Local ambassodor stories: Luca Lorenzini, Sarteano

"I have a very strong bond with Sarteano, a Love with a capital L. My mom often reminds me of what I used to say as a child, 'I want to live my whole life here.' And instead things have changed and I have been living in New York for almost 10 years, with a dream in my drawer that I hope can become reality, which is to return to Tuscany and go live in the country, right there where I grew up".

Luca Lorenzini is a demonstration of how one can continue to deeply love one's country despite having chosen to live a completely different life almost 7 thousand miles away.
Born and raised in Sarteano, he attended Liceo Classico in Montepulciano and then university in Siena: "It was right here, in the Advertising Communication Techniques course that I first heard the word 'copywriter,' writer of texts, and right from the start it had seemed like an interesting activity".

It was only a few months after this discovery, during an internship in Rome, that he met what would become his partner in crime. Ironically, also named Luca: "He was studying to be an art director and was looking for a copywriter to work with, and I suddenly remembered that profession in the advertising world that had struck me. So we founded the creative couple and started working arm in arm. After various vicissitudes, the final turning point came in 2012 when we created a campaign to defend the rights of people with Down Syndrome, which was awarded 7 Golden Lions at the Cannes International Advertising Festival. Getting all those accolades gave us the impetus to take an important leap, we looked around to figure out which direction to go but it was complicated having both families, plus I was very Italophilic and Tuscanophilic, which made everything even more difficult. Until our agency in Milan suggested we go to New York: a proposal that left us stunned, for me it was even terrifying, but we accepted. In 2019 when we were by then well rooted and well known in the industry, we decided to do the crazy thing of setting up our own agency. After all, working together for 20 years, it was a natural evolution of our creative couple, even though we had no idea how to do business. But certain dreams at some point you need to try to make them come true, and we took the plunge".

And so Luca and Luca, one from Rome and one from Sarteano, begin to work independently in the Big Apple on commercials for big international brands, until the job for a well-known Italian supermarket chain arrives, which marks a further turning point: "We propose a different commercial, unconventional and in line with our style, which features a little girl protagonist who is the daughter of two divorced parents. An advertisement, the peach one, that is approved by the client and that in Italy does a lot of talking to the point of even dividing public opinion, a reaction we never expected. Journalists were calling us at night, even one morning I found a message with compliments from Pupi Avati. Incredible satisfaction."

The news that the commercial was created by the agency of two Italians including Luca, a copywriter originally from Sarteano who lives in the States, has been in all the national newspapers and beyond for many weeks. The people of Sarteano are proud of their fellow citizen who lives in Brooklyn but is in love with his land. A land where he never misses a chance to return with his family whenever possible, especially in the summer, staying even for months, dividing his time between the Valdichiana Senese and Milan, his wife's city.

"When I come back, it takes me six seconds to become the Sarteanese of yesteryear again: as soon as I see the town entrance sign that says Sarteano, I feel a tug at my heart and know I am home. I believe that I am two people in one, the city dweller and the town dweller. I have never detached myself from who I was but I can live well in a fast-paced city like New York".

The everyday life lived in America is light years away from the one in Sarteano and Luca does not hide that there are many things he misses: "This radical change of life I made with pleasure and with conscience, because I know very well that I could never have had such a work experience either in Tuscany or in Italy, but there are some things I just can't do without... The first thing by far is sausages, I mean it! (laughs, ed.) I miss them so much and I just can't find them, so much so that they are the first thing I eat when I arrive in Sarteano... and then of course the affections, especially the closest family. I also really miss the beauty of Europe. We are accustomed and raised in beauty and history but when you are here you miss it, inevitably".

The place of the local ambassador's heart

Among many places I say Castiglioncello del Trinoro, a place I absolutely have to return to every time I come back. It has always been my place because from up there you have the most beautiful view in the world, especially at sunset. Seeing the Valdichiana and Val d'Orcia embracing each other, with Mount Amiata in the background is sensational. Even with my wife we got married right in the little church of Sant'Andrea in the center of the village. And then I am from the Contrada Sant'Andrea of the Giostra del Saracino, and Castiglioncello belongs to this Contrada, so there is also an additional connection. I love this place so much that when I left Italy in 2015, I remember well that I made a social post with a picture of that view that I have imprinted in my mind and eyes, with a poem by Gianni Rodari titled "La valigia dell'emigrante." A poem that tells everything about me: I left but my heart remained in Sarteano.