Hi, I’m Chiara (you pronounce it Kiara)
I was born in Gualtieri, a charming village near Reggio Emilia, but I also lived in Venice at the time of University, I spent six months in Salzburg during the Erasmus project, I lived in Mantova for 10 years and now I’m based in Ferrara.
I teach English and German, I love being with my students and I am firmly convinced that “not all classrooms have four walls”: this is why I try to help my students to broaden their horizons, going beyond printed books and school programs. But to be trustworthy you have to do what you preach.
Traveling to me is exactly this: know and go beyond my limits, interrupt my routine, get rid of certainties that would otherwise fossilize me, relativise and wonder about things.
I started traveling when I was a child to learn languages, I had to cope with different cultures and lifestyles, always aiming at coming in contact with other people. I went adventuring with my father, equipped only with a Michelin road map and drawing the menu on the paper table cloths with what we would have liked to eat since we couldn’t understand the language.
An on the road trip is a synonym of freedom, of breaking the routine, of lack of time tables, as if that movement transformed into kinetic energy, capable of recharging the batteries of enthusiasm till the next journey. I adored the Interrail journey to Holland with my friends from Venice, unforgettable is our arrival at the five star hotel, dirty after our 24h travel and with the backpacks on our shoulders. I loved the journey on the road to Croatia and Sicily with a friend (renamed Vanda&Luisa after the famous film) and the hostel in Zagreb (how can I define it…basic?) and the hottest bedroom ever in Selinunte, where I made one of the most important decisions in my life)
First I traveled only to see monuments, squares and museums but I realized that what really makes a journey unique is when you can identify the genius loci.
Then I have realized how much wonder, astonishment and richness I have found in the minor places- those farther from the lacquered paths– the beauty behind the cracks of a house, where a skylark family settled down and it’s surprised that someone discovered them.
Today I need to know, to “feel” a place and not only to watch it and so I need to add more elements: a book, a personality who is interconnected with the place I am in, a film, a historical event, a recipe, a craftsman or the producer of a speciality are the best way to “dive” into a place.
If you like this project, follow me! And if you know an underestimated place for its potential or the beautiful story it hides, please let me know, I’m all ears!
