My fondness for Astrology sprang up in 1979 thanks to my husband Andrea who had bought Serena Foglia's "l' Alfabeto delle Stelle"and as a good Gemini used to tell me what he was reading. Afterwards he bought the Sementowsky-Kurilo's and learnt to draw the birth chart and to begin interpretations : it was that very moment that the charm of that subject took on exciting me and I began to study it, even if I was thinking, as a rational being, due to a radical Saturn:"The first time it slips...I drop it!". During the same year, in autumn, I thence began the astrology correspondence course held by the Capone school of Torino, having Anna Realini as a teacher, 'cause I wanted the confirmation that what I had learnt was correct, after that in 1980 in Padova Lisa Morpurgo opened her school courses, held by Anna Mosca, and I attended them for two years studying on the " Introduzione all'Astrologia" ( Introduction to Astrology ) text, and in Autumn of the same year I luckily had the chance to meet Lisa Morpurgo while she was assisting at her 2nd Congress.Ten congresses took place afterwards, and I never missed one. At the end of '91 I wrote her a letter to answer a personal question she had asked Sirio's readers (Sirio was the magazine where Mrs Morpurgo wrote at the time and where she asked why readers , when asking her a question, were also trying to give her the answer. My letter upset herself so, that she answered me personally at home, that she rarely did, and from then began a correspondence or better a dialectical duel that I ended after three letters. Nevertheless, from the astrological point of view, I'm still thinking that Lisa Morpurgo was the best one. In '92 I began to hold astrological courses and little by little my students developed the discipline, the best ones remained forming a group with which I drew up some reports and we gave life to the 1st Astrology Symposium in Verona in 2000. Astrological notions were increasing more and more, I seemed like a sack that keeps on filling, and so pressed to be obliged to empty it otherwise I couldn't learn anything more; so I felt the need to write and thus I started with "Luna-Saturno: La dualità dell'essere" ( Moon-Saturn: the duality of being ); at first a simple report, that I sent to the IV National Contest "Voci Nuove" ( New Voices ) announced by CIDA in April 1996, that was awarded much to my gratification and was greeted withapplauses from the audience. I was thus spurred to go on and in Autumn '99 the book was ended, but nobody wanted to publish it. It remained on the back burner for a year and a half, but meanwhile I sent two chapters of the book, following the advice given me by the astrologist Grazia Mirti, to the 2nd National Contest "Serena Foglia" and in June 2000 I got the 3rd award presented by Serena Foglia, on the wonderful patio of Grazia Mirti house, in Torino. I also found the Pagnini Martinelli Press and with my contribution to half the necessary expenses for publication, the book was printed. Meanwhile I came into contact with the parents of premature babies and besides the doctor, Daniela Danieli, that worked in the neopathology department, became pregnant and had more time to give over to me and in that occasion was born the " Prematuri alla luce degli astri" ( Prematures in the stars' light ) report that in June 2000 I expounded during the Mediterranium International Congress of Astrology, held in Mykonos, Greece. The contacts with these parents were widening enough to have a family in which for three generations babies were born prematures: but actually generations have become four, because even Lina has born a premature male baby. Their personal experiences were so absorbing that my report turned into a little book that was printed, without contribution from mine, from Pagnini Martinelli Press in December 2001. The same year on November 20th at the request of Grazia Mirti and CIDA, Italian Center of Astrological Disciplines, together with their contributors, I gave life to CIDA-Verona, a venture that is giving results; once a month we meet to hold round table discussions, conferences, open lessons and Symposium.Supported by National CIDA we get the chance to invite to Verona distinguished astrological names such as Grazia Mirti, Dante Valente, Marco Pesatori, Lidia Callegari, Marco Gambassi, Erik van Sloten, only to name some. In December 2003, Cida-Verona has turned from correspondant to delegation. Consultants follow one another and replace depending on years and helpfulness; to all of them a great note of thanks, especially to the newspaper journalist and writer Michela Pezzani, it was due greatly to her credit the transformation of the Veronese Cida newsletter, that existed from a year and a half, into the " Astrovolante" on-line, that came along with us until June 2005. The essential "scribe" work carried out by Stefania Marchesini, the help of the astrologist Franca Castagnini and the irreplaceable astrologist Laura Danese with her work and creative flashes enhance the delegation activity. Last but not least, our webmaster Michele C. that besides being a first-rate computer technician is also a very wise person. In 2001 I came into contact with the victims' family members and the accused of the air disaster happened in Villafranca in December '95 and after having been listening to their personal experiences for six months and analyzed their accident dynamics I decided to try and write something: so the book "Cronaca astrologica di un disastro aereo" ( Astrological account of an air disaster ) was born, that I finished the year after and looking forward to find a new publisher, because the distribution of the previous books was very low, I met Isabel Jimenéz Martin, that translated my book in Spanish; so I could send it to GrocentroContest, Premios Mundiales de Investigacion astrologica 2003: on December 7th in Valencia I received the Menciòn de Honor from the President Don José Luis Carion Bolumar. In June 2002 I took part to the 2nd Turinese Conference with the report " Mercurio e i pianeti lenti " ( Mercury and the slow planets ) while in June 2004 I laid out on my report " Quel virilone di Marte..." ( Mars, so a virile one...), analyzing and explaining some aspects of sexuality. During the Uran and Saturn transits trigon to my Mercury radix my book "Le Simbologie dei transiti" ( The transits symbologies ) has been fecundated, feeded and finished; according to the two planets' hints,it was assumed to be basic, clear and handy. From a psychological point of view those transits spurred me to write it speedily and to be indipendent even for the publication, just to refuse compromises and censures from the two publishing houses that were interested to print it. At the end of May 2005 the book was showed to the audience, that was so enthusiastic that even within six months a reprint was necessary. The work was well reviewed. In early June 2005 I took part in Bilboa, Spain, to the XXII Congreso Iberico Internacional de Investigacion en Astrologia to which I'd been invited as a candidate for Abbadie Prize, with my report " Sucedàneo amoroso", while in the end of June 2006 I took part to the XXIII Congreso in Gijon with my report "Simbologias de los aspectos Luna-Neptuno en el tema celeste". At the moment I'm writing "L' A B C dell'Astrologia" (The ABC of Astrology) to satisfate the incentive created by the lots of requests from the following and the bookshops.
 

Carla Pretto