My name is Brother Carlo and I live in Val Colla, where I lead a hermit’s life dedicated to meditation and manual labor. After living for 21 years in the Franciscan Fraternity of Bethany, where I became consecrated and a priest, I responded to the call to the hermitic life. On this journey of discovering my “second vocation”, I learned the art of clay modeling and Raku firing, a traditional Japanese technique. I was introduced to this art at the “La Tana delle Costruzioni” workshop of Sara Russo and Maria Francesca Rognoni in Vedano Olona (VA). Thanks to their valuable teachings and direct observation of many firings, I learned the fundamental principles of Raku firing.