SYRACUSE - It took Carlo Giordano two winters to build a wooden replica of the Coliseum in Italy, but his persistence paid off.

This year, Giordano, of Auburn, received first place in the senior citizens division for his creation on display at the New York State Fair. The guideline for the entry was any original wood carved sculpture or decorative piece. This is the sixth or seventh year Giordano, 82, has displayed his artwork at the fair, he said.

“It's a nice feeling to win first place,” Giordano said.

In 1956, Giordano came to America as a tourist from Italy, he said. During his one-year stay here, he met his future wife, Carmela. In 1957, he went back to Italy, but he returned to the United States in 1959 and married his sweetheart.

Giordano worked at the P & R Macaroni factory and at the same time began working as a carpenter “here and there,” he said. He joined a carpenter's union and, in 1971, built his own house. After that, Giordano quit the factory and started working for himself. Over the course of his life, he built 22 houses and 20 apartments that he still owns, he said.

“Every house I built, I designed it myself,” Giordano said.

When Giordano first started making the replicas, it was difficult. But he kept going because he felt like doing it, he said. In previous years, Giordano built the Leaning Tower of Pisa - for which he received an honorable mention six years ago, an airplane, a boat, a tower, this year's Coliseum and other things, he said. The boat had a fully functioning propeller. He keeps his replicas very similar to the original style but adds a few parts that are not on the buildings, he said.

Giordano began working on the Coliseum on Thanksgiving in 2006 but he had to stop working on it in March 2007, he said. So, last year he did not display his work at the fair. The following Thanksgiving, he began working on the Coliseum again, and it was completed by Easter 2008, he said.

Giordano has already begun working on next year's piece, he said. He chose the Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo, or the Snail House of Venice, which has a famous winding staircase.

“I'm curious to build and put it together,” he said. “I enjoy it.”

Staff writer Gitana Mirochnik can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or gitana.mirochnik@lee.net