Off the clock, up high
There is dried mud on our boots, the smell of polenta still in the air, and the same image in everyone’s eyes: a summit cross at 1,727 metres and the Reggio Emilia valleys stretching as far as the eye can see. On May 29, the Webgriffe team left computers and calls behind for a day to climb Mount Ventasso together.
We set off early in the morning from Scandiano, in the province of Reggio Emilia, just a short distance from our offices. The cars are divided not by chance, but by choice: mixed groups, so people can chat along the way. In this way, the team building begins before anyone has even tied their hiking boots.
Once we arrive near Rifugio Venusta, the trail opens up in front of us, and it is immediately clear that this will not be a “relaxing walk”. The rain from the day before has left mud, stones, slippery leaves, and a few steep drops that require attention at every step. To make the climb lighter, a simple game begins: along the way, everyone has to find the most unusual stick in the woods. We walk while also looking down, laughing as we go, and the effort almost slips by unnoticed.
Halfway up, the group stops on a green meadow to catch their breath and have a small snack. Then comes the vote: which stick collected along the trail is the best one? The winner, to much applause, is a branch that looks as if it had been designed on purpose to resemble a toucan. No one knows it yet, but that stick will become the silent protagonist of the entire day.
The view was worth the climb
Feeling a little lighter, we set off again and finally reach the top. Mount Ventasso, 1,727 metres, with its large summit cross and a 360-degree view over the Reggio Emilia valleys and the peaks of the ridge. After the effort of the climb, standing there for a few minutes in silence, looking at all that space around us, is worth every step through the mud.
We celebrate with a few drone shots, bringing home a point of view we could never have from the ground. A little further down, on the eastern slope, we can glimpse Lake Calamone, the largest natural lake in Emilia-Romagna, framed by a dense beech forest — a promise for the afternoon.
The descent is faster, thanks in part to hunger, and we return to Rifugio Venusta for lunch: polenta with ragù and mushrooms, accompanied by a good Lambrusco. But the most beautiful moment of the day happens right at the table, with the second game. The toucan-stick is passed from hand to hand like a baton, and whoever receives it tells the rest of the team something about themselves that no one knew. Between one bite and the next, anecdotes, surprises, and a few especially loud laughs come out. It is in moments like these, simple and without an agenda, that a group of colleagues truly becomes a team.
Sharing the future around the table
At the end of lunch, between one coffee and another, we move into a quieter but no less meaningful moment: the presentation of the Webgriffe Brand Strategy 2027. Sharing the direction the agency is moving toward with the whole team, in a place like this, carries a different weight than doing it in the office. It reminds us that every person there — from the trail to the desk — is an active part of that strategy, not just a spectator.
Before saying goodbye, the group takes a calmer walk around Lake Calamone, this time without heavy backpacks and without rushing. Then it is back into the cars, heading towards Scandiano, where we return in the evening tired, a little muddy, and with a few more stories to tell at work in the following days.
Days like this are not a break from everyday work. They are the same principles — collaboration, transparency, and the strength of the group — experienced without deadlines and without Wi-Fi, with a toucan-shaped stick as the only item on the agenda.
Want to discover more stories? Stay on the blog. Inside Webgriffe is the series where we tell the stories of the people, moments, and values behind the projects we work on every day.
