Articolo disponibile anche in: Italian

Simone Mazzi has roots in the heart of Chianti Classico, in his grocery shop in Panzano. He has branches that reach very high;  towards the sky and the world.

It is easy to explain the reason. He is a real world traveler. Shortly, he will leave with his inseparable family; Alessandro, his wife, Roberta, their daughter, Laura and her boyfriend Tobia, they are going to one of the most unknown archipelagos in the world, Raja Ampat, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

“I think,” he says smiling, “that we will be the first Chianti residents to leave for this place. It is relatively close to Papua, New Guinea  in Indonesia. Stops along the adventure include the Molucche islands, the archipelago of Komodo, famous for its dragons, and the island of Java with its temples. Another stop on the trip is the island of Sulawesi, where we will visit the ethnic Turaya and see an incredible funeral/party ceremony where  buffalo and other animals are sacrificed in honor of the guests and the dead”.

This”, he continues, “is the 135th Country that I have visited in the world. I took my first trip at 16, a school trip to Spain. When my wife and I  became a couple she, also in love with travel, became my traveling partner. We began with Europe (we have visited all countries except Russia and Iceland). Then a friend invited us to his home on the island of Mauritius, and we fell in love with the tropical countries”. ”

We took some of our trips with Avventure  nel Mondo. When the Internet came about, we began to organize our own trips. You can save money this way, and we don’t have unlimited funds. The most significant? Birmania, when there was a dictator, Nepal, the Galapagos  islands, Hawaii, South Africa,  Mali, Thailand, China, the Philippines, Australia, Canada, USA, Mexico, Chile and all of Central America”.

“Traveling”, concludes Simone, “is an overwhelming passion. We have a great hunger for knowledge within us and our children didn’t stop us. We transmitted our passion to them. Even when they were little we always brought them with us, and now that Laura is almost 18, I am shocked at her knowledge of the world. She speaks four languages”. “Our most extreme trips? Expedition in the Amazon, Ecuador during a coup d’état, climbing Kilimanjaro (although we didn’t arrive to the top), two volcanoes in the Andes at 5200 meters. I do sub-diving and have done immersions in the most unusual coral reefs of the world, including the Great Barrier reef  of Australia”.

Matteo Pucci