Until yesterday, I was waking up at 4:50 a.m. with the Venice Climate Week running through my mind. Not out of anxiety. I woke up because my thoughts were moving faster than sleep. There were a thousand details to hold together, friends to take care of, important people to welcome, decisions to make, connections to create. I woke up with the excitement of someone who knows they are contributing to something meaningful—and with the responsibility of turning a vision into reality.
Today I woke up at 4:50 again, but driven by an overwhelming urge to say countless thank-yous.
Gratitude for having contributed to something that, in an age of extreme individualism, truly feels like a small contemporary miracle.
We live in a time dominated by the “I.” Algorithms reward individual visibility. Social media celebrates protagonism. Organizations obsessed with media exposure often struggle to move beyond competitive logic. And yet, for a few days, we witnessed something different.
We witnessed the “we.”
First of all, the three of us curators: Riccardo Luna, Cristiano Seganfreddo, and I. Different in paths, personalities, approaches, talents, obsessions.
And yet united by a healthy dose of boldness, by the belief that impossible things are simply those we have not yet tried, by a deep love for life, by gratitude as a daily practice, by the conviction that kindness must be practiced as a new form of leadership, by the courage to put ourselves at the service of a cause greater than ourselves—and, curiously, by all being born under the sign of Pisces.
Perhaps it is a coincidence, but maybe that is also where our affinity with the water planet comes from. The natural inclination to read currents before maps, to create connections before structures, and to believe that human relationships are the true infrastructure of change. Because the new, almost always, is born this way: from the encounter between people who choose to trust one another and to navigate together toward shores that do not yet exist.
I do not know if it is just astrology, but somehow we learned to swim in the same direction.
And perhaps this is the real secret of every collective endeavor: when a vision stops belonging to the one who imagined it (Riccardo Luna) and begins to be inhabited by those who choose to make it possible.
That is exactly what we witnessed during the Venice Climate Week.
What struck me most was not the quality of the content, the beauty of the venues, or the level of the conversations. It was observing how each person found their place within a larger design.
Everyone felt ownership. Everyone felt responsible. Everyone felt necessary. And the truth is—they were.
Because wonder is never born from individual talent. It emerges from the orchestration of uniqueness.
That is why I want to name people. All of them. Not out of protocol. Not out of obligation. But because Venice Climate Week was not a number, an organizational machine, or a generic “team.” It was the result of each individual’s uniqueness.
Andrea Magelli was, once again, the rock—the one who keeps the ship steady during the storm while everyone else watches the waves. And alongside him, the Secretariat team, who managed extraordinary complexity with clarity, composure, and calm. Esmeralda Fonsatti, Daniele Quadrellaro, Stefano Giovannini, Camilla Carioli, Alessandro Torraca, Clarissa Garrubba, Andrea Albanesi, Anastasia Korovina, Alessandro Fusco, Maria Alegría Serna, Anna Serle, Alessandra Zaffiro, Francesco Chiappetta, Merijn Dols, Ada Shukullari, and all the Volunteers who performed the kind of magic every great project requires: turning problems into solutions, unexpected events into opportunities, and tension into positive energy.
Then there is another part of the family—those who, from day one, built this journey with us and preserved the collective memory of what we were experiencing. The Postilla team—Anna Ciao and Luigi Pizzolante—together with Edda Guerra, Manuele Altieri, Simone Scarpa, Angela D’Alessandro, Irene Campagna, Antonio Loffredo, and Andrea Sorrentino were never “suppliers.” They are an integral part of this story.
Through images, words, photographs, and video, they made visible what often escapes the eye: the soul of a community. They did not just document what was happening—they captured what was being felt. And in a world saturated with content, this ability to preserve and return meaning is a rare gift.
There is also another dimension I consider essential: the one that connects inspiration to action.
Because ideas alone are not enough. If all of this is to truly matter, we must measure ourselves by the changes we will be able to generate over time.
For this reason, I am deeply grateful to those who have woven together science, research, academia, public institutions, and strategic vision so that Venice Climate Week does not end with the event itself, but continues to live within territories, institutions, and communities.
Dalla Mayor of Pollica, Stefano Pisani, to Professor Francesco Musco—companions from the very beginning—who shared with us both the responsibility and the ambition of building a platform capable of going beyond Venice, transforming encounters into alliances, ideas into pathways, and relationships into concrete opportunities for change. Together with them, Filippo Magni, Vittore Negretto, Micol Roversi Monaco, Fabio Carella, Michele Dalla Fontana, Linda Zardo, Denis Maragno, Francesco Pozzer, and Federico Dall’Omo represent the steering group that works every day to ensure that the wealth of relationships, knowledge, and content generated during the Week translates into public policies, territorial experimentation, concrete projects, and new development trajectories.
