Hello, I'm Anila Dekovelli Ciccone.

My name is Anila Dekovelli Ciccone. I was born in Durrës, Albania, and I have lived in Italy for most of my adult life. Italy is not just where I live — it is where I became who I am. I discovered painting at twelve, almost by accident, in a school drawing class. By fourteen, I had won a city competition and earned my place at the Art School — where I learned everything: discipline, technique, rigour, the hard and beautiful work of truly learning to paint. When I arrived in Italy, I discovered abstraction — and with it, the freedom to paint not what I saw, but what I felt. Today I work primarily in oil and mixed media, building up layers of colour and texture that carry the weight of emotion, of memory, of lived experience. I am a wife and mother. My husband Marco has been my greatest supporter — his name lives in the name of this gallery: AniMa. My two children are my most important work. I can go months, even years, without painting. But when I return to the canvas, I return completely — like a volcano that has been waiting in silence, ready to erupt. Not with lava. With colour. With life. With everything I have been holding inside. That is who I am. And this is my work.