I can say it out loud after a week spent at Campo Globo as volunteer of the civil protection and member of ANA of Como.
Campo Globo was one of the 170 tent camps built for the earthquake emergency in Abruzzo and took its name from the nearby store in the Coppito zone.
Once there I worked at the camp office, the place where the Alpini managed the camp and thus where I could see both positive and negative sides of the situation.
Together with three volunteers of La Spezia’s ANA, Enrico, Attilio and camp-chief Alberto, we worked all day long from August 29th to September 5th, trying to respond to all the requests coming from the 930 residents and from Italian Navy and Army officers who excellently managed the two camp kitchens.
The human side of the experience has been the most important one: talking to people from L’Aquila and listening to their unfortunate stories and wishes to start over gave a precise meaning to the feeling of solidarity that made me leave for Abruzzo.
However, being able to see the ruins of the city center left a sense of sadness deep inside me. It wasn’t as watching them in photos or on TV at all: it will really take a lot of time for the reconstruction..
The photos of my personal gallery have been mostly shot at the camp, since you can find those with the ruins pretty anywhere and they do not really deliver the actual dimension of the destruction of the buildings.
My best wishes to all the people I met during that week: the Scuola del Genio and San Marco officers, the great Alpini, and the camp residents with a soul stronger than any earthquake!
As San Marco officers wrote on the sail in the picture: The lion wants it, L’Aquila in his heart.

On my Vespa, from Como to Santa Maria di Leuca, to discover a land unknown to me: the Salento!
After 3200km riding my Vespa GTS I can say that such a long journey during the two central weeks of August was really worth it.
After a stop in Bologna and Bisceglie, guest of relatives who took care of their favourite mad vespa fan , my Vespa flawlessly accompanied me on the visit to the most beautiful places in Puglia: from Ostuni to Gallipoli, Nardò, Santa Maria di Leuca, to the spectacular Ciolo Bridge, Castro, Otranto, Lecce, and to Melpignano, where I attended the final concert of the Notte della Taranta, an incredible example of territorial marketing!
150.000 people compressed in the small town danced the pizzica, an entertaining and sensual popular ballet, all night long.
They say Salento has peculiar curing properties, mainly due to three factors: colors as in chromotherapy, purifying substances spread through air by olive plants and the different iodine concentration of the two seas, Jonio and Adriatic, help to improve blood values just after a week of stay.
Body and soul restored, also thanks to old and new friends met, I published a gallery with the best photos of the journey.
Enjoy it and… intra lu salentu tocca torni! (You have to come back to Salento!)

500 Vespas charging on the streets of Como, the third edition of a great show, organized by the Vespa Club of Como on June 29.
It was an intense day: from the “Vespinta - throwing the Vespa” quiz game, to the parade on the streets of Como, to the aperitif in Brunate, to the lunch at the restaurant Gnocchetto in Tavernerio and to the award ceremony with prizes for the numerous Vespa clubs and the Vespazza, the hottest Vespa-girl!
For me it was the second meeting organized by the club I’m a member of, and just as two years ago, my duty was to take photos.
This year however, Chiara, a friend of mine, took care of it, while I was driving my Vespa and stopping in places where she could take the best shots.
Here there are the four most significant photos for me, the rest is in the dedicated gallery.
Long live to the Vespa Club of Como!

As much as Wordpress changed the way I managed and presented my blog, Facebook is now changing another fundamental component: the update rate!
I often find myself microblogging on Facebook by updating my status or filling my wall in a quick and easy way, just what I needed in order to highlight what I wasn’t able to through posts on the blog, even if visibility is limited to my network of friends.
In my opinion Facebook follows the 80/20 rule pretty well: for 20% of the time you typically use it to “nurture” your ego and for 80% to look at your friends’ activities!
More or less this is my relation with a tool that in Italy is fast-growing in popularity, is generating discussions about the birth of new forms of dependence and privacy issues, but that has such a strength to be able to bring many new users on the web: without knowing it, they became micro-bloggers!

A lot of things happened in 2008, and what I wrote on the blog is only the tip of the iceberg.
However, should I really make a choice, the single thing that impressed me the most has been the evening walk in the Red Square when I was in Moscow with the Virtual Tailor of Cernobbio: misterious, fascinating and… I didn’t expect it was not flat at all!
Travels, exhibitions, events and meetings filled a 2008 that ended with such a concentration of good news in the last two months to make 2009 full of good expectations.
And even bad or unpleasant things, once elaborated, become part of the luggage of experience I bring with me in the new year.
As the last thing of the year I’d like to thank the people whom I felt close during difficult times and send a special greeting to those who call me crazy since I ride my Vespa with any kind of weather!
Welcome to 2009 and its winds of change!

It’s incredible how we can build as close a relationship as with a family member with a creature so different from us human beings!
It happened with my cat Willy, and now that an obscure incurable illness has taken him away, all that’s left is the memory of the best moments spent stroking him, playing hide and seek, and why not, replying accordingly to his mewings.
Found 9 years ago in the area where they were building the Dadone complex in Como, Willy - the reddish tiger, become the family’s pet, a catalyst of our relations in times of trouble and in the course of time showed us that “divine feline detachment with which he measured himself with the things of the world”.
The quote is by Federico Roncoroni and comes from his Amici Mici published by Edizioni Ulivo, as are these lines which Willy certainly knew:

The true owner
A cat you believe you own
and he just to please you
makes you believe
he loves to be owned.
Actually
the truth lies elsewhere.
You do not own a cat,
ever:
the cat owns you.
Now that you know it,
never forget it:
you are the cat
of the cat you own.

Thanks to all my dear friends who stood by me at such a difficult time.

