His first instrument was a classic guitar made by his grandfather, who was a carpenter, out of some old wardrobe doors. And then came the Renaissance lute, which he studied at Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome, along with piano, flute, bass, and drums. He has a degree with high honors in Cultural Anthropology and studied Ethnomusicology in London. He is especially interested in non conventional scoring. He has just provided it with his Stabat Mater, as seen in Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster, two Academy Awards nominee.