Performers debut in the first decade of May 2024 the new Cirque du Soleil Spirit production at the Macallan Estate in Speyside, Scotland, created specially to commemorate the whisky brand’s 200th anniversary. (Photo by Cirque du Soleil 2024)

Matteo Pugliese was born in Milan in 1969. In 1978 his family moved to Sardinia and lived there for the next 12 years. During this time he developed a strong love for drawing and sculpture and practiced without formal education. After finishing his secondary school studies in classics in Cagliari, he returned to Milan to attend university. In 1995 he was awarded his degree in modern literature at the University of Milan with a graduation thesis on art criticism.

A dancer performs before a judging panel during the World Irish Dancing Championships in Dublin, Ireland on April 11, 2017. The April 9-16 event draws some 5,000 performers from Ireland and overseas, including from both the Irish diaspora in places like the United States and Australia as well as less likely countries such as Russia and Japan. (Photo by Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters)

A visitor and autumn foliage are reflected in the lake at Stourhead gardens in Wiltshire, Britain, November 2, 2018. (Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters)

Mud-covered tourists pretend to be trapped inside a mud prison at the Daecheon Beach Mud Plaza in the city of Boryeong on South Korea's west coast, July 17, as they take part in the Boryeong Mud Festival, which opened that day and runs through July 26. Boryeong mud is rich in natural mineral component and is considered to prevent skin aging. (Photo by EPA/Yonhap)

Peruvian shamans holding a figure of a Nino Jesus (Child Jesus) and a snake perform a ritual at the Rimac river to fight the negative effects of the Nino weather phenomena over Nature, in Lima, October 1, 2015. (Photo by Mariana Bazo/Reuters)

Revelers take part in the Theatre Bizarre festival, a Halloween celebration that is returning in person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., October 14, 2022. (Photo by Dieu-Nalio Chery/Reuters)

The males, of the Oriental Garden species, are battling over territory in Solapur in the Maharashtra state, India on May 20, 2022. Occasionally, the tussle can be brutal, ending in a fatality with one lizard biting another to encourage them to retreat. (Photo by Ratnakar Hiremath/Solent News)