Born in Jonia, Sicily, Franco Battiato has earned widespread admiration in Italy by exploring and creating a mystic world of sounds and images. Battiato has worked in several genres of music and has released dozens of records throughout the years. His first major cinematic achievement brought him to New York in 2004. I had the pleasure of speaking with him while he was there presenting his film, " Perduto amore" (Lost Love), at Lincoln Center. With this film, he succeeded in blending his unique vision, storytelling and music to create a movie that moves quickly and captures both the traditions of Sicily and the excitement of big-city Milan seen and felt through Battiato’s main character. According to Battiato, " The film, in three parts, recounts the life adventures of a young Sicilian. The hero, Ettore Corvaja, turns nine at the close of the famous music competition, the San Remo Festival, in 1955. His idyllic childhood, from the mid-fifties to the mid sixties,