Family

Giancarlo Carli and his twin sister Giuliana were born in Pievescola (Casole d’Elsa), a small village with a nice Romanesque church (Saint John Baptiste) in the neighbourhood of the Montagnola Senese. According to an informal census made by the twins when they were seven years old, the number of the inhabitants of the village was 104. Their father, Giovanni (John) was a family doctor and their mother, Myrtia Masi, an elementary school-teacher. Their apartment in the municipal building included also rooms for the school and the doctor office. Giovanni Carli came from Siena. He was expert in laborious deliveries and carried out his activity as health officer. When the family moved to Rosia (Sovicille), in 1946, he attended the dentistry Clinic of the University of Siena to become a specialist. Myrtia’ father, Dublino Masi, lived in Colle Val d’Elsa. He was keen of art and was a pupil of Salvetti, a painter of the “Macchiaioli “School. He professed his socialist faith throughout the entire fascism regimen and encouraged his daughter to become an elementary school-teacher. During her adolescence, Myrtia frequented with a great interest her cousin Romano Bilenchi and his friend Mino Maccari, two fellow-citizens of Colle Val d’Elsa who later became famous, the first one in Florence as writer and journalist and the second one in Rome as a painter. During the crossing of the war front in 1944, the Carli’ family lived several impressive experiences and established an enduring friendship with a German army officer, Walter Judt , who was camping in Pievescola for 3 months. In 1949, after the death of Giovanni for a heart attack, the Carli’ family moved to Siena and lived for 2 years in a single furnished room with limited economic resources. In 1955 Giuliana took the degree of elementary school teacher and later she became a teacher in the middle school. Giancarlo, in his teens, was much fond of athletics; however, he attended with good profit the Liceo Scientifico and, later on, the Faculty of Medicine in Siena. He became a Medical Doctor in 1962. In 1965 Giancarlo married Grazia Brignali and in 1972 they had a son, Emilio.