THElaria Polleschi is president of the Social Promotion Association “Spirit of Milan APS”, which manages the Milanese restaurant of the same name. She was born in La Spezia in 1973, in 1995 she moved to the Lombard capital to embark on the path of video journalism. After 18 years at the international news agency Reuters, she has dedicated herself to Spirit.
9.30 am
«I certainly don’t get up at dawn, yet I need a kind of siren to wake me up: evenings at the Spirit de Milan always end very late. After glancing at the phone, tea, biscuits and fruit salad to “fuel up” and have the strength to dedicate myself to half an hour of yoga. Then immediately to the office, in the Isola area, on foot or by bike, listening to a podcast (the favourites: It takes science, One More Time, or those of Alessandro Barbero)».
11 o’clock
“Emergencies dictate my priorities. My role is difficult to summarize: I take care of our social networks, of international events (managing the practical part with the artists is a bit exhausting…), of those who propose to come and play (we have discovered some good ones, like Mary & The Quants), but also the closure of the cash registers. At the beginning, in 2015, I was just a “volunteer”enthusiastic about the idea of Luca Locatelli (owner of the Klaxon event agency, ed) to take advantage of the Expo to tell about Milan: in an abandoned crystal factory, he created a restaurant with traditional dishes and a stage for cabaret, songs and shows in dialect. In 2019 I entered full-time».
Fruit salad in a plate of chopped strawberries, kiwi, banana, orange and cherry on white wooden background. Top view with copy space. Healthy organic food.
3 pm
Start the evening at the Spirit (a former crystal factory), with music and dance. “Let’s get something to eat at the office: for me usually vegetables or, at most, a pizza. I go back to the computer and take care of the tenders suitable for our proposals: I prepare the project, the estimate. In 2022 we won one from the Municipality for cultural promotion in areas outside the center (we are at Bovisa): this is how the Milan Happy Jazz Fest. We sometimes host private parties, we’ve had concerts by Skin, by Elisa… Among the fond memories, the party for Norma Miller, the legendary dancer of the ’30s. “The best birthday of my life,” she commented. And considering that it was the 98th… ».
19.30
«We leave for the Spirit where, at improbable times, I eat a pumpkin soup or chickpea meatloaf: the specialties are the ossobuco and the cutlet, of course, but I’m vegetarian… To encourage socialization, we don’t have tablesbut large tables: it happens to sit next to strangers ».
10 pm
«Evenings begin. The Tuesday is devoted to cabaret with Germano Lanzoni (the Milanese Imbruttito, ed), Folco Orselli, Rafael Didoni and Flavio Pirini; Wednesday varies, there’s even tango; Thursday is reserved for Milanese songs, Sunday for the blues. The most popular appointment (we reach 1200 presences) and transversal (ranging from thirty to eighty year olds) It’s Friday with 70’s-80’s hits. However, my preference goes to Saturdays with the Holy Swing Night: I am passionate about lindy hop. They call it “the smile dance” both for the movement of the arms of the couples and for the joyful expressions of those who dance it».
2 hours
“I go home, take the migraine drops and… fall onto the bed. I often wonder who makes me do it: I get tired, there is little space left for friends (I only have Mondays off). But when I see the happy people leaving the club and thanking us, I understand that it’s worth it ».
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