STOP 8 | Milan: Reconnecting with the Past and the Present (and maybe the Future)

Dedicated to Dario and Giulia, who are still in my heart, despite they don't think so sometimes ☺. And to Isa, the most beautiful mother.

After reaching Crisky's house, my Milan's "hotel", I got changed and left for dinner. I met Dario 16 years ago, he was my flatmate while living in Milan. My closest flatmate I would say. And Giulia became his girlfriend on December 27th that year, 2005. And she became also a good friend of mine.

I got a salad, as after Sicily I decided to eat healthier. Dario and Giulia paid dinner for all of us and after that, we walked towards CityLife. CityLife is a new area in Milan – well, new to me at least, as it was not there when I lived in Milan between 2005 and 2011. It’s a residential, commercial and business district under construction situated a short distance from the old city centre of Milan

 

I told the guys we may not see each other again during my stay, since my time was tight. We talked about weddings, future, past, connections and more. There is only a topic we silently decided not to touch: Covid-19. I really believe we agree more than we disagree, but great friendships may know areas it’s better off not to go through: our views are apparently different, but I really believe we are much closer in the continuum line between no-wax and covidiots, since none of us is so extreme.

 

The following morning I decided to take the train to Seriate to meet Isa. I’ve known Isa since High School: we became close friends and she was the one pushing my boundaries a lot back then. Life can pull us apart, geographically, work-wise, socially, culturally and this is part of us being humans. Isa lives with Peppe, who unfortunately was working when I visited and three beautiful kids: Dennis, Nicole and Jacopo. I still remember Dennis so little when he was born 11+ years ago: now he is almost a teenager.

 

Isa works and manages the 3 kids together with Peppe: this let me think how difficult is today for a woman to raise a family, taking care for the house, kids, while working. I wish societies can focus more on reality instead of marketing claims and allow families with young kids to be equipped to nurture their nests.

 

Sometimes Isa and I enjoy talking about math problems, with her making fun of me, as according to her "my mind is crazy to provide an immediate answer/solution": my mind used to wander around and it often wanders around even know. She always tells me: “Si babbu”, which is “You are dumb”. Some things never change. We also lost a turtle that day, but that’s another story.

 

The beauty of being real friends is that you cannot talk for weeks or months, but when you see each other is always a renewed joy and you keep chatting as you’ve seen each other the previous day.

 

On the way back I met Marco and (another) Giulia. Marco is a co-worker from Dublin, become friend. We got to know each other in January 2012, after one of the nth re-org a tech company does over the years and he was the one teaching me how to play squash.

 

 

He got married to Giulia years ago on a beach in Sardinia – I had the pleasure to attend the wedding back then and now they recently moved back to Italy, and have two lovely kids: Alessandro and Francesco.

 

We talked about the present and the future of our lives: the beauty of living in Milan and the difference with San Francisco.

 

I spent dinner with the hosting Marco – who goes by Crisky – and his friends. We went to a Neapolitan restaurant, where I could enjoy a salad.

 

 

It’s incredible how you can create meaningful connections, even with people you barely know or you just get to meet. It’s really true: your attitude makes the most of your humanity!