After years of absence from his Italian hometown, my grandfather and I embarked on a journey back to his birthplace. Departing for Switzerland shortly after World War II due to limited opportunities, he returned to the place of his origins. This voyage was also my own reconnection with our familial roots after a span of more than 15 years. During this trip, I photographed my grandfather with my medium format film camera, as I had done for the other projects, and documented intimate moments of reminiscence. Nestled within the village named "Cisternino," which has transformed into a tourist attraction over recent years, we navigated amidst the remnants of its past. Regrettably, only a handful of locales from my grandfather's childhood days have endured. The village, adorned with fragments of ruins and ancient churches, finds itself encircled by countless pine trees. These very pines were once planted by my grandfather and his siblings during their youth. Now, standing tall as sentinels, they guard and preserving the memories of those bygone moments.