Am I in the right place? Should I stay here or should I move? This seemed to be the common question for our group as we set out through the various stages of Street Wisdom under a warm spring sun.
For one of us the answer came directly from Dante Alighieri – or rather from his marble version in Piazza dei Signori – who reminded her of the reason she had moved to Italy in the first place: for its heritage and for the literature. “I’ve just seen an amazing building that I hadn’t seen before, and this is the route I walk every day to go to work. I feel that I can be happy anywhere so why not stay here a little bit longer?” she told the group after the first warm-up exercise.
The warm-up brought some insight for another one of the group: taking time to walk rather than stride as a remedy against the stress she had been suffering from. Slowing… right… down proved to be very difficult but incredibly effective for everyone.
Another participant, who is struggling with her desire to get into drawing but feels she might not be good enough, was offered some concise but necessary wisdom by a street painter. “Go for it!” was his reaction when she put her question to him.
As the group facilitator, I had the chance to spend some time in a corner of the city that is very familiar to me, with my phone switched off and time on my hands. I came to like the dance of the buses coming and going in three different directions, and observed a canoeist paddling against the current on the river Adige: the perfect metaphor!
The group reunited at Cappa Café and we told our stories with a spritz in our hands and a big smile on our faces.
Giulia Pesante
I’ve always thought that there’s no coincidence, so looking for answers in the street sounded familiar to me. Even though it’s not always crystal clear to spot it, if you look closely there is always a silver line connecting events and people you go through in life and marking your path, and they are there for a reason.
When I got an email from a dear friend about Giulia’s event, I immediately knew I was going to go for it. It was a good experience and am grateful to Giulia for organizing it. The first of the four steps was the most difficult for me to deal with. Abroad, it’s much easier to start talking to strangers, but Verona – on this front – not that receptive. In the beginning, I decided to start from a simple question like “should I get into drawing?” as the other one in my mind was too difficult to ask a stranger. I was able to talk to 4 people, the first 2 people did not answer, looked very confused and walked away quickly, the third woman was quite defensive but talked to me for a minute. Then I saw a street painter and had a lovely conversation of 5/6 minutes about drawing. I think it’s very useful to train one’s observation skills, and this way is also fun and social, which is even better.
Cristina Fochesato