Aurelio Paviato is my guest on this month’s Conversations with Close. Aurelio is a well-established, fulltime pro in Italy; he performs at corporate functions and has his own one-man show, Storie di un Artigiano di Illusioni. He is a past FISM champion in close-up, and has had a long association with such greats as Arturo Ascanio, Juan Tamariz, Roberto Giobbi, and others of the Escorial group.

I found a kindred spirit in Aurelio because both of us have a magic aesthetic heavily influenced by Dai Vernon. We discussed his background, and took a deep dive into several of the routines in his book, Studies in Deception (see my review in the February 2025 MichaelClose.com Newsletter) During all of it, I felt as if I was talking to an old friend.