We dreamed, imagined, and designed for a long time the identity that Dimidium would assume, not only in its most tangible form—rooms, furnishings, details—but also in its atmosphere, that should authentically reflect us. “When someone speaks with us, reads about us, or relaxes in one of our bedrooms, they must feel coherence, see what we are,”: this has been our mantra since before Dimidium had a name.
In our dreams, and even more in the plans we outlined to make Dimidium a reality, we also thought a lot about our guests. Guests, not customers, because the importance of the words we use shapes our world and somehow shapes our actions —this is something I firmly believe in, and perhaps that’s why I love writing so much.
Hosting means much more than providing a bed to sleep in and a breakfast the next morning. It means sharing our home and a piece of our lives. It means achieving a dream that is at the same time the beginning of an adventure. It means narrating different paths and life stories, contexts and places. It means meeting and sharing the same values.
On Sunday, we hosted our very first guests. Piera and Valter immediately believed in us. Piera called me one morning about a month ago; we still had to finish the renovation work, we hadn’t even shown the bedrooms on our website. “I read your story, I liked it and I found a connection with your journey. We want to be the first guests of Dimidium!”
And so it was, they were the very first guests in the Terra bedroom to discover all that Dimidium is, its past history and what we envision for its future. Piera and Valter embodied the idea of our “ideal guests”. They enjoyed the slow pace of the countryside and appreciated its landscapes. They enjoyed a Sunday lunch at the Trattoria Petrarca. They discovered the area following our advice for an autumn weekend in the Lands of Matilda of Tuscany. They walked through the streets of Selvapiana to the sound of its church bell.
They were the first guests for whom we prepared breakfast, the first guests who left their thoughts attached to an ancient door to which we had wanted to give a new life — certainly different from its past one.
We have experienced many different beginnings on this journey. This one, for sure, is the most multifaceted and full of new emotions, because it is the result of something we had planned for a long time, but had never done before. It is especially for the trust they place in us and in our project that we feel so grateful to our guests.
On the evening we welcomed our first guests, we were outside, ready to take Artù and Lara for a walk, when we looked up: for the first time, together with the lights of the breakfast hall, we saw two windows faintly lit behind the linen curtains.
Other people besides us were enjoying our home, which was now much more than a property bought a year and a half earlier. It had become our world, our safe haven.
We will always carry with us every word written by Piera and Valter because they 100% represent our journey, everything that has led us here andmoves us every day. Their words speak about sharing and welcoming, of mountains and future.
“We’ve been the first guests of a long series. We felt happy and welcomed. Keep it up and may the wind always be at your back.”
Thank to Piera and Valter, our very first guests.
See you soon,
Valentina