“My life was perfect in the eyes of others. At 30, I had a house in Milan paid for by the company, an excellent salary, lots of friends and fun. But inside, I was not happy. Every day I fell asleep with this little voice, a reminder that told me: “this is not your life, it does not belong to you”.
It's been a year since August 2023 Manfredi Roesler Franztraveler and videographer by passion, left Italy at the age of 31 comfort zones permanent employment and a career Data Scientist well underway, to respond to the strong call of a free and itinerant life and to set off to discover ever new places immersed in nature, also documented through his Instagram profile,VanLifewith over 80,000 subscribers.
The van as a home, a means of transport and a lifestyle. What is the assessment of this first year spent travelling in Italy?
“Extremely positive. I have a hard time projecting myself into the future: today I don’t know what I’ll do tomorrow and it’s like that every day. I can’t see my life as different from the current one. I discovered it recently and I know that it’s this one. I can’t make other plans, unless it’s a trip or a ferry booking.”
Explorer, content creatorYou've always juggled between drone videos and extreme sports like kite surfing and rock climbing. But something changed when you had a bad time…
“I was climbing the Grignone (above Lecco, in Lombardy, ed) and I slipped on a wall of ice, at about 2200 meters, suspended in the air. It was very difficult to hold on, not to let go so as not to fall. That's when I understood what my path was: when you realize that time is limited, you realize that you can no longer delay an important choice. In three days, I got the van, spoke to the company and left without even sheets. All I could think about was traveling.”
Destination Dolomites, in search of wild nature. Right?
“Yes, I watched them from afar. On theAlpe di Siusi One day, while I was traveling alone, I was followed by a fox cub. I stopped the van, opened the tailgate and stood face to face with it for a few hours. It is one of the experiences that I carry most with me.”
Manfredi, who has now seen everything in Italy, counts Sardinia among his favourite destinations…
“For me it is a special place, people love me, sometimes I was even hosted at my house and it was a very nice thing. One evening I was watching the sunset by the sea Trettu Pointin the south of the island (the kitesurfers' paradise in Sardinia, ed) and a gentleman, who didn't know me, approached me and invited me to dinner in his camper van. We cooked together with his whole family and, for one evening, I felt like I was part of them. Dealing with loneliness for the first two months was very difficult. Once a Buggerru on the beach of San Nicolò, after three days without talking to anyone, I broke down and started crying. But then I began to realize that without sadness there can't even be happiness. This life has taken away all the masks, all the veils. If I have to cry, I cry, if I have to laugh, I laugh. Today, solitude is my comfort zone.”
But there are also beautiful experiences from a human point of view…
“Yes, once a girl wrote to me to tell me that her boyfriend is crazy about me, about what I do and we organized a surprise for her birthday. During an excursion on the Three peaks of Lavaredoin South Tyrol I found myself “by chance” between the Auronzo and Locatelli refuges. In the end we went down into the valley together by sled. We became friends, we still chat often and we also have a date soon, still in the Dolomites.”
During this first year you kept your job by working remotely. But today, with the success of your content and the arrival of the first sponsors, you have also cut this umbilical cord. How does it feel?
“I took the plunge. Starting at the end of August, I will no longer be an employee. Surprisingly, a year ago, when I resigned, the company offered me the opportunity to continue working remotely and I accepted. I was working full-time, traveling, creating content, and sleeping very little.”
But not everything went well…
“One day in Sicily, while I was swimming on a beach in the Vendicari reserve, my van was broken into and all my photographic equipment was stolen. Huge damage that forced me to return home in November. I thought: “This dream only lasted three months. It’s over.”
AND Instead?
“For a while I cried every day, then I thought, ‘I’m on my knees if I keep going like this, I’m going to fall to the ground. If I don’t get up, I’ll start living the hamster life again, as I call it, with every day the same.’ So, with some of the money I had, I bought some of the equipment and left after a month. Van life is very cheap, especially compared to Milan. Apart from fuel, I have no expenses!
Did you then return to Sicily?
“Yes, it was 'left here' and I wanted to see everything. Furthermore, there was also a very sincere invitation from the former mayor of LinguaglossaSalvatore Puglisi”.
Next destinations?
“The van gives me great freedom but, of course, I am tied to Europe and I have to give up the most remote islands. That said, I can go anywhere. I travelled around Italy for a year, an incredible country even if very snubbed. If I had not had the van, I might have gone to Thailand, but this way I realised that our country is a wonderful country. Soon I will go to Corsica, then after the winter in the Canaries, I will travel all over Europe but my dream is to settle in Australia, where life in a van It was created to accommodate surfers and cover huge distances in comfort. I would like to surf in the morning and travel the rest of the day.”
Best moment so far?
“Every new day: I always get up very early because I can’t wait to start the day.”
Any fears?
“I have two: not traveling enough, not seeing my whole house, the territory. It would be a bit like living in an apartment without having seen the bathroom, the bedroom and the living room.”
And the other one?
“Not sharing life. It may seem a bit contradictory to my choices, but I believe that life is about sharing. I don’t suffer from loneliness, but sometimes I suffer from a lack of sharing. The most beautiful moments can be the most melancholic. It happens when I see all the couples and families around me and in front of a sunset I want to hug someone. But I am a traveler, an explorer and a very determined person. I try to motivate people, those who perhaps do not live because they are blocked by fear. But if you make easy choices, you will never change your life.”
Here's the Instagram post that kicked off Manfredi's new life a year ago:
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