Welcome to Oxfordshire, a land that, since 2020, has become my second home.

Here too, I am building a project in continuous evolution. As with other territories, I have chosen to invest in territorial digital properties with the aim of contributing, through the web, to the enhancement of the identity of this extraordinary county.

The challenge, however, is different from many others. Oxfordshire already has a territorial brand known all over the world. My goal is not to promote what is already famous, but to tell the story of the territory through the experience of someone who lives it every day, trying to observe what often goes unnoticed.

Before arriving in England, I knew Oxford, as probably millions of people around the world do. After all, Oxford is one of those names that seems to belong to the cultural heritage of humanity. But, to be honest, I had never heard of Oxfordshire.

My destination, in 2020, was Didcot, a name that fascinated me even before I arrived. In my imagination, it sounded almost more like a brand than the name of an English town.

When I arrived in what I jokingly called the Planet England, I began to see the name Oxfordshire everywhere. It appeared on road signs, documents, public services and in everyday life. Day after day, I understood that it did not simply identify an administrative territory, but a community, a history and an identity.

As the days went by, I began to see Oxford with different eyes. For me, it became what Lecce has always represented in my homeland: a city capable of identifying and telling the story of an entire territory.

It was precisely during that period that I began to define this part of England with a name of my own: Salento England.

It was not simply a curious expression. It was the most natural way I found to describe the sensations I felt while living in this county. Here I found the same connection with the territory, the same calm, the same sense of community and a quality of life that, in different ways, reminded me of my own land.

From that moment, Salento England became much more than a simple definition for me. It became a way of observing Oxfordshire, creating an ideal bridge between two territories that, although geographically distant, were able to give me surprisingly similar emotions.

I arrived here as a construction worker, with no previous experience in that sector. At the beginning, I worked alongside the bricklayers, learning a completely new trade. Every day was a discovery.

Even the language of the construction site was different. The mortar I prepared for the bricklayers is called muck, pronounced “Mac”. The first time I heard it, I was surprised: my mind immediately went to Apple Mac computers. Shortly afterwards, I also began to become familiar with the word bricks, a word that until then had never been part of my daily life.

But while I was learning a new job, I was also observing something even more important.

In Italy, I had often heard people say: “This year I am going on holiday to London.” Rarely did someone say: “I am going on holiday to England.” It was as if an entire nation was identified exclusively with its capital city.

And yet England is much more. It is made of counties, villages, landscapes, people and communities that deserve to be known and told.

It was then that I began to look at Oxfordshire with different eyes. Without realizing it, I was beginning a journey that, some years later, would become this project.

Oxfordshire, for me, represented the discovery of a new life.

When I arrived in Didcot, a room had been found for me on the second and top floor of a small building at 65 Broadway, the main street of the town. It was a room with a sloping roof. That room became my refuge, my little bunker, the place where every evening I reflected on the day just passed and imagined the next one.

My first real university in England, however, was not Oxford.

It was the Sainsbury’s at the Orchard Centre.

I only had to cross the road and, after about two hundred metres, I entered a huge supermarket. There I began to observe people, products, communication, organization, the English way of life and a deeply international society. It was precisely among those shelves that I began to understand many of the dynamics that still influence my way of working and observing the world today.

Didcot had an extraordinary impact on me. For me, it was like landing on a new planet, belonging to another galaxy.

At the same time, my first construction site was in Chalgrove Meadow, where I began working for Miller Homes, one of the best-known companies in the sector. I spent about eleven months of my working experience there.

Chalgrove was almost the opposite of Didcot. If Didcot was dynamic and constantly growing, Chalgrove was a small village, quiet, compact and incredibly charming. I also lived there for about nine months, learning to know another soul of Oxfordshire.

In this county, I met people from every part of the planet. On construction sites, I worked alongside men and women from completely different cultures, languages and traditions. It was one of the most important human experiences of my life. Italians working on English construction sites are relatively few and, for this reason, my story often became a source of curiosity. But this is a story I will explore further in my book.

Working on this territorial project, I also feel a deep inner responsibility.

Puglia is the land where I was born and where I lived the first forty years of my life.

Oxfordshire, instead, is the land where certain circumstances of life brought me and that, day after day, welcomed me as a second home.

This county gave me back serenity. It made me rediscover a strength I did not know I had. Physical strength, by learning a job I had never done before, working on construction sites. But above all, mental strength: the ability to look beyond, to imagine new projects and to build a vision capable of connecting territories, people and experiences.

I have lived here for five years and I feel the desire to give something back to this land, by putting at its service the skills and knowledge I have developed throughout my professional journey.

At the same time, I know I still have so much to learn.

Here there is one of the most prestigious and well-known universities in the world. Every day, Oxfordshire welcomes students, researchers and professionals from every continent, making this county a place where tradition, innovation and multiculturalism coexist naturally.

Perhaps this is exactly why I chose to build this project: because Oxfordshire does not represent only a territory. It represents a place capable of inspiring, teaching and creating connections between people from every part of the world.

The meaning of the Oxfordshire symbol

Every territory has an identity.

Every project needs a symbol capable of representing its vision.

The Oxfordshire brand was created precisely with this purpose: not to be just a logo, but to express the meaning of a territory through a simple, essential and elegant form.

Its circular shape immediately recalls the concept of the World. Today, a territory can no longer be considered isolated. Every place communicates with people, cultures, businesses and communities from every part of the planet. Oxfordshire is deeply rooted in its own history, but at the same time it represents one of the most international counties in the United Kingdom.

The shape of the symbol also recalls the letter O, the initial of Oxfordshire, but at the same time suggests the concept of One: one identity, one vision, one territorial ecosystem where people, experiences and opportunities coexist and strengthen one another.

The opening at the base of the circle does not represent a limit, but a choice. It symbolizes a territory open to dialogue, innovation, collaboration and new ideas.

The silver line at the base recalls a horizon. It is the meeting point between past and future, between tradition and innovation, between personal experience and the creation of new opportunities.

The choice of colours also tells a precise philosophy.

Silver represents innovation, balance and elegance.

Platinum grey represents solidity, reliability and continuity.

Anthracite expresses character, depth and authority.

White, finally, represents transparency, simplicity and openness.

More than a graphic mark, this symbol represents a vision.

A vision that considers Oxfordshire not simply as an English county, but as a territorial ecosystem capable of creating connections between local and global, between people and places, between lived experiences and those still to be built.

At the moment, I cannot share everything about this project. Many ideas are still under development and others will take shape over time. What I can promise is that I will continue to share this journey, keeping you updated step by step on the evolution of Oxfordshire.