Today, while searching for old texts to create content for a beautiful project that will see the light of day in May, I found the texts of the speech I gave at the official inauguration event of La Gualda Vecchia.
Good evening everyone.
First of all, thank you all from the bottom of my heart for being here with us tonight and for the trust you have placed in us. I hope you have a wonderful evening. The setting alone does most of the work, doesn't it?
We fell in love with it at first sight; there was no hesitation when, on June 4, 2020, as soon as the regional borders reopened after the lockdown, we came to visit it.
Many people ask us: but how did you find it? We found it on the internet!
By chance, by coincidence, we didn't know this area and had no connection to it. Initially, we wanted to avoid Tuscany, because in our ignorance, Tuscany is the Val d'Orcia, too orderly and already explored for our tastes. We were struck by "this" Tuscany: the nature so wild and lush, the richness of the territory, between the sea and the metalliferous hills, and olive oil and wine and, as you know better than I do, much more.
We had been looking for a farmhouse in the countryside for years. Initially, it was the dream of having a place to escape the frenzy of the city from time to time. A place to share moments of slowness and silence with our loved ones, away from noise and distractions. A place to read a book, listen to an album, or simply stop and watch the wind in the trees. As the years went by, the dream evolved, matured, shaped according to our needs, which were in turn changing, and also according to who we were becoming as individuals and as a family. To the point of deciding that the farmhouse would become our nest, our home, and also my work.
I decided to leave my "excellent" job as marketing director in a fast-growing company in Switzerland to dedicate myself entirely to this new life choice. The reaction of all our acquaintances was unanimously incredulous, as if we were crazy. But this is a story we are actually quite used to.
A little excursus about me.
My name is Bruna, I was born in Brazil 35 years ago (38 years ago in 2024, editor's note), in the megalopolis of São Paulo. Fortunately, my parents also had a small house on an island on the São Paulo coast, where we went as often as possible and where I established a deep connection with the sea and sailing. I am the granddaughter of migrants, who had to roll up their sleeves and work hard to make it, in a Brazil that failed as El Dorado. I am the daughter of parents who, in turn, left Brazil with two teenage children, a suitcase in hand, and the tenacity to fight for a dignified life for us. Their acquaintances told them: crazy. When I was 14, I met Daniel, who is now my husband. As soon as we finished high school, we moved in together: and they called us crazy. As young people, the pressure of this label felt a bit restrictive, until one day I read something that opened my eyes and made me see reality differently. I couldn't find the original text, but the gist was that the label of madness gives you much more freedom to do what you want. You're crazy anyway!
When I was about to graduate, we decided to have children: they called us crazy. In 2013, with two young children, tired of the logic of work in Italy and the poor infrastructure for children in the province of Varese, we moved to Zurich. They called us crazy. I left my permanent job, had to learn a new language and rebuild my career. After 4 years there, while keeping our jobs in Zurich, we moved to Rome, in search of what we feel is "home," which is Italy. Guess what they told us when we said we were leaving perfect Zurich for that disaster of Rome? Completely crazy. After 3 years in Rome, one of the most beautiful cities I know, 3 intense years during which our awareness grew about where we wanted to put down roots, certainly close to nature, our awareness of what is important to us and what we truly wanted to do in life, we made the decision to move here.
Thus, Podere La Gualda Vecchia is not only the realization of our personal dream of getting closer to nature and a more natural lifestyle, but it also becomes a tourist reception and a place to participate in or organize events.
“In search of Beauty,” this is our mission.
Beauty understood in a broad sense. Like the one mentioned by Dostoevsky when he says "Beauty will save the world." Beauty, which is grace, harmony, and morality. The unmistakable manifestation of good.
Beauty as everything that nourishes our soul with positive energy.
This is the place where we chose to put down our roots. Through the study of history and traditions and the building of relationships with local people. We have renovated the Podere trying to be as faithful as possible to its history, reusing materials we found in good condition, restoring salvageable elements, and seeking local suppliers and artisans for the rest. And now we are dedicating all our resources to creating a park around the house that can reflect all our dreams and desires.
We would like to attract tourists who have a love for nature, a desire to slow down, for slowness, for silence, for purity, for genuineness and authenticity.
Some of the wonderful people who have helped us are here with us tonight: Deborah Ciolli, a ceramic artist who created the splendid women you will see in the apartments, Alessio Nobili, tonight as a photographer but mostly our trusted carpenter, Luca Gasperini, a talented electrician and more!, Diletta Lazzerini, from Garden House Lazzerini, whose artisans have created, among other things, the beautiful kitchens you will see in the apartments. With them and with all the protagonists of the territory, we aim to build a network of shared intentions and values, first of all to learn, to integrate, and to enhance and promote our territory.
