Bio (en)

DISCLAIMER: this page is written in english, but the blog is maily written in italian, because I'm very very lazy. Sorry for that.

Dear all,

I don't know how you made it this far, but since you're here, I'll tell you a little about myself.

I was born in 1963 (!) in a small town in the province of Turin, and I've always lived within a 50 km radius of my childhood home... Not very cool, I admit, but there you go. Now I live in the countryside, on the hills of Turin, and in the morning when I open my windows I see only fields and woods. A real stroke of luck.

A less-than-average student, after high school I attended the Faculty of Physics at the University of Turin, with very poor results. The remarkable thing about university is that it was there that I met Carla, the love of my life, with whom I married in 1999 after years (many!) of living together. We love each other as much as we did on the first day. In 2001, our son Filippo was born, and he's now a young adult whom I really like.

I was an active left-wing activist for many years, and now I'm bereft of political references. The current parliamentary left disgusts me almost as much as the right-wing government currently in power. For me, people's rights are non-negotiable, never.

Climate change issues concern me greatly, and I try to be very careful about adopting a lifestyle that's as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible. My mantra is energy saving, waste reduction, and reduced consumption. My carbon footprint is still too large, I know, but I'm constantly trying to reduce it.

I haven't worked a day in my life as an employee (you have no idea how much I regret that, right now) and I've always been a micro-entrepreneur. I currently work for this company, which I helped found in 1998. Yes, the very year Google was founded, even though we've grown a little less. I feel ready to retire, maybe next week, but I fear I'll die chained to my desk, punching keys.

I'm sick (my doctors won't let me say I'm cured for a few more years, though I'm fine now): acute myeloid leukemia, and I had a bone marrow transplant in 2022. It was a wonderful experience, and it taught me so much about myself and the world.

Despite having lived in the same place my whole life, I love traveling for pleasure, and I've done it far and wide. I adore the outdoors, nature, camping, and avoiding crowds; if there aren't oceans in between, I travel with Lilli, a small van equipped as a camper that happily whisks Carla and I around the world. I've been documenting my travels on Polarsteps for some time now; if you'd like to see some photos and maps, check it out.

I consider myself a curious person, and in life I've done (and do) a bit of everything: climbing mountains, canoeing rivers, sailing across seas, and cycling across deserts. I played bass in a funk band, studied flute at the conservatory, and sang in an early music choir. I grow some of my own food, paint, and love reading. I make crooked ceramics, and I learned to cut precious stones. I'm a passionate cook, not at all philological. I love knitting, and I (very slowly) make scarves, hats, and vests. I love repairing and building things. I'd travel all the time. All these things, and many more, have one thing in common: I'm pretty bad at them.

I admit I'm a privacy fanatic, so my digital life is complicated: always under a VPN, ad and tracker blockers always active, I only accept technical cookies, I pay for a search engine that doesn't spy on me, and I use encrypted email and drive services hosted in Switzerland. I haven't opened Chrome in ages. I don't use WhatsApp, and I try to stay in touch with the world with Signal, Telegram, and XMPP. It's hard, but that's okay.

I don't use mainstream social networks; I deleted my Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts years ago. The social networks I use are Mastodon (a Twitter clone) @carlux@puntarella.party and Pixelfed (an Instagram clone) @carlux@pixelfed.social, both human social networks, free of toxic algorithms and respectful of user privacy. I'm not particularly active on either, and on Mastodon my content is automatically deleted after two weeks. Oh, and I love movies, and if you're curious about what I watch, you can find me on letterboxd.

That's more or less me.

Thanks for reading, and see you soon.

Carlo