(#017) Diversity

This week was Milano Design Week 2025—by far the city’s biggest event. It’s the one with the most buzz, the most global visitors, the most spectacle. Prices at questionable two-star hotels become eye-watering. Airbnb hosts seem to make half their yearly income. Private courtyards open up. Brands compete to outdo each other with the most elaborate installations. It's Milan at its best.

I gladly left the city to visit my father in my hometown, L’Aquila—a place with 60,000 people and 100,000 sheep (that’s true).

Since moving back to Italy, I’ve promised myself to return at least once every three months. This trip was meant to count for the first quarter of 2025 (though I overshot it by a few days).

Despite its four-season charm (the real four seasons, remember those?), easy access to real mountains, exceptional food, warm and generous people, a beautifully rebuilt historic center (after the 2009 earthquake tore it down), and a handful of bakeries, restaurants, and shops that rival any big city for quality—I still can’t picture myself living there.

Of diversity, there is none.

L.F