Are we really aware of where we are when we travel? Can we really look around, wonder at a cornice of a building while we are looking for the name of the street we are on?
On an October day we were walking along the Arno with an amazing view of the Renaissance Florence, when, perhaps bored by the usual walk and the 20 km already covered, we started thinking about how to give value to what we were doing, how to change optics. After all, it is from boredom that inventiveness comes.
Are we really capable of transversally thinking?
The first question we asked ourselves was if there was anything that, at that time, could become the fuse that could ignite the fire of our creativity. It often happens, in moments of boredom, to try to occupy the mind with some story on Instagram or some Reel that wherever we are, even if travelling, instills the thought that everyone else is certainly in a place and at a time somehow better than ours. It is from trying to get out of this bubble, of which we are the same fomentators, that Materica is born.
Our afternoon in Florence
It was an October afternoon, and we were brainstorming on the streets of Florence, thinking of
experiences that could make the journey memorable. We were looking for something simple yet impactful, something that could be accessible and replicable by anyone who wanted to try it.
Everyone around us was on their phone, as we were too after all. So, we thought: "why not put the phone away and continue going around with only the help of a city map?". If you think about it, it is a trivial idea, it's nothing new, but we can assure you that we had a lot of fun that day.
The first obstacle was to find a city map, we had no idea of where to get one, until we entered in a hotel and asked for one. Then, being sure that hotels do have maps, why not enter in a luxury one, one you've always dreamed of getting into? So, once in Piazza Ognissanti, we infiltrated in the St. Regis.
Our adventure was starting, we were fully aware of the space around us, time wasn't a concern, the only thing to do was to choose the place to visit and reach it, enjoying every street, every alley and every shop that we crossed on our way. Our point of reference was the Arno river, and from there, from the marvelous view of the sunset, we gathered our ideas and continued on our way.
What we risk losing when we get lost
"Boredom follows order and precedes storms"
The seemingly banal idea of taking a map of the city and starting to move around just looking at it, suddenly becomes a field of thoughts, reflections and observations of what we risk losing when we get lost in our smartphone and what we can earn when we get lost on the streets.
It is in fact the feeling of not knowing where to go, the beauty of conversing with someone to ask for help, the joy of looking at a path giving more value to the journey than to the goal. It is all this that led us to wanting to propose an itinerary to Rome that would allow you to live in a different way a moment of the journey. We are certain that the greatest value of this experience lies not only in the possibility of really looking around, but also in the deep reflection that takes you away from all that is standard, to get closer to what really is yours.
How?
Stay tuned and get prepared for our future events, Materica is a small emerging reality, but its big heart is ready to make you fall in love.
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