Akira Shimada: Life is Edit. #20 A Fortunate New Beginning in Solomeo, Italy

Akira Shimada | Life is Edit.

#020 A Fortunate New Beginning in Solomeo, Italy

New "somethings" are woven and born through encounters with people.
New "somethings" are drawn out and born through things.
An editor's job is precisely to create such "encounters."
And life itself is editing.
──Akira Shimada, an editor, shares the moving encounters with people, things, and events he has experienced.

By Akira Shimada

– Revisiting Solomeo: A Reunion with Mr. Cucinelli

About a four-hour drive from Milan, Solomeo, located near Perugia, is a place that makes you rediscover Italy as a great agricultural nation and this region as a vast breadbasket.
This is actually my third visit. I first came here four years ago when I was with "LEON" magazine.

On that occasion, I was warmly welcomed as the first Japanese journalist to conduct an on-site interview, and since then, Mr. Cucinelli and I have built a friendship that transcends work.

Furthermore, I have maintained a mentor-mentee relationship beyond work with Mr. Toshio Teranishi of Wooln Co., Ltd., who was instrumental during that trip (this trip was also made possible with Mr. Teranishi's support. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude. Thank you!).

Therefore, I have a special attachment to Solomeo, where Mr. Cucinelli resides.

And there is another reason for this attachment.
It is the slow, human-centered charm of the brand "Brunello Cucinelli."

When I was with "LEON," I had a strong desire.
It was to discover unknown brands and widely enlighten people about them.
As an editor, helping to craft their success stories remains the ultimate ecstasy for me.

The bustling crowd at the Pitti Uomo show, the rough yet calculated displays (I was scolded when I tried to take photos in my excitement – sweat), the basic yet subtly fashionable taste, and above all, Mr. Cucinelli's coolness. I still can't forget the excitement of four years ago.

In a back alley in a town in Tuscany

Therefore, when I encounter this brand, meet Mr. Cucinelli again, and visit Solomeo once more, I am brought back to my roots as an editor, to the question of what I truly want to do.

This time, I decided to explore the surrounding area to showcase the natural beauty of Solomeo and its environs.

While waiting for sunset with the photographer Massi and coordinator Minako, posing with cameras in front of a vast wheat field to capture the twilight of Solomeo, a large, luminous object appeared!
Fireflies! Italy has fireflies too, and these were exceptionally large, natural ones (unlike the farmed ones in Japan today, sadly).

In the one (probably the only) general store in Solomeo, large watermelons lay casually, alongside daily necessities (especially toothpaste) I'd never seen in cities like Milan. The shopkeeper kindly offered, "Would you like an espresso?"
It evoked a sense of nostalgia.

It felt less like work and more like a childhood memory of a summer visit to my relatives' home in Nagano about 30 years ago...
Solomeo gave me such a flashback experience.

– With Masahiko Shimada

And for this trip, I was joined by a very special guest.
The novelist Masahiko Shimada.

I was a first-year university student.
He shared the same surname, was also a university student, and his debut novel, "A Divertimento for the Gentle Predator," was nominated for the Akutagawa Prize. Naturally, I was intrigued by his existence, rushed to the bookstore, bought the book, and read it. Despite being around the same age, I remember feeling a sense of refreshing clarity at the sheer magnitude of his talent – a stark contrast to my own. That Masahiko Shimada, whom I deeply admire just like Mr. Cucinelli (laughs), is the one.

Ah, the journey with Masahiko-san was truly enjoyable.

The long drive from Milan to Solomeo, listening to operas and classical music from Masahiko-san's iPod (sometimes with his commentary), felt incredibly pleasant, making the journey seem much shorter.

At Masahiko-san's suggestion, we made a detour in Tuscany before returning to Milan.
It was Masahiko-san who taught me how European agriculture could be so abundant, warming, and enriching to the soul.

Eating delicious food is enjoyable.
Gatherings of like-minded male friends are the most enjoyable.
And being intellectual is enjoyable.

Just as he taught my naive 26-year-old self the richness and pleasure of being intellectual, I feel I learned from Masahiko-san once again this time.

At the Cucinelli residence, a place that perfectly fits the description of a mansion

Masahiko-san's special contribution, an essay on "Brunello Cucinelli" written after his visit to Solomeo, and
my own impressions of the splendor and charm of "Brunello Cucinelli," gathered through several on-site interviews, can be found in the special supplement of the October issue of "UOMO" magazine, released on August 24th.

Please do read it.

– And so, I was able to make the best new start as an editor.
Ah, this trip to Solomeo truly reaffirmed how enjoyable being an editor is.