He had his first artistic experience in Milan and Rome, returning to his native region for a while and from there leaving for Asia Minor where he remained for some time, painting figures and landscapes inspired by the area.
He held personal shows in Beirut, Damascus, Tripoli, Aleppo, Cairo, Alexandria, Rhodes and Jerusalem.
His great passion in that of delving into ancient civilizations, particularly that of ancient Egypt.
Speacking of Squitieri's long journey Ugo Moretti wrote: "Squitieri left there his pagan contribution and in exchange took up oriental mysticism; he had already studied and enigmas of the Etruscans...he had sacked the heritage of Bizantium, from which he learned the dry line of the forms, the hieratism of choral compositions and the austere depths of the backdrop. The tuscan artists of the Twelfth century taught himto regulate the space, containing it within the laws of perspective, to expand a detail and to surround it with narration. From the Impressionist he acquired the joy of living, from Sironi the pain of thinking. And now he is asking incestuous Iside to flood his paintings with light".
When he returned to Italy he settled in Rome, in the famous Via Margutta. But he continued to travel, stopping in Paris, looking for new experiences, and he held several personal shows in major italian and foreign cities. The various contemporary artistic movements did not arouse, and nor do they today, and real, lasting interest. He is nauseated by falseness and charlatanism, and finds it impossible to believe in any 'isms'. During the Second World War he was in arms for five years, and when it was over he settled in Cortina d'Ampezzo, where he returned to his work, isolating himself increasingly, and producing a large number of canvases depicting the 'tabià', the large haystacks of the Alpine valleys, which offered him material for his browns, greys, whites and blacks, as well as the masses to satisfy his natural need to create large volumes. He painted hare, silent mountains.
Italo Squitieri died in 1994 at the dawn of December 28, in his study Cortina, Villa La Furlana, including its colors and brushes in front of his establishment again.
