Ciappa has lived in over ten countries throughout his long career, and collecting oil painting become one of his greatest pleasures. Besides cars, collecting antiques and paintings are his favorite pastime. The artists of nearly every country that he's lived in for an extended period of time have enjoyed his patronage. Giving a rough estimate, he says he's collected some 3,000 paintings over the years; some are in Italy, some he carries with him. Ciappa's living room looks like an oil painting gallery, with landscape paintings the most numerous.

        Antiques are another favorite pastime of Ciappa's, just like his love of soccer. The difference is that there is no age limit on his collection of antiques. With the passing of time, he has accumulated significant arsenal of appraisal knowledge of antiques. The two words he uses most when at the local antiques market are "too old" and "too new". During his process of scouting out the antique markets, he often says to himself in broken Chinese "too new, too new, it's all too new." And sometimes he innocently argues his points with the shop-keeper.

        As Ciappa has lived in China for several years, he is accustomed to people calling him "foreigner," or screaming "hello" at seeing him. He not only is impervious to it, but thinks it is an expression of friendship, because it shows others have an interest in talking to him. He is happy whenever he can understand a stranger through gestures or other ways of communication, as he is still working on getting his Chinese up to standard.