The idea for There Are Wild Dogs in Palermo took hold in 2006 on a one-month trip we took to Italy. I knew that my father, who's heath was failing, would never be able to see the country of his heritage, as a result of his medical condition. I used my camera as eyes for my father and chronicled everything we saw, allowing him to experience Italy as though he was there. The book is my gift to him, and the Sculco family, who arrived in America in 1897.