On a rainy day in November 2008, a tall man, with a nice smile, according to what his mother Anna used to say, was working as a Managing Director of an Industrial Association, when he was suddenly laid off.
They told him not to take it personally, because the decision had been made due to the economic and financial crisis of 2008.
He was so choked at hearing this, that he could barely register the pathetic explanations of a decision, that to him sounded deeply unjust.
After the initial paralysis, followed by anger, sadness, disgust and fear, the tall man, who had lost his smile for a while and whose name is Marco by the way, gradually made room for different kinds of thoughts, not far from joy.
What if this unexpected and unfair event was my sliding door towards new horizons?
It was January 2009 when he decided to go travelling to Greece, inspired by Ulysses Gaze′ by Angelopulos.
He needed to go somewhere else, alone, to gain a different viewpoint on his professional life, and search for a new beginning.
Through a snowy Epirus, Marco reached the valley of Meteora and yes!, on the top of a Meteora, while watching the sun rising, he understood that things are not just black or white, they change their meaning according to the meaning we give them.
Marco got his smile back.
On February 13th, 2009, once back in Italy, he founded Bertagni Consulting srl, a company dealing with International Trade and Lobbying.
In the first 6 years of activity, thanks to the help of many friends from different Countries, the Bertagni Consulting Team′ thrived.
They developed international markets, through travelling and strengthening relations with EU Commission and domestic Administrations, delivering an effective and ethical lobbying policy for the industrial sectors they represented.
On October 16th 2015, Marco, who had also by then graduated in Geographical Sciences with a thesis on Emotional Cartography, finished drawing his geo-emotional map.
Inspired by the map, charting his journey along his river, Marco wrote a book called THE RIVER OF LIFE: another turning point of his life.
His initial realisation, through maps, lyrics and pictures - was that his journey into the Geography of Emotions had given him relief on so many levels and brought him a great and harmonious feeling of joy.
Then, inspired by the values that he integrated in the story - respect, perspectives, vocation, dreaming, listening, knowledge, geographical thinking - he began to create River-connected activities: seminars, workshops, artistic events, journeys, performances.
Little by little emotional geography became part of daily activities of Bertagni Consulting, and it gave birth to what has become, and will continue to be more and more in the future, the core business of the company: Education.
When, in November 2019, Marco founded EMME, (Eliciting, Mapping & Managing Emotions) Ulysses again came to mind.
In Chapter XXVI of Inferno, Dante writes about Ulysses and tells us about when the hero decided to leave Itaca to go searching for knowledge with his companion:
Ulysses:
I and my company were old and slow
When at the narrow passage we arrived
Where Hercules his landmarks set as signals,
That man no farther onward should adventure.
On the right hand behind me left I Seville,
And on the other already had left Ceuta.
O brothers, who amid a hundred thousand
Perils′, I said, have come unto the West,
To this inconsiderable vigil
Which is remaining of your senses still
Be ye unwilling to deny the knowledge,
Following the sun, of the unpeopled world.
Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang;
Ye were not made to live like unto brutes,
But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge′.
EMME, an international experiential workshop, was then in Marco′s eyes, a metaphorical boat sailing towards a deeper Knowledge, and he felt from the very beginning that he was not alone on that boat but surrounded by many friends.
On December 30th, 2020 Bertagni Consulting officially launched EMME: 64 Geographers of Emotions, coming from 14 different Countries and bringing multiple skills, insights, experience and knowledge.
What is important about these 64 is this: they are human beings, seeking to share skills and experiences with People and Organizations, in order to build and develop a bespoke, but at the same time common knowledge, to help clients to reach their personal and professional goals by following their vocation and by becoming who they are meant to be.
A few years ago, some clients gave Bertagni Consulting Management a present for its 8th birthday, a page in LA REPUBBLICA where they thanked the company for helping them to become who they were meant to be. A wonderful tribute to an organisation which values the achievement they bring to their clients above all else.
Today, February 13th, 2021 is Bertagni Consulting′s 12th birthday and Marco wants to thank one by one all the people that in these 12 years spent their time working in the company and contributing to its growth.
For this birthday, Marco would like to share with you a geographical quirk he discovered by taking into account the Country of origin of each of the 64 Geographers of Emotions. He calculated and weighed the geographical coordinates of the capital cities of each geographer and came out with what you could call, (gurus of statistics don′t examine this too closely!), a Weighted Geographical Coordinates Index. This index gave the values of Latitude 38N and Longitude 1E. Marco put these coordinates into GoogleMaps, and do you want to know where this hypothetical average location of EMMÉs Geographers is in the world?
It is in the Mediterranean Sea, between Seville and Ceuta, the cities mentioned by Dante when describing where Ulysses and his companions were, when heading the Strait of Gibraltar!
Marco believes this is not a coincidence.
A few days ago, in January 2021, in one of the few cold morning of Anzio along the whole year, Marco as usual, was walking on the Tirrena beach, starting his day by watching the sunrise.
The Circeo Promontory was surprisingly clear at the horizon.
How not to think, once more to Ulysses and his journeys.
In that very moment a boat of fishermen stopped between Marco, the Circeo and the rising sun.
Marco was moved.
He though: Yes, like Ulysses, I made mistakes in my life, some choices were wrong, but I never lost my passion for life, I am still and more and more in love with life. And I am not alone in this journey of Growth and Friendship.
In the afternoon of the same day, the weather turned grey and, unexpectedly, started to rain.
Marco went out and stood in the rain.
He didn′t get wet.
He simply felt and enjoyed each single drop of rain.