Because real impact is not measured by applause, follower counts, or media coverage. It is measured by the ability to leave a trace. In the alliances that continue to grow after the event ends. In the projects that take shape in the months that follow. In the decisions that shift the course of things. In the transformations we will generate together when the lights go out and the real work finally begins.
It is born from those who bring the rigor of science, reminding us that change requires both emotion and evidence. From scientists and professors such as Carlo Barbante, Kaveh Madani, Enrico Giovannini, Mario Sprovieri, and Andrea Rinaldo, and from all those who contributed depth, credibility, and vision to our words.
Born from those who welcome. From those who open doors. From those who choose to offer not simply venues, but places capable of becoming platforms for transformation. From the Procuratie and the extraordinary community of The Human Safety Net, with Alexia Boro and Matteo Urban; from Teatro Goldoni, guided with passion and vision by Jane da Mosto; from Casa Sanlorenzo, a living example of how innovation, culture, and sustainability can meaningfully converge; from TBA21 Ocean Space, with Markus Reymann and Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza, visionary hosts and tireless builders of the future; from the CNR Biodiversity Gateway, with Francesco Falaceri and a team committed every day to making science accessible, relevant, and transformative; from IUAV University of Venice, whose invaluable support through Vittorio De Battisti Besi enabled us to create a home for art, science, FAO and UNDP dialogues, environmental activism with Legambiente, and working sessions with mayors and local administrations; from Francesca Santoro and the entire SEA BEYOND – UNESCO community, who welcomed young people and students while bringing the ocean to the center of our collective imagination; and from Fondazione Giorgio Cini, with Director Renata Codello and Scientific Director Daniele Franco, custodians of one of the world’s most extraordinary places for dialogue between culture, knowledge, and the future. None of them were simply hosts. Each contributed to creating an ecosystem of possibilities, offering relationships, expertise, vision, and above all a shared commitment to building something greater than the sum of its parts.
And it is born from the example of women who have chosen to dedicate their lives to safeguarding the future. From European Commissioner Jessika Roswall, who impressed us with her rare capacity to listen and the genuine attention with which she welcomed ideas, proposals, and visions, to Licypriya Kangujam, a symbol of a generation that does not ask for change but demands it, reminding us that the future is not an abstract concept but a right of the younger generations.
From Hunter Lovins, a teacher and pioneer of regenerative economic models, who for decades has shown that prosperity, positive impact, and regeneration can move forward together, to our extraordinary “Queens of the Deep,” Rosalba Giugni and Sylvia Earle, who have dedicated their lives to protecting the ocean and remind us every day how profound our responsibility toward the planet must be.
Women who differ in history, culture, and paths, yet are united by their ability to look beyond the horizon, to transform knowledge into action, and to remind us that the most authentic leadership lies in taking responsibility for what does not yet exist. They are women who do not simply speak about change—they embody it, and through their example invite us, every day, to do the same.
And it is also born from all the Venetian friends who safeguard this extraordinary city with generosity, passion, and vision. Starting with the new Mayor Simone Venturini, Fabrizio D’Oria, Massimo Redaelli, Giulia Foscari, Alessandro Costa, and many others who chose to share with us not only their expertise and networks, but also their deep love for Venice.
The truth is that we continue to receive hundreds of messages of gratitude and participation. But each time, I think the same thing: those messages do not celebrate an event. They celebrate an energy. They celebrate a way of being together. They celebrate a soul.
Because we truly put our soul into it. And people felt it. They felt it in the welcome. In the care. In the quality of relationships. In the ability to make every person feel seen, heard, and part of something meaningful. Perhaps this is the most important lesson I take with me.
We do not need more solitary heroes.
We need communities capable of governing the ego without extinguishing talent, of valuing merit, of understanding that leadership is not about being at the center of the stage, but about creating the conditions for others to express their best.
Because true transformation is never born from a single protagonist.
It emerges when individual talent chooses to serve a collective dream.
If there is one thing I take away from this experience, it is that we must rediscover the revolutionary value of gratitude.
Gratitude is not a polite gesture. It is not a closing ritual. It is a powerful social technology. It is the ability to see value in others and recognize it openly. It is what transforms scarcity into abundance, competition into collaboration, a group of individuals into a community.
And alongside gratitude, I believe the time has come to restore dignity to another word too often mistaken for fragility: kindness.
Kindness is not weakness. It is not naivety. It is not compliance.
Kindness is courage.
Read the full article on Substack.