Travelling is like telling a story: it happens to everyone, day after day. Often, however, we are so concentrated on reaching our destination that we forget to look out of the window. In the meantime, the world rushes by in a blurred collage of colours and places.
Print itineraryThe developers of Santa Ragione began with this concept and promise to make us discover the travel experience, in Wheels of Aurelia, by taking us onto the Via Aurelia, the ancient consular road that links Rome to France. They chose Lella and Olga as main characters, two young women who leave the Eternal city behind as they set off on the Roman road, crossing both the physical and social landscape of Italy in the 1970s. The delicate themes of the game will be developed on their journey through meetings with other characters who willingly barter their stories for a lift. What follows could be the story of one of these hitchhikers, an itinerary to discover Italy.
Departure from Rome, the perennial monument to the history of Italy. The city is awake from the early morning and the shadow of the Colosseum gives way to crowds of tourists waiting to take a photo with the centurions. The Fori Imperiali rise up proudly, illuminated by the first rays of the sun, unaware that now they are just the ruins of a time gone by. The thoroughfare of people in St Peters' Basilica makes it seem an immense marble lung, breathing at the heart of the city. A woman calls to me from the Trevi Fountain, but it is already time to go: Lella and Olga are here. A little small talk to break the ice and then onwards, to the Roman road, aboard an iron chariot with horses that drink petrol.
Rome disappears in the rear mirror, while, further down the road, the outline of an ancient castle grows larger. The Renaissance residence of the Orsini-Odescalchi family dominates the centre of Bracciano, throwing its shadow onto the valley below almost reaching the lake. The castle is shrouded in legends and secrets but Lella is focussed on reaching our destination and Olga doesn't want to stop.
The lake slips away in the right-hand windows as, to the left, the shining surface of the Tyrrhenian Sea begins to appear. A ship's siren warns us that the Port of Civitavecchia is busy at work while boats sail off beyond the Antemurale dam to disappear over the horizon. Lella looks thoughtful as she watches the water while Olga protects her stomach from the sea breeze. Across the sea is Sardinia, from the promontory of Piazza Bovio in Piombino it seems close enough to touch.
Then the Tyrrhenian Sea disappears behind the glass as we continue into the countryside. Siena is waiting. Piazza del Campo is bustling with activity and the Torre del Mangia of the Palazzo Pubblico stretches up to the sky, as if to indicate that evening has already fallen. We leave the city behind, moving as fast as if we were racing in the Palio. Viareggio is waiting at the finish line with its floats and coloured decorations. The Wheels of Aurelia player's journey ends here. For each city visited, there are so many others waiting to be discovered. Roads abandoned like conversations that stop halfway. One can always set off again and, on reaching a turning point, take the other road.
