remember almost perfectly the moment I was told that my next work assignment would be in Russia. I also remember that, at the time, I had only a vague idea of what awaited me.
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To me, Russia was an enormous, distant, cold, and mysterious territory—a country I almost automatically associated with snow, winter, sub-zero temperatures, and those endless white landscapes I had seen so many times in photographs.
Today, I want to talk about something I discovered there that ultimately changed my perception of Russia completely: The Russian summer.
"Anyone who imagines Russia as a country of ice and snow is surprised to discover warm, luminous, even stifling summers in some regions."
Marlon
same country.
a different light.
a different light.
life moves outdoors
cities in a different rhythm
Cities change their rhythm. Much of the activity that remains indoors during winter moves outside. Restaurants open terraces. Concerts appear in parks and squares. Sporting activities, street festivals, craft fairs, and all kinds of events begin to take place.
Parks and green spaces suddenly become enormously important. You might find morning yoga classes, people exercising, families having picnics, markets, small concerts, activities for children, outdoor exhibitions, and even films beneath the stars.
People walk more. They sit on benches and talk. Children stay outside playing until much later. Bicycles appear everywhere. Terraces fill with people, and the streets acquire an entirely different energy.
Even balconies change their appearance. Plants, flowers, and small urban gardens begin to appear. Windows are thrown wide open to let in the warm air that, for so many months, had seemed almost unimaginable.
Parks and green spaces suddenly become enormously important. You might find morning yoga classes, people exercising, families having picnics, markets, small concerts, activities for children, outdoor exhibitions, and even films beneath the stars.
People walk more. They sit on benches and talk. Children stay outside playing until much later. Bicycles appear everywhere. Terraces fill with people, and the streets acquire an entirely different energy.
Even balconies change their appearance. Plants, flowers, and small urban gardens begin to appear. Windows are thrown wide open to let in the warm air that, for so many months, had seemed almost unimaginable.
KIOSKS AND THE FLAVOURS OF SUMMER
Another image I immediately associate with the Russian summer is that of stalls and kiosks selling seasonal fruit.
During these months, vendors begin appearing on the streets, offering fruit from different regions of Russia as well as from other countries. Watermelons, melons, cherries, peaches, and many other fruits fill public spaces with colour. The stalls can become visual spectacles in their own right.
I remember the sensation of walking through a Russian city in summer and suddenly encountering all those colours after spending months surrounded by white, grey, and brown. The contrast is extraordinary.
During winter, hot, rich, hearty food has a purpose. The cold influences so many things: what you eat, how you dress, how much time you spend outdoors, and even the way you interact with the city. In summer, everything changes. Fresh fruit takes centre stage. Cold drinks, ice cream, and lighter meals appear everywhere.
During these months, vendors begin appearing on the streets, offering fruit from different regions of Russia as well as from other countries. Watermelons, melons, cherries, peaches, and many other fruits fill public spaces with colour. The stalls can become visual spectacles in their own right.
I remember the sensation of walking through a Russian city in summer and suddenly encountering all those colours after spending months surrounded by white, grey, and brown. The contrast is extraordinary.
During winter, hot, rich, hearty food has a purpose. The cold influences so many things: what you eat, how you dress, how much time you spend outdoors, and even the way you interact with the city. In summer, everything changes. Fresh fruit takes centre stage. Cold drinks, ice cream, and lighter meals appear everywhere.
DACHAS
Another World Within Russia
And if there is one element that helps explain the relationship Russians have with summer, it is the dacha.
For many Russians, a dacha is far more than a second home. It is a way of life.
During the warmer months, many families spend weekends or longer periods there. Around these houses there is often a small vegetable garden where families grow vegetables, fruit, and herbs. Tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, onions, and other vegetables may all become part of the family harvest.
But the dacha is not only about work. It is also about rest, family gatherings, food, conversation, and gardening. Many people grow flowers and transform these small plots of land into spaces bursting with colour...
For many Russians, a dacha is far more than a second home. It is a way of life.
During the warmer months, many families spend weekends or longer periods there. Around these houses there is often a small vegetable garden where families grow vegetables, fruit, and herbs. Tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, onions, and other vegetables may all become part of the family harvest.
But the dacha is not only about work. It is also about rest, family gatherings, food, conversation, and gardening. Many people grow flowers and transform these small plots of land into spaces bursting with colour...
"Perhaps the dacha is one of the those places where Russians do not escape from life, but return to it."
Marlon
Summer Inside
the Arctic Circle
the Arctic Circle
After months of cold and darkness, it seems almost to explode into life. The landscape turns green. Flowers appear. The tundra takes on colours that most people would hardly associate with the Arctic.
I particularly remember looking out across that territory and thinking about how radically different it must have appeared only a few months earlier. It was almost impossible to imagine that this same place had been buried beneath an enormous blanket of snow.
I particularly remember looking out across that territory and thinking about how radically different it must have appeared only a few months earlier. It was almost impossible to imagine that this same place had been buried beneath an enormous blanket of snow.
"Standing there, I understood that even the most inhospitable places have their moment to bloom"
Marlon
read more... ⟶
The White Nights and the Sun That Never Sets
There is another phenomenon of the Russian summer that deserves a chapter of its own: The White Nights.
