Italian painter Nicola Simbari [1927-2012] was born in San Lucido, Calabria and this beautiful area greatly impacted his Mediterranean paintings: the blues of the ocean and sky, and the bright hues of the flowers. His family moved to Rome when he was young and his father worked there as a Vatican architect. Rome's art masterpieces so impressed Simbari that, by age 13, he decided to study art and enrolled at the Accademia delle Belle Arti. He opened his first studio in Rome at 22 years of age. Simbari's early works featured scenes from his childhood - gypsies, cafes, fishing villages and the Italian countryside.
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