VERCELLI, Italy — Sit with Giovanni Pellielo for a while and the stories start to pile up. Stories about his trapshooting triumphs and the asthma that once threatened his life and a Catholic faith so deep that he once built a church in his home. Tales of his visit to the Vatican, where the pope reassured him that his devotion to shooting and to the Church could coexist, and of the time he went to a prison in Sicily and a convicted killer praised his shooting accuracy.
Pellielo tells the stories in an interview in the office of his shooting range, surrounded by photos of him taken around the world, medals around his neck.