Caruso, called Sal by most everyone, is the current chairman of the Santa Clara County Province of Florence Sister County Commission and president of the Italian American Heritage Foundation.

Caruso's popularity was evident at the recent Italian American Heritage Foundation Cultural Center inaugural gala, with Mayor Ron Gonzales and council members Cindy Chavez, David Cortese and Forrest Williams all attending.

One of Caruso's prime goals as the new head of the foundation is a complete renovation of its cultural center on North Fourth Street.

"That is the most-used hall in San Jose for quinceañeras [a coming-of-age ceremony for a 15-year-old Hispanic girl], and that's awesome," Caruso says. "By name and action we are Italians, but ultimately we're all related. It's a place where we've embraced every aspect of our valley's culture. What makes it truly Italian is that everyone is welcomed here. If you want to come on down, come on down. I find that's one of the most exciting aspects of the IAHF."

A native San Josean, Caruso isn't exaggerating when he says, "I've had three distinctive lives."

When he was 10, his parents bought a ranch in the San Joaquin Valley, and, Caruso recalls, "We went from buying our produce at a grocery store to raising everything ourselves.

"That's where I decided I wanted to be an architect. The wide open spaces where you see the sky hitting the plains created a blank palette where I could visualize any structure in my mind."

At age 16, after his junior year in high school, Caruso, along with his older brother, Anthony, and their parents, went to spend the summer in Italy, where their family has owned olive orchards for many generations.

Once there, Caruso followed his dream.

"I went directly into the Institute of Architecture in Palermo," he says. The college's buildings include ones built in A.D. 800 and 1200, offering students an appreciation and understanding of ancient architecture as well as modern.

Caruso completed the institute's basic architecture program, with minors in engineering and surveying, in three years. While licensed in Italy, he designed new villas as well as renovations of historic villas along the Mediterranean coast. And he continued his studies in engineering.

"If you have the technical background, you're able to realize a shape or form of structure you have imagined. It is no longer your imagination, it's concrete reality," he says.

In October of 1984, Caruso returned "home to San Jose," and started working for Barry Swenson. He gained the work experience required to take the licensing exam to become an architect in California.

"Working for Barry was a tremendous experience, because he does a diverse grouping of project types, including commercial, residential, retail, shopping centers and condominiums. It's the full spectrum of architecture," Caruso says.

The same day in 1988 that Caruso learned Swenson was downsizing his architectural division, he attended an American Institute of Architects meeting at which the late author Leo Felice Buscaglia was speaking. Caruso shared his apprehension about the impending downsizing with Buscaglia.

"Leo lights up, gives me a giant hug and says, 'That's wonderful,' " Caruso says. "I'm saying, 'Wait, let me repeat myself,' and Leo says, 'That's wonderful. Now anything you wish can happen. Anything you can imagine, you can accomplish.' It just stunned me."

That same evening, Dominic Cortese walked up to Caruso and said, 'We're going to redo our shopping center, would you like to do that? "

The Cortese family's Country Club Villa shopping center was one of Caruso's first clients when he opened Salvatore Caruso Designs in August 1988. Another was Swenson Company Senior Vice President Mary Ann Bacagalupi, who asked Caruso to renovate the Knox Goodrich Building built in 1888 for the Santa Clara Valley chapter of the AIA.

In the ensuing years, Caruso's projects have been varied and wide-ranging. Landmark, ground-up projects include the Bay 101 Club and the 351-room Napa Resort and Spa. Prominent renovation projects include the Opera House in Los Gatos, the $17 million restoration of the San Jose Airport Hyatt and the Sainte Clare Hotel in San Jose.

Private residential designs include showplace homes such as the Hicks Mansion in Willow Glen.

Of his many projects, it's clear that two projects close to his heart are directly connected to his Catholic faith. One is the renovation of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, where Caruso says it was important to incorporate the history of the social movement started there by the late Cesar Chavez.

"It's a place of political synergy but always a house of worship," he says.

Equally important was the work he did for the Poor Clare Monastery in Los Altos Hills. Not only did he do the architectural work, he assisted in raising $1 million in contributions for the $3 million project.

"Because it's a facility of cloistered nuns, everything must be simple and focused so they can walk through the halls and adore God without the complexities of the outside world," he says. "I drew inspiration from what I felt in the wide-open fields of the San Joaquin Valley."

While Caruso has plenty to keep him busy at work, at home and within the Italian-American community, he's also active in the Willow Glen Sunrisers Kiwanis Club.

Six years ago, he and Jim Crownover founded the Club's Turn-Around Scholarship Program.

"It focuses on kids who have had hard knocks and have suffered adversity," he says. "It fills the void traditional scholarships don't provide."

Some of the first recipients are now graduating from college, and last year the Kiwanis were able to grant 31 scholarships.

Looking to the future, in conjunction with Michiele Gesualdi, president of Florence, he is working on bringing an extensive collection of Renaissance art from that famed city for exhibition at various museums within the county. He hopes to solidify these plans when he travels to Florence in April with a delegation from the Sister County Commission.

And there's the foundation renovation project. The group has already raised $37,000 toward its $50,000 goal, which Caruso expects the group will reach soon.

Caruso says he has no problem keeping focused, because of his personal motto: "The past is unchangeable, the future isn't here yet, but right now, this very moment, is reality. Here we can give ourselves completely toward our goals and humanity."