In cities such as St Petersburg, as well as in other northern regions, during certain weeks of the year the sun disappears for only a few hours and the sky never becomes completely dark. It is a kind of permanent twilight.
When you look through the window and there is still daylight at a time when it should normally be night, your brain takes a while to accept what is happening. But eventually, you adapt.
In cities such as St Petersburg, as well as in other northern regions, during certain weeks of the year the sun disappears for only a few hours and the sky never becomes completely dark. It is a kind of permanent twilight.
When you look through the window and there is still daylight at a time when it should normally be night, your brain takes a while to accept what is happening. But eventually, you adapt.
I don't remember the first time I heard the word blog, just as I don't remember the first time I read one. It was something that simply appeared in my life, the way so many things appear these days: without an exact date, without a ceremony, almost without my noticing. What I can confess is that there were some blogs whose content I found very interesting, and that for years I visited them with a certain regularity, learning from them, enjoying their stories, and admiring the consistency of those who maintained them. However, I must also say that I never felt the need to create one of my own.
And the truth is that, although I lead a life that is quite interesting to me, I have always been aware that it is interesting to me, and not necessarily to others. I didn't believe that anyone would be drawn to the kind of things I do, the places I travel to, the experiences I accumulate, or the reflections that accompany me. We live in a world saturated with voices, opinions, and content published every second; adding one more voice without a clear reason seemed unnecessary to me. So, for a long time I stayed on the sidelines, as a silent reader, as a curious observer, but never as an author.
But this changed recently, when I was finishing writing my second book: RUSSIA: THE LAND WE CAME TO LOVE. Perhaps you are wondering, what was it about the second book that the first one didn't trigger, that generated in me the need to create a blog? It's a fair question, and the answer has to do with the very nature of each work.
The first one, SUBCONTRACTS: The site from inside, is a practical book, related to my professional experience and the things I have learned and implemented over those years. It is a bounded book, with a clear beginning and end, where the topics exhaust themselves: once explained, they are closed. Its content is, in a way, "finite." I'm not saying there is nothing more to say about the subject, but rather that the book's format allowed me to cover it completely and satisfactorily.
With RUSSIA: THE LAND WE CAME TO LOVE, however, something very different happens. Although both books share the same foundation, my personal experience, my perspective, my lived moments, the content of the second one is not as "finite" as that of the first. Russia is such an interesting and attractive country, with so many things to tell in every aspect, that it is impossible to exhaust it in a single volume. There is history, culture, gastronomy, landscapes, literature, music, traditions, contrasts. There is a depth that invites further exploration, and there is a current reality that does not stop.
So, I was almost in the final chapters of the book and I knew that some things were being left out that I would have liked to explore more deeply, or that I simply wanted to tell and that didn't find their place in the structure of the work. Moreover, since Russia is such an active country, with such impressive dynamism, it was clear that many new and interesting things would appear after publication, and that they would not be in the book. New events, new discoveries, new perspectives that deserved to be shared.
But, as I explain in both books, Voltaire's phrase "the perfect is the enemy of the good" pushed me to take the step of declaring the book finished and of… and here is where the idea came from: to continue exploring the topics in greater depth, as well as to comment on the new ones, through a blog. Because a book is a photograph of a moment; a blog, on the other hand, is a living conversation, one that updates, that breathes, that grows over time.
So here I am, welcoming you to the blog of RUSSIA: THE LAND WE CAME TO LOVE, a space where we will talk in more detail about some of the things in the book and, furthermore, we will try to discover those new things that this wonderful country generates. But I don't want this blog to be a simple annex to the book, nor a collection of scattered facts. I want it to have clear pillars, ones that give coherence and meaning to each entry.
The first pillar is to tell things that are truly interesting and little known. I am not interested in repeating what is already everywhere, nor in regurgitating the same topics that appear in any tourist guide or any encyclopedia article. I am interested in that Russia that doesn't always make the headlines, the one discovered in details, in anecdotes, in human stories, in less-traveled corners. That Russia that surprises even those who believe they know it well.
The second pillar is to avoid comparisons with other countries and places. My intention is to tell things as they are, rather than falling into comparisons that can become very unpleasant or unfair. Every country has its own logic, its own history, its own way of understanding life. Constantly comparing one culture with another tends to impoverish the gaze and generate misunderstandings. I prefer to present Russia on its own terms, with its own categories, with its own voice. Let the reader, if they wish, establish their own connections.
And there is a third pillar that, although I didn't mention it before, is implicit in everything I do: honesty. I don't pretend to be an absolute expert or to have the last word on anything. I speak from my experience, from what I have lived, from what I have read and learned. I share what I am passionate about, what intrigues me, what continues to surprise me after all this time. And I do it with the humility of someone who knows there is always something left to discover.
So, with those premises, welcome. This blog is an invitation to continue exploring together, to go deeper into the topics that the book could only sketch, to discover that Russia that remains alive, changing, fascinating. I hope that you, if you enjoyed the content of the book, find many interesting things in this blog. And if you haven't read it, I hope these pages encourage you to do so, or at least to look at Russia with different eyes: the eyes of someone who approaches without prejudice, with curiosity and respect.
Thank you for being here. Let's begin!!!!
THE BEGINNING
