Published date: May 3, 2023
“I left as a boy and came back as a man. After many years abroad, I wanted to return to Italy for an exciting challenge.” Behind Matteo’s composed movements I perceive the joyful vibration of someone who is living an exciting adventure. He is the F&B Director of Six Senses Rome, a luxury hotel overlooking Piazza di San Marcello, in the heart of the historic center. In front of the entrance, a group of sunbeams dances joyfully on the facade of the Church that Six Senses has restored as a gift to the city. “Giving back is important to us,” he tells me, letting slip a few words in English typical of someone who is used to surfing the world. “Being able to give back to my community, from which I distanced myself early, fills my heart with joy.”
Matteo studies Economics and Business, but after his bachelor's degree he understands that it is not his path. “I have always had a passion for travel, a taste for discovery, so I signed up for the Alitalia course to get my pilot's license. I had some time between theory and practice and I went to London to study English: I never went back. Like all Italians in search of vocabulary, he works as a waiter. He is fast, his enthusiasm is contagious. He has the opportunity to join Gordon Ramsey, he seizes it immediately and makes a career. After seven years in the City, Matteo sets off on the road again and finds a way to stay close to that sky that he wanted to learn to fly. He joins the opening team of the Armani Hotel in Dubai, inside the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, first as Assistant Manager, then as manager of the private club. It was a wonderful experience, but I wanted to continue to discover and contaminate myself.”
I am curious to know what flying is for him. “Freedom and at the same time control. It is contact with new people, ideas, ways of life. Working in hospitality, in the countries and companies where I have lived, has given me all of this”. We stop, Matteo lingers for a few moments with a couple of guests to make sure that the holiday is going well. “Hosting is making the customer experience real emotions by building a tailor-made experience. Today the customer is increasingly aware of the choices we make. Here at Six Senses I am lucky to work with small companies that truly believe in their products, respect people and the territory, like you at Boniviri ”.
Lorenzo brings us a fruit juice strictly 'made in the hotel', Matteo thanks him with a knowing look. "We are a team of forty people, when fully operational we will reach seventy. I built it from scratch, I participated in all the interviews from the beginning. I wanted to be the first contact for the guys and transmit to all my future collaborators the passion for my work and for this brand. I spend a lot of time here, I try to be with them as much as possible. I want them to know that they can always count on me" .
An airplane draws a soft white stripe on the blue canvas of the sky. Matteo is right. Who said that you need a pilot's license to learn how to take off? It would be enough to find the courage to distance ourselves from our certainties, to come out into the open from our certainties, to let ourselves be contaminated.
To fly. To go away and return. To give back.
