Following their nuptials, the pair relocated to Dallas. They started a family and lived in Lake Highlands on Edgecove Road, but there seemed to be a void in their lives.
In 2006, Katie Pagliardini was working as an English teacher abroad in the eastern Italian area of Le Marche, where she met Piero. Katie, a native of Dallas, had only intended to remain for a semester but ended up spending four years after falling in love with Piero and the Italian way of life. Piero always wanted to do something that connected his home culture to Dallas when we first got to the United States, according to Katie.