I was born in Shōwa 54 in a small town in Veneto (Italy). I have been living with my wife in Bellinzona (that is my Swiss place of origin) for years. Our son was born and is growing up here. I often visit the big city of Taipei (Taiwan).

My old passport was full of different stamps, which I really liked; my current one only has stamps from Taiwan, but I like it just the same. I have spent most of my life looking eastwards, towards East Asia. I know Japanese literature better than Western literature, I follow Taiwanese politics, I am interested in East Asian history, I am forgetting Japanese and learning Mandarin Chinese. I am liberal, globalist and localist. Moderately Buddhist.

Some time ago I asked my Taiwanese friends to give me a Mandarin name. They chose 必勝 (Bìshèng in pinyin, Pi-sheng in Wade–Giles). It means “to be bound to win”, “cannot fail”. It is also the name of Pizza Hut in Taiwan (必勝客). This is because I’m famous for the time I ate a large Pizza Hut pizza on my own and was unwell for a whole night. I’m extremely proud of this name.

I am also on Mastodon.