Book excerpt: "Mario Valentini was born in Collemare, a tiny stone hilltop village in the rugged mountains of the Abruzzo, in the heart of Italy. With money short at home and his father working in a foreign land, at four years old he was sent to live with his uncle, a traveling priest. Thus began a life of unexpected freedoms and marvelous adventures. For the mischievous boy, who loved nothing so much as swordplay, tales of Romans and Crusaders, and American chewing gum, every new town meant new friends, and getting into trouble was as easy as shooting his slingshot.