When the last warm hues of autumn slip into the cold, harsh monochrome of winter, it’s time to listen, to retreat into silence and outward stillness, to rediscover the force of our inner life, to read, rest and slowly sip a glass of wine.

It’s not easy to summarize in one word the refined aesthetics of this lengthy languor, this desire to be near others, to feel their affection, which becomes stronger as winter and Christmas approach. Light wanes and night arrives a bit earlier every day. Staying home with the people and the things that we love is a necessity that soon becomes happiness, in an intimacy created by comfort and commonality among people who know each other well.

In particular for us Italians, extroverted, passionate, perhaps a little melodramatic, it’s even more difficult to find a single word that summarizes these emotional nuances, as instead can happen in the languages from northern countries. But we know what we’re talking about, because despite the cold temperatures, or perhaps because of them, this is a warm period. Warm with affections, dreams, reflections. The perfect moment to satisfy our desire to make someone happy with a gift. And not just because it’s Christmas.

Sometimes a card just isn’t enough. And so to express our affection and our deepest emotions, we rediscover the art and the importance of a gift. It can be a personal object full of our energy, something that’s part of us and our world. Or it can be a purchase made for the occasion, a trip for two or a bottle of that special wine which makes us want to sip it on the sofa, wrapped in a soft blanket and in the happiness of a shared moment.

The important thing is that the gift delivers the strong and clear message that we would all like to receive: “You’re in my thoughts”.