Founder of the Ali di Firenze platform dedicated to Italian joie de vivre, Alice Chéron Marchi drew on her personal experience to organise "elopements". These are 3-day weekends in Italy for a group of 10 women travelling alone. The destinations vary throughout the year and the programmes vary according to the themes. Moments out of time, like a creative decompression bubble to find the thread of oneself. Next elopement: Pietrasanta, in June, around Art...

Alice shares with us her conception of escape, experienced as a real breath of fresh air, a precious moment to recharge and reinvent oneself.

Running away is an art...

How did you come to run away?
I needed to get away when my children were small because I felt suffocated. I had difficulty finding my place as a mother because I was also in a phase of introspection to know who I wanted to become in general! These breaks did me a lot of good. I found clarity and a lot of energy to face positively all these little challenges of life.

How often do you run away?

My rule is once a year! But I am still undisciplined. I've just come back from running away and it's been almost two years since I last went. I had a baby in the meantime, but I'm not sure that's a good excuse!

Professional or 100% personal runaway?

Always personal, otherwise I don't think in the same way. These 3 days (my ideal format!) are really 72 hours dedicated to me alone once a year. I consider that it is deserved and not really a self-centred whim. It's more a form of healthy egoism and a way of being straight in the sack.

Plane or train?

Train always. I live in Florence, it's easy enough to hop on a train to Venice or Rome. Beauty is at hand here in Italy.

Carry-on or checked luggage?

Cabin sempre, and with my pink luggage tag Chardon of course! I've had it for years and it's been with me on all my runs.

How do you fill it? Do you have any tips on how not to overload it?

I think about each moment and the outfit that goes with it, and I only take clothes that combine well with each other. I do like to take a pair of more elegant shoes though, I'm never safe from improvising a trip to the opera.

What do you always have on hand when you travel?

A notebook dedicated to the fugue where I will write down all the sensations, ideas, emotions that will come to the surface like bubbles throughout the 3 days. I also usually write an article on my website after each elopement. I write it for myself before writing it for others. There is something important in this idea of clarifying what happened, of organising one's ideas and thoughts.

I also often have my drawing book to sketch moments of elopement. I don't draw particularly well but I love the "drawing moment", a real creative meditation for me where I can stay 1h30 in a square in the Monti district of Rome to try to fix the joy of the scene that is playing out before me.

A travel anecdote?

During my last escape in Maremma in the south of Tuscany, it rained non-stop for 3 days and strangely enough I loved it. An invitation (or an obligation?) to do nothing, to read while contemplating the sea rumbling in the distance. This "dark" aspect of nature did me a lot of good and mirrored what was going on in my head at that moment.

A favourite destination?

Venice always. For me it is MY place of escape, my refuge. I have had intense experiences of the beauty that touches your soul and gives you a hug when nothing else seems to be able to soothe you. I had some very strong reflections alone on the islands of the Lagoon. It's a paradise to be experienced there but also inside me with all my memories.

Any advice for travelling solo?

Don't be afraid to have a spritz or lunch by yourself. Drop your phone, pick up a book, order a drink, watch people go by... It is rare that people say to themselves 'oh poor thing, she's alone', there is rather something intriguing and fascinating about the observation of a woman who is free and at ease with herself.

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The runaways