Silvia packed us up, we met her like this. Ours Air, he says, has become his travel outfit. We followed her online and discovered through her gaze the Island of Nisyros, Portugal, but also Puglia and Tuscany. His traveling story is a poem suspended between departure and return and we liked it so much that we want to share it with you.
A life chasing amazement
Silvia Pezzetti she is a freelancer in the tourism sector. He travels for passion, and for work with Girolibero, dedicating himself to accompanying cycle trips for foreigners in Italy with the main destination being Venice and its lands. She put her great love for water at the service of those who set out with her to discover our country by boat and bike.
«My roots are in Bergamo, but in the last ten years I have lived in many different places. When I think about my wanderings I feel a bit like an orchid. Orchids, in addition to having beautiful flowers, have both terrestrial and aerial roots, without which they could not survive. I also have aerial roots: I lived in Holland for four years, in Trento, Genoa and then in Trieste. Soon I will move again, towards Puglia."
Silvia has a free and curious nature. She likes to chase amazement and she doesn't need to go to the other side of the world, even on the shortest trips she manages to satisfy her great thirst for discovery. And then, he loves meeting new people.
«I like stories: I can take a journey more than once but, if I do it with different people, it is never the same journey. In fact, I really like returning to the same place because, as the company changes, the season of the trip can also change and therefore the weather and the views."
The girl with the suitcase
«When they ask me which place I imagine when I think of returning “home” the answer is “the place where I am living now”. I studied architecture, for me the house has a very profound value and wherever I go I always choose homes that I feel are mine. I have a great love for spaces that contain life and I think that home is where you have that unique feeling of welcome and care."
Then there is the suitcase, which is the house that Silvia brings with her, and her folding bike, a faithful vehicle that always accompanies her.
«My suitcase never lacks my glasses and a few hats, to keep my thoughts safe. Certainly also the clothes, which are never chosen at random; everything you need to knit and a book. I also have small objects that are part of me, they are like amulets, for example a pendant that represents a little house. They all have a story, many are artisanal and remind me of the people who made them, met during my wanderings."
On tiptoe
For her there is a clear difference between tourist and traveller, in fact the traveller, unlike the tourist, does not invade, but enters places on tiptoe, guided by awareness.
«One of my favorite places is the Po Delta. There, the land meets the water and is the fruit of a work that nature and man have done together. It is also the emblem of a fragility of ecosystems which today more than ever must be protected and which the traveler must approach with awareness. Even those who travel can make a difference if they understand the nature of the place they are in. For this purpose, the bicycle is the ideal means of transport: slow and non-polluting. Then, when people travel by bike they are more connected with the context, and vice versa."
«When I am in Venice with a group of travellers, obviously I take them to San Marco, but first I show them the most authentic Venice, starting with the island of Giudecca, my favorite place. In short, overtourism has arrived, but we must not stop travelling, we just need to do it with more respect. This doesn't mean knowing a place less, on the contrary, thinking about Venice, it's precisely when you see the more secluded streets and the less touristy districts or you venture into the most remote lagoon that you really discover it".
Even when she travels alone, Silvia travels by slow means of transport, such as the bike, or by public transport, such as the train. This mode of travel allows her to meet many new and different people.
«It's the people who make a place, the people I meet are the true means of discovery. Anyone I meet, even just by chance, in my memory becomes the character of a story that I will carry with me forever."
A book about travel to read this summer
Silvia advised us to read A fortune teller told me by Tiziano Terzani. It is the first book that made her understand how many doors a journey can open, how much choices can change its course and how much of a privilege it is to travel, especially today.
«Every trip is a gift, I consider myself a very lucky person».
Sprouts is the new column dedicated to the stories of those like us who have decided to put our heart and soul into planning a dream. Every month here you can read a new story.
