a journal of thoughts
I don’t think I can legitimately write that I am “on vacation”, given that the state of being on vacation presupposes another activity – often work-related – from which we have stepped away for a period of time, however long. But anyway: I fled the heatwave of the Padan Plain (and most of Europe) to spend a week in the Prealps, a place I could never truly leave, having grown up there. I’ve been to…
Sunrise of the first day of summer on the Marmolada highest peak I wanted to write a bit earlier today; I’ve had so much time that it feels like I’ve already burned through half the day. I’ve been awake since just before 5 am, the fate of those who sleep in a tent. Luckily, I had a bandana that kept me from waking up too abruptly. The night wasn’t exactly comfortable, though I think I managed to…
In the more than three thousand kilometers I walked in 2024, I discovered a myriad of things about myself. I learned to know myself better in many aspects, and all challenges taught me something. But one above all came up over and over: fording rivers. I felt like a student who needed to review a concept in different ways before being able to say he’d understood it. Honestly, I never had the…
A month ago, I published my only real year-end ritual. I try not to overthink it when I sit down with that list, but I don’t always have an immediate answer. Still, by coming back to it a couple of times, I’ve never left a question unanswered over the years. So, here are the answers I hadn’t given yet. Did anyone close to you give birth? Yes. In May, Marcella and Andrea had their second child,…
Some weeks ago, a friend provocatively asked me: “When are you going to abandon neutrality?” He was referring to the country where I’ve lived for ten years. After chocolate and cheese, Switzerland is known to everyone as the country that, since its constitution was born in 1848, has never taken part in any armed conflict, despite being right in the middle of two World Wars. Switzerland’s state of…
I’ve never bought into “New Year’s resolutions” but I’m not getting into the why right now—I might write down my thoughts about it in the new year, which is only a few hours away. However, I’ve always tried not to let a year go by without taking some quiet time to reflect on what it meant and represented to me, and which moments, milestones, and people it would be a personal mistake to ignore.…
The end of another terrestrial year—rather arbitrary, yet still tied to an astronomical event—is now very near, and we humans are particularly fond of taking stock. And if by chance someone doesn’t like looking back, practically every service we subscribe to or application we use takes care of it. It seems impossible to avoid yet another “Your 2025 in…”. The most listened-to music, the…
I wanted to write down a few thoughts on this topic for a while now. The word “quit” immediately suggests what I’m going to talk about. This probably won’t concern freelancers much—or those who, by some strange twist of fate, don’t need a job at all. Imagine yourself sitting at one of the tables of a prestigious poker tournament. The potential winnings are astronomical, and the players are of the…
If I were to say that in today’s world we have too much input, too many stimuli, too many demands—often unjustified—on our attention, I think many would tell me I’m pretty late to the party. And they’d be right. Perhaps, though, not everyone realizes that the solution is within reach, simpler than we think: we just need to be more intentional about how we choose to invest our time. We just need to…
I was pleased to discover the next newsletter to which Manu will be dedicating some of his (abundant, as he admitted) spare time. While reading the announcement post , I felt the need to share a couple of thoughts. I couldn’t convince him that a trillion is not a large number at all—he told me he’s not sure integers are truly infinite because he’s never tried to count all of them. But beyond this…
Email. Messages. Voice notes. The omnipresence of the internet allows us to stay in touch with more people than would have seemed imaginable not too long ago. But over the past few days, I’ve been wondering: is that really the case, or are we just fooling ourselves? If something is always available, its presence ends up being taken for granted rather than intentionally chosen. I don’t want to even…
There is a book by Derek Sivers that I return to very often, I think at least a couple of times a week. The subtitle of the book is the very title of this post, which I’ve decided to ask myself as a question. And, for once, I at least have a clue to an answer. Two words about the context: I returned home this morning after a weekend in which I had the extreme fortune to do two things I’d been…
In cui il lettore apprenderà come i nostri due moschettieri affrontino la più lunga delle loro gesta, tra malghe ospitali e rifugi inospitali; dove Porthos e Aramis scoprono che le leggi dei parchi nazionali sono interpretabili quanto gli editti reali, e trovano rifugio in una casera abbandonata più accogliente di qualsiasi albergo di corte. Il penultimo giorno di Alta Via ha infranto tutti i…
In cui il lettore apprenderà come i nostri due moschettieri affrontino la prova più ardua della loro odissea dolomitica, tra sfasciumi traditori e saliscendi degni delle peggiori imboscate del Cardinale; dove il Civetta si rivela compagno silenzioso di marcia, e un bivacco di legno offre rifugio più accogliente di qualsiasi alcova reale. La giornata più dura lungo questa Alta Via è stata la…
Nel quale la notte si fa nemica con lo stratagemma di una foratura, costringendo i nostri a una deviazione strategica verso la fortezza di Cortina; dove, dopo aver salutato il saggio Athos e riarmatosi Porthos, il duo riprende la marcia scoprendo che la libertà della tenda vale più di ogni comfort principesco. D’improvviso, uno sbuffo rompe il silenzio della notte. Sebbene non lontani dalla strada…
Dove si narra di forcelle conquistate con sudore e di laghi raggiunti con fatica, e di come persino i più nobili guerrieri debbano talvolta cedere alle leggi della natura; nel quale Athos impartisce un ultimo, prezioso consiglio prima di congedarsi, mentre Porthos e Aramis si interrogano sul destino del loro cammino attraverso i Monti Pallidi. Abbiamo decisamente sottovalutato lo sforzo che la…
Nel quale i tre compagni d’avventura superano il loro programma di marcia come fossero inseguiti dai sicari del Cardinale, scoprono che Internet in montagna è capriccioso quanto Milady, e si dividono i ruoli dell’immortale quartetto, benché siano soltanto in tre e il quarto sia forse quella Windrider che galoppa invisibile sui sentieri. Partiti da Braies poco dopo le sette e mezzo, sapevamo ci…
Dove si narra del primo giorno di una nobile impresa alpinistica, nel quale i nostri eroi non percorrono ancora un sol chilometro del sentiero, ma assistono invece al triste spettacolo della modernità che profana i luoghi più sacri; e di come certi turisti dimostrino una creatività sorprendente nell’uso improprio della carta igienica. Zero chilometri percorsi sulla Alta Via oggi. Giornata dedicata…
Whenever the day comes before a multi-day trek, the same problem always arises: food. I think I have a fair amount of experience in preparing what I need for a trek in total (or almost total) autonomy, yet I am faced with the usual questions: Will I have enough, or will I have to ration? Will I have to curb my hunger, or will I come home annoyed by those three leftover energy bars? Food is, almost…
I’m not sure if continuing to dedicate free time to solving puzzles (someone might even use the expression “wasting time”) is really an antidote that could slow down the aging of my brain. I’ve done a couple of researches, and the clues seem to go in this direction. So I’m always well disposed to write about it when I come across a brain teaser that hides something interesting – or maybe just for…