Eight years ago, a happy accident brought me to Rome during a mother-daughter trip. I am not sure why, but I have never been so excited to visit any part of Italy.
After spending four days with my mother in Rome, I experienced a profound shift in my feelings and thoughts about Rome and Italy. As everywhere else, there are negative viewpoints, but I think we should focus on the good in people and the beauty in the world. And that is always what I choose.
So, I can say that Rome stole my heart: the vibe, the streets, the architecture, the food, the people, oh, GOD, the Italian women, the laundry hung outside to dry, the markets. I adored every detail of Rome. And, as you might already know, I am obsessed with details.
Mom and I
I am the type of person who believes that everything happens for a reason. If I hadn't had this Rome experience eight years ago, this interview might not have happened, because I would still be a pagan when it comes to the genuine beauty of Italy.
But I am overjoyed with how things turned out, because what follows is one of my favourite interviews I have done since starting this blog. It's pure nourishment and water for the soul and mind.
Sofia and Claudia are exactly my kind of women who, through their daily activities, passions, and dreams, have succeeded in making the world a better place and spreading beauty. And I think this is something I need to promote and pay forward to my community.
Sofia and Claudia
“Orchestration of the senses riassume perfettamente la nostra filosofia di vita nonché missione in qualità di viaggiatrici: cercare, ma anche divertirsi nel creare emozioni che coinvolgano tutti i sensi come in una danza salentina, gitana, rinascimentale.” I simply adore this description I found on the website eratomediterraneo.com, and I believe it should be a daily mantra in our lives. Please tell me the narrative of érato | Italia + Mediterraneo and its mission and values.
Èratomediterrano is a digital project born on Instagram in March 2020. The idea behind it was to share precious hidden gems around Italy and the Mediterranean regions that came from years of travelling together as friends.
We collected so many memories we wanted to find a space for and make them available to anyone. With the years, it soon became much more, such as an editorial project with the launch of “Pantelleria- una guida in memoria poetica”, a communication tool for brands to develop social campaigns with the very personal aesthetic we deliver, a platform to share the simplicity and beauty of the world that surrounds us, and to escape even for a few seconds from the news of the terrible global situation we are all facing.
Managing èrato, we rediscovered the love for photography. That is why, over the years, we invested a lot in improving our skills with the camera to fulfil our mission of delivering exclusive and very personal content.
You also have an online shop where you sell two products related to La Dolce Vita: Pantelleria - una guida in memoria poetica, and the Otium Mediterraneo bag. Tell me more about these two items, as well as whether you are shipping them throughout Europe.
The Ecommerce is a side project born to sustain the launch of our exclusive guide of the island of Pantelleria, Sicily.
It is a very exciting printed magazine that encompasses the work of around 20 different contributing artists, mainly photographers. We are immensely proud of this hybrid baby, which is a mix of a very cool independent magazine, a photographic book, and our own travelogue. We sell it worldwide and year-round on our website, www.eratomediterraneo.com.
On the other hand, the “Otium” bag is our latest summer drop. An ode to the season in which everything is possible and to the beautiful concept which revolves around the idea of “Oziare” during the summer. “Oziare” is a synonym for “Dolce far niente,” with a much more cultural and folk background to the same sweet idea of covering the hours of free time with some people watching, book reading, or cloud gazing.
The érato | Italia + Mediterraneo Instagram account frequently features photos of markets and food. What is the importance of food in your life?
Food comprehends in itself most of the beautiful things of life: sharing, excitement, feeling routed and connected, and enjoying. Through the act of cooking, we can share much more noble feelings with others, such as love, bonding, and caring.
At the same time, sharing a meal with someone means giving him precious time, which will be gifted back in return. It is well known, in fact, that around the table some of the funniest and sweetest memories are made.
Food is also a major part of our childhood memories; taste is a very powerful sense to recall precious moments from the past, which sometimes also make us feel emotional.
And don’t forget about the sense of discovery: through the act of trying new cuisines, we are able to feel closer to other cultures, and we train our mouths to be “citizens of the world." Both of us are Italians, and we believe this is a shared manifesto of what food means to us as a country. We try to bring this emotional lever of food to life through our photography and narration.
PS: If you are interested in reading or hearing one of the most beautiful and funny monologues about the Italians relationship with food, we highly suggest you look for “Gola” by Mattia Torre; no one will ever explain it better!
How do each of you embrace the art of fine living on a daily basis? What are your routines and rituals?
We both have very busy lives, always running from one city to the next, moving constantly from Rome to Alba to Piacenza, so sometimes it is very difficult for us to define “fine living” on a daily basis.
This hectic lifestyle makes it almost impossible to create routines or rituals, and each day feels most like a discovery.
Some fixed points we always try to pursue are: sharing time with friends, finding space for love, always leaving time to research, read, and discover new things, and a big Moka of coffee in the morning.
From all your travels, please tell me which is your favourite:
- City: Paris and Palermo;
- Restaurant and Dish: Having “Pasta con i Ricci di mare” at Ristorante Albachiara in Savelletri;
- Market: The Market inside the Medina of Marrakech;
- Accommodation: Coqui Coqui Cobà, Mexico;
- Shop: In all museum’s shops, where you can buy beautiful posters from the exhibition you just saw, and in all the flea markets around the world;
- Memory: A very special sunset on the Narmada River in India, a moment in which we truly realised how lucky we are to be living the life we are living.
Which women inspire you?
All the women who, through small daily gestures, contribute to a more gender-balanced world are truly inspiring.
Women who are not scared to define and create their very own version of success, in whatever form, will materialized.
Women who carry every day the “weight” of all the sacrifices they made and still do for their loved ones and never lose their smile.
Women who proudly laugh and, in the same way, cry.
But first of all, we are not afraid to say that our main and first inspiration are our mums, the greatest source of inspiration and love.
What is your definition of happiness?
This is a very difficult, ever-changing question for us since happiness is a very volatile feeling that changes intensity depending not only on how we are feeling but also heavily impacted by the environment around us.
Remaining basic but true, we would choose health (ours and those of our loved ones), free time, and free mind to spend alone or in company to build memories that will nourish the future's happiness.
Our lives right now, which give us the chance to meet a lot of cool people, to enjoy a beautiful group of friends and a sweet love, to see many sunsets while having a drink, and to take trains and airplanes to see the world—well, what we live now is definitely a happy life, among all.
We are now experiencing the purest happiness, and we are more than grateful for that. We will cherish and chase this feeling forever.
photos: Sofia and Claudia