Did you ever stop to carefully read the tag of a food package you purchased at the supermarket?
I rarely did it before reading Paolo Conti’s book.
It’s the synthesis of a three years long inquiry containing a lot of information exposed in a clear and fluent way.
The book deals with arguments ranging from the supermarkets power over the food chain, to the analysis of the health emergencies caused by food adulteration, to the opposition between techno-food and eco-food.
All of this always taking into consideration the position of Italy compared to other countries: we have a good competitive advantage in the biologic food sector.
It’s an advantage mostly due to the slow industrialization process of the food production sector in our country, something which we can exploit now that the consumer attention towards good and genuine food is definitely increasing.
So there’s still hope in order to preserve the good Italian food reputation in the next years, so that it won’t become a legend due to invasive production and conservation techniques, supermarkets economic interests and last but not least our buying decisions.

Valérie, our French stagier, went back to France for her deserved holidays after she managed to get appreciations from anyone who had the chance to meet her due to her contribution to our project i-muse™ and not only due to her charm and pleasant French accent!
An extraordinary girl, brilliant and results-producing, qualities they recommend to search for in the people to work with and that rarely you can find in the same person.
It was a privilege having her aside during these three months, not only because she has a so vital attitude that looks the opposite of his bizarre Italian surname , but also because you could talk about anything with her: from business planning to Rfid technology, to French cuisine, or even about John Gray’s books.
Also thanks to her the number of left-handers in the i-muse™ team became equal: 3 vs 3 as you can see in the photo shot to celebrate the start of the tests as well as her departure.
Her thesis about the use of technology for the valorization of cultural goods, that she’ll expose in September in Italy, almost looks like a celebration for i-muse™, in a natural way however, since the studies and the market trends are reporting that the odds for our product are good in this specific sector.
A big thank you for all you did: Au revoir Valérie!

1050 kilometers in three days riding my Vespa: it’s the result of the journey made together with 11 Vespa riders of the Vespaclub Como to join the Vespa World Days 2007, the international gathering organized this year in San Marino.
More than 3000 Vespa riders, a wonderful weather, a nice company and specials such as Nicola L’impennatore and the Arrotino from the Vespaclub Biella made the three days a memorable experience.
The 162 pics I shot will preserve part of the memory.
Anything but less funny was the 2nd National Vespa Meeting Town of Como on June 24, a day in which taking pics was my official duty for the club. Gathering in Como, aperitif in Menaggio and then in Grandola e Uniti for the lunch: 300 Vespa riders enjoyed the sight of the lake and the organization of the event, including the Vespazza Award, la Vespa più Bonazza, given to the nicest girl on a Vespa.
All of the 276 pics I shot are online to the benefit of the Vespa riders who participated.
If you’re in a hurry these are the best 4 of the two events.

Ilaria, the art lover who “lend” her voice for the guide in i-muse™ , is the curator of a young art exhibition which will be inaugurated on Saturday June 2 at the Salone Age Parrucchieri in Piazza Vittorio Veneto 13 a Lurago d’Erba, not too far from Como.
For i-muse™ Ilaria did a great job, so it’s a pleasure for me publishing his announcement:

Guardando fuori è la seconda e più famosa mostra d’arte giovane, promossa dal Salone Age Parrucchieri in collaborazione con la Biblioteca Comunale di Lurago d’Erba e con il contributo di quattro imprese brianzole: Age Giardini, Edil Alfa3, Ferrari Impianti e Poliform. All’inaugurazione verranno offerti da La Coccinella di Albiate caffè e vecchi dolci dimenticati.
Guardando fuori prosegue a portare la sperimentazione creativa all’interno della vita reale, descrivendo in modo verosimile, la realtà delle piazze italiane, soprattutto quelle di provincia. Molte tele dipinte e molte stampe fotografiche presentate sono strumenti per acquisire la verità di ciò che si vede.
La mostra è caratterizzata dalla particolare laboriosità di Chiara Aldeghi e Antonio Bernardo, che presentano situazioni reali stereotipate, deformate ed estremizzate.
Le tele di Antonio Bernardo, articolate in sezioni che presentano gli elementi peculiari della piazza/sagrato e i personaggi che li popolano, sono state precedute dalle fotografie che l’artista ha utilizzato per i suoi dipinti.
Le fotografie di Chiara Aldeghi descrivono la piazza vera e propria; sulla base di alcuni specifici riferimenti si può immaginare che essa sia situata a Lurago d’Erba. La piazza accoglie un mercatino dell’usato, un’insegna di avventurosa costruzione e una vasta offerta di personaggi. La descrizione di questi uomini e donne è ottenuta tramite un brillante uso della luce, della posizione e dei colori.
I personaggi che popolano la piazza comprendono moltissime figure dell’immaginario collettivo: il tecnico, sedicente esperto di calcio e di qualsiasi altro argomento, il professore, filosofo e studioso di figure femminili, il tuttofare, il bimbo. E poi il nonno, il fattorino scapestrato, il carabiniere e le anziane signore che discutono esclusivamente di necrologi.
Nella piazza si discute di improbabili eroi, le cui storie costituiscono un racconto nella mostra.

GUARDANDO FUORI
Doppia personale di Chiara Aldeghi e Antonio Bernardo
LURAGO D’ERBA
2 giugno - 17 giugno 2007
Salone Age Parrucchieri, P.za Vittorio Veneto 13
Orari: festivi 10 - 12; 15 - 19
INGRESSO LIBERO

INAUGURAZIONE
Sabato 2 giugno 2007 - ore 17.00
Salone Age Parrucchieri
Lurago d’Erba - P.za Vittorio Veneto 13