Autobiography.
   Di Mirella Guasti

I have recently visited the courtyard of the house in Milan (via Vigan� 8) where I was born in 1933. The courtyard has not changed over the years, and it still reminds me of what I used to see as a child from the balustrade of my balcony, when I wished I could break free from that place and run away. For this reason, the house at the Lido in Venice where we moved to later still retains an aura of magic: it is a beautiful, art-Deco villa, surrounded by a large garden, full of trees and grass; I still remember a wisteria that climbed over our house, covering the balcony of our sitting-room with a pergola of fragrant flowers. I loved walking to the beach, since I could even go there alone, unaccompanied. The sand was fine and golden, full of beautiful shells such as I had never seen before. At that time, we used to play on the beach and run freely. It was like living in a dreamlike world. The magic spell did not dissolve when we moved to another house at the Lido. The new, Art-Deco house also had a garden, but a bigger one though, since our family was getting larger and larger: three of us children had been born in Milan, while four other children would soon be born at the Lido. Our parents were two lively, yet a bit irresponsible chemists; they were optimistic people and they had seven children, in spite of the difficult times they lived in, which culminated in World War II. However, in spite of all the problems we had, we were happy to live on that isle full of orchards and trees; we enjoyed going to the beach, riding our bikes or skating, as if we were always on holiday. In the sitting-room of our house my grand-grandfather�s portrait reigned supreme: born in Prato, Cesare Guasti had been a prominent academician of the ''Crusca'', a scholar, a friend and a patron of artists. Our father felt a deep admiration for this devoted, famous ancestor (who will probably be sanctified soon) and a translator of the ''Imitation of Christ''. My father inherited our grandfather's sense of moral value and the strong principles that had always guided him throughout his life; all these values were passed on to us. Sometimes we did not understand the meaning of all these principles, but we could not oppose them since they spread from our inner conscience. We are a shy breed, and we hardly ever express ourselves in a direct, emphatic way; sometimes we may seem bit harsh, but on the contrary, the love we nurture for our family members and friends is really strong, even if we seem unfriendly or if we hide our feelings through a strong sense of irony. As regards manual dexterity and cleverness, we were all endowed with these natural qualities, although we were engaged in different activities; I think these qualities were also part of our grand-grandfather's inheritance, since he had been in touch with several artists in his lifetime and he had written many critical essays. It is also worth mentioning the fact that Vincenzo Montefusco, a Neapolitan painter of the 19th century and a friend of Pellizza da Volpedo, was one of my mother's ancestors; he had his studio in Rome and some of his works are to be found in the museum of Capodimonte; besides, our family inherited some of his studies. As a consequence of all this, I soon felt the need to express what already existed in my imagination. There have been years in my life in which my primary aim was to look after my children, who were born in quick succession, occupying most of my time; however, I have always paid a lot of attention to my family, without feeling bound by this responsibility but rather happy to experience the joys of motherhood. In the late 1960s, by the time my children had grown up, I started doing some research on sculpture; those were hard years, since I had no points of reference, nor did I know anyone who could teach me the basics of that art.