeller!) I have developed a original method that has allowed me to successfully implement the various domes of the Basilica, and that was the basis for the construction for the domes, even more complex, of the largest Eastern Orthodox cathedrals of Moscow and St Petersburg.

3D modeling has given me great satisfaction: first spurred me to learn more about the sights I wanted to recreate, analyzing and studying not only the architectural features but also the often centuries-old history, and secondly prompted me to seek solutions and expedients to solve technical difficulties (eg the construction of domes "onion" with spiral decorations) and to obtain the texture smoother and more realistic; I also had the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas, tips and advice with some of the best known modellers in 3dwarehouse gallery; and finally I was rewarded by a "profile" which appeared on the official blog of SkethUp, the positive comments on my models and compliments received for articles published in my blog arrigosilva.blogspot.com