A cosy travellers’ hideout at 3900 m above sea level, in the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of western Sichuan, China, which works completely off the grid with clean energies? Yes, it’s possible, and it’s providing an example to follow to the locals. I have visited it and had the chance […]
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The Evergreen Bamboo Straw Solution
From the Meghalaya’s rain forest, in hidden North-East India, a solution to one of the biggest environmental issues in the world: the use of plastic straws. This is the hand-made, organic and zero impact bamboo straw created by product designer Kriya Rynjah. Nope, I haven’t been in North-East India (yet!), so […]
Read moreConnecting People with Food through “Edible Routes”
Teach people how to design and grow their own organic vegetable gardens. Provide them with the space, the tools and the know-how they need to make it self-sustainable. Provide long term support and create a sense of community around it. Do all of this and you will have Edible Routes, […]
Read moreTravel injury? Things to do to keep positive, expectations vs reality
So, I had this grand plan to go on some adventurous treks in the Ladhak, and doing some ecological volunteering in Spiti Valley, and spend months lost in nature around the Indian Himalayas. Instead, I snapped a tendon in my right bicep, doing some simple gardening work no less. Medical […]
Read moreMind and Body: the Sensorial Experience of Vipassana
The meditation technique taught by the Buddha himself can be learnt in 10 days, an intense retreat that will put your inner strength to the test, but can be highly rewarding and bring benefits for both spirit and mind. After years of mulling over it, what better place to finally […]
Read moreThoughts in front of Gandhi’s Memorial
The Raj Ghat, in the North-East part Delhi, is a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, and is situated in a big green park, with long avenues and wide meadows. The black marble is settled where Gandhi cremation took place, while on the other side an eternal flame burns. Gandhi is a […]
Read moreEyes of Delhi – Photography Project
Eyes with no smile and no rancour, with no desire nor fear, neither hard nor gentle. Just the resolute humbleness of those who know hardness, and have accepted an unchanging fate. I was just going through the streets of Delhi on a taxi, or a rickshaw, I can’t remember, when […]
Read moreWhy I No Longer Comment on Politics on Social Media
One, I have been working for many years in the EU politics realm, and in communications. Two, I have discussed issues such as trade agreements, immigration, EU integration, Brexit, and whatnot millions of times, in and out the social networks. Three, I’m Italian. So? What about being Italian? So, right […]
Read moreTharu People: a Rural Way of Life?
The people of Nepal’s Terai, Tharu, have still a quite intact rural life style, but how long will it take to the force of modernization to kick in and change this society forever? When you stay for over a month in Nepal’s Terai, Thakurdwara, right outside Bardia National Park, you […]
Read morePizzighettone, or the Revolution of Unchanging Worlds
Are local realities solutions to global problems? Sometimes a seemingly unchanging world hides the potential for a constant revolution: people acting on the territory, for the territory. I have been staying in my hometown for more than the usual two or three days in a long, long time. This gave […]
Read moreLeaving Behind, Looking Ahead, Being in the Present
Here’s the fact: I am leaving the apartment where I lived for the past eight years or so, and the city where I have been for almost 12. That’s it. The walls are naked, the books on the shelves are gone, the cupboards are empty. All packed up and ready […]
Read moreThe Beauty of Sadness
Are negative feelings just bad? Or are they necessary? Perhaps there’s even beauty to find in them, if they are lived as moments of personal growth. In time, I’ve had several occasions to talk about what I call the beauty of sadness, so I thought I would just write down […]
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