Italiano
USA
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I remember, as if it was yesterday, when I was skimming through the geographic atlas in my dad’s lap and I overwhelmed him with questions about every place I was pointing to. I didn’t have any idea about geographic distances then, and I traveled with my finger running over that atlas between the continents while I was watching and reading heedfully each place I touched. I kept on doing that every night for years.
Growing up, my passion for adventure didn’t quell. I clearly remember my first achievement as an “explorer.” I was born in Palermo, a splendid coastal city dominated by Mt. Pellegrino, a 606m mountain above the sea level. I was about 11 when, riding my bicycle - a green Pininfarina I got by collecting points at the petrol stations - I decided to climb it to find out what there was on its peak. I was frightened. That mountain was like Mount Everest to me.
One day, together with my best pal, I took up the challenge and succeeded in reaching its summit. It turned out to be quite an effortful feat, as I rode my beat-up bike with an empty can aptly crumpled up and stuck between the frame and the back wheel, so that as the wheel turned it almost sounded like a small-displacement bike. I felt like a young Valentino Rossi - an “adventurer’s” version of him.
Once I reached the top, I remember how excited I was. I felt I was special, I had left my comfort zone and was the king of the world; nothing could touch me.
That excitement stayed with me and I still feel it with the same passion for adventure that drove me to climb up to the top on that occasion and is still driving me to travel the world nowadays.
In 2015 I got my category A driving licence. I had been dreaming about having it for such a long time that, when I rode the motorbike for the first time, I immediately saw that I would never leave the two-wheels. I’ve experienced great emotions with my beloved bikes, first of all in Iceland, where I’ve climbed volcanoes and crossed glaciers, I’ve forded rivers and rode through desert plains, I’ve breathed sandy air and suffered freezing temperatures by literally touching the Greenland Sea. There’ve been pitfalls and falls, but I’ve always stood back up with a smile, never losing my passion for adventure.
Riding a motorcycle means happiness to me. It makes me go back and feel like when I was 11. Every time it’s a new emotion, a new discovery, a new me. Travelling the world on two wheels is a cure for all ills.