Paul Salsini is a veteran Milwaukee journalist, having been a reporter, state editor and staff development director at The Milwaukee Journal. He now teaches in the Diederich College of Communication at Marquette University. He was the Wisconsin correspondent for The New York Times for twenty years and his travel essays have appeared in The Times and elsewhere. He received the 2011 Sons of Italy Leonardo da Vinci Award for Excellence in Literature. He is the author of three historical novels and three collections of short stories that make up "A Tuscan Series." The Cielo: A Novel of Wartime Tuscany" is the story of a group of villagers trapped in a farmhouse during WWII. The book received First Place in Fiction from the Council for Wisconsin Writers and from the Midwest Independent Publishers Association. "Sparrow's Revenge: A Novel of Postwar Tuscany" describes a partisan's relentless search for a collaborator of a Nazi massacre. "Dino's Story: A Novel of 1960s Tuscany" is about a boy who comes of age helping the poor and destitute during the devastating flood in Florence in 1966. "The Temptation of Father Lorenzo: Ten Stories of 1970s Tuscany," which brings the characters of the previous three novels into the next decade. The book won First Place for Fiction from the Midwest Independent Publishers Association and honorable mention from the Council for Wisconsin Writers.) "A Piazza for Sant'Antonio: Five Novellas of 1980s Tuscany." which includes a story set against the backdrop of the "Monster of Florence." "The Fearless Flag Thrower of Lucca: Nine Stories of 1990s Tuscany," which includes a story about the unsuccessful flight of a shipload of Albanians to Italy and another on how the centuries-old tradition of flag throwing was shattered. The beloved characters are now on their own! Also in 2012 he published his first book for children, "Stefano and the Christmas Miracles," in which a grandfather tells his grandson the stories of the figures in their nativity set, how they went to Bethlehem and the miracles that happened to them there, All of these, and much more, can be found at www.ATuscanSeries.com