Bay Area Man Creates Adventure Game Based on Death Mask of St. Francis of Assisi

Larry Brucia does not hold back from having fun adventures. As a hobby, the San Anselmo resident writes and creates his games of adventures related to history, which inspire him and his friends to travel in search of buried treasures and lost ancient cities. was.

Now he’s getting others to take action. Brucia, 71, reimagines his historical novel Secrets of the Carsarians, a collection of poems, The Anthology and Poetic Musings, and photographic scenes from the life of Francesco Bernardone, all under his artistic name Lorenzo. done below. Part of the trilogy, the photos will be unveiled at an upcoming show in Italy.go to themasktrilogy.com.

Q. Did you grow up with an artistic passion?

a I have loved photography all my life. My first camera was her camera in a small box her mother gave her when I was eight years old. In college, I was studying to be a doctor, and I found an old painting book by Rembrandt in the library. It looks like a photograph, but he took a religious subject and brought in a human being to paint. At that moment, that was what I wanted to do with photography and I started working on it. Along the way I fell in love, got married, had two children and found it really difficult to be an artist and I didn’t know if I could succeed. So I went to business.

Q. what changed?

a My children are grown and I have sold many businesses. At 64, I wanted to take pictures. I happened to be in Europe. Her sister took me to La Berna in Italy, a Franciscan monastery. Walking into this building, there was a fresco of a man named Francesco Bernardone. A young man from Assisi, Italy. He is a typical young man and he and his friends go off to war. He saw the horrors of war, was captured, and when he returned he heard the lepers ringing. Instead of him walking away, he hugged the man, and that was an epiphany for him—helping other people was more important than anything else. It was bombarded by Saint Francis of Assisi. I was curious about this guy: How did he get from a young age to what he is now? He’s stayed true to that, and that’s the remarkable part of it.

Q. How did it become a game?

a While reading about him, my mind (I have a lively imagination) started making scenes out of this man’s life. The whole idea is what the world is pushing on us and it’s nice to do something fun. You can go find a mask.

Q. What is it like to release this?

a I put off my artistic pursuits because I had responsibilities that I felt were more important than my own artistic expression. But now that I am able to express myself, my imagination and ideas have expanded more than I thought. Getting older doesn’t necessarily lessen my passion for these things. As I gained more life experience in writing, it seemed to grow larger.

Q. Is your Italian heritage involved in this?

a My father is Sicilian, my mother is Swiss Italian, and my father obtained Italian citizenship about two years before he died. Subliminally, I think I probably wanted to make something based on Italian history and stories. I went to Assisi while writing my book and stopped and asked people why are you here? , said he wanted to be where he lived because he respected the fact that he gave them to others who needed them more than he did.