A fragment of peperino, the local stone of volcanic origin, is ready to “host” the passage of the pilgrims who, unceasingly, for centuries have crossed the city of Viterbo along the Via Francigena. The project “Your Step Is Already History” was a wonderful opportunity to reignite in me the study of religious routes in Europe, which gave rise to initiatives and architectural achievements, and to economic and spiritual movements that established “rules” which have remained almost unchanged over the centuries. The same emotion is what we experience today, exchanging in the encounter that takes place in my studio in Via San Pellegrino, where everyone, each time, on a different day, in ways that are never the same, moving through silence, sometimes jokes, confidences or tiredness, creates in an instant a situation of intense and sincere intimacy – where the protagonists, normally invisible to most, metaphorically immortalise their step to a city honoured to celebrate, through them, one of the most beautiful stories of the human journey. There will certainly be a finish line, but for them every stage is an arrival, and above all their crossing of paths or roads, more or less marked, where everything can change continuously; they too know they are a “becoming”, travelling through time without ever leaving the present moment, in the only time possible – the present, marked by the footprint they have just left on the earth. To reach ourselves takes far more than a single step: the more we change perspective, the better we manage to see things the right way; we must let ourselves be absorbed and then explode, transform into light. If I were a pilgrim, I would say that no undertaking would frighten me, every difficulty would become a source of energy. Failures, new starting points; and among the infinite reasons to give up, none could be worth more than the one single reason to carry on. I am a pilgrim acting simultaneously on three levels: the present of my step, the past of those who came before me, and that of those who will come after me. Thank you, because even while standing still waiting for you, I am always moving, above all with my heart… let us travel together.
So many associations have I met this week, and tomorrow the “INSUPERABILI” (the Unstoppable Ones) will arrive, also ready to leave their signature on our stone. The flask I made for their “journey” will reach its final destination in Rome, on 12 September, where the Holy Father will be ready to welcome them.
