Me & the blog: Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura
che’ la diritta via era smarrita

The Inferno’s opening could be paraphrased to define the Economic and Social Research Council’s “mid-career research fellowships”, whereby academics in the middle of the journey of their lives are taken away from the straight way of teaching, paperwork and no-risk incremental research and publication, and thrown into the dark wood of impenetrable research topics for two years.

That’s what I am starting today, 1st of July 2010, at the age of 40, with the official aim of investigating how the way we (ehmmm… ok: they) work in Europe is changing. I’ll spend it mostly in the six largest EU countries (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain and Poland – see map left for planned itinerary, excluding side trips). And as two years of free research time sounds more like Paradiso than Inferno, this blog is to give something back to whoever envies me or is curious about Europe today.

You won’t find academic papers here, nor trivial twits such as “I am taking the bus”. I am planning to provide snap comments, links and news about the things that interest me most:
- Europe (and politics of)
- national identities (and politics of)
- environment (and politics of)
- work (and politics of)
- media (and politics of)
- public transport (and politics of)
- food and gastronomy (and politics of?)
- mountains (where available)
I am also interested in politics, by the way. Plus, in an incompetent way, I’ll publish reactions to literature, films, arts and sport from the six above-mentioned countries. I will write this blog mostly in bad English, but I don’t exclude entries in any language I’ll wake up in on the day.
And you will find some pictures of today’s Europe, seen through the lens of a Nikon D300 or of a Samsung WB650.

I have lived in four of these six countries, and visited very frequently a fifth (Germany) since my childhood. Spain is the odd one in the group: just an Interrail holiday in the early 1990s and a few short academic visits. It will be, I expect, the most interesting place for me.

Oh, I was supposed to write about me. That’s not what good reporters or travel writers should do, however, so I’ll be short. I am from the same country as Dante, I have married a Scottish/English girl, I support AC Milan despite its owner, and spend my free time cooking, cycling, mountaneering and reading.

Comments are very welcome.