Interview with Ettore Selli (Herambiente)
A lifetime of interests embodied in a book. Ettore Selli, 32 year old engineer at Herambiente in Bologna, is the author of “Labirinti vegetali. La guida completa alle architetture verdi dei cinque continenti” (”Garden Labyrinths. A complete guide to green architecture in five continents”), which is enjoying great success on radio and TV programmes, and in the press. The book is the result of his passion for Greek myths, adventure and the environment, the latter also leading to his job where he deals with tenders for transport and disposal of special waste in Italy and Europe. “For an environmental engineer like me, working in Herambiente is like coming home. Dealing with waste means working with the environment, it is a way to contribute personally every day to the earth’s sustainability.”
His interest in Greek mythology dates back to secondary school: “I attended a classical lyceum, so I grew up with the legends of Daedalus and Icarus.” His adventurous spirit is also rooted in his childhood: “I was a scout for 16 years, I love exploring and the outside life, mountains and trekking. These are passions passed on to me from my family; my father is in fact a geology teacher.” This resulted in his desire to explore garden labyrinths around the world, gardens of all shapes and sizes that unite nature with mystery. In his illustrated book, 420 examples of these labyrinths from all parts of the world are provided, in over 60 countries: from Italy to Argentina, from New Zealand to South Africa. He has visited many of these himself: “I love travelling and, on each of my trips, wherever possible, I always include a visit to a labyrinth”. For more remote examples, he relies on geographical maps and satellite images. He has collected images and information to put together a guide which offers photos, descriptions, historic and particularly botanical background, anecdotes and legends, and geographic coordinates.
In the office, procedures have changed during the pandemic, but not the motivation. “I never get tired of my job. Covid has not impeded our work, we have continued to work a lot and hard. Also because the new online working methods have optimised our working times”. What Ettore misses is the normal working relationship with colleagues. “In the office we’re now divided into two teams to avoid the possibility of any infection spreading to everyone. This means that half of the office never meets the other half. Despite this, we have never lost our friendly atmosphere and spirit of collaboration”.