THE WORLD IS HOME
THE WORLD AS HOME
AT HOME IN THE WORLD

Joyful, free and wandering – that’s the spirit of URBANA, the new milk shake inspirational gallery. Explore images of an adventure oozing excitement through every look, glossy textures, vivid and bright colours, soft and elegant haircuts. If you wish to turn things around and you love trends, if simplicity is part of you, milk shake encourages you to get lost in a nonchalant beauty that embraces life, no matter where you are in the world.

Wandering among languages

Urbana draws inspiration from a free, globe-trotting and confident lifestyle, expressing itself in cities. We collected some books and films to whet your appetite about how this lifestyle developed and spread. Dive into this universe and set sail following this map to discover a world of freedom, wide-open spaces and imagination.

ON LIBERTY
Essay, John Stuart Mill, 1859
Against Conformism, the first and foremost text advocating freedom. Mill asserts that everyone must be guaranteed three freedoms: to think and express oneself, to pursue happiness, to associate. On one condition: not to harm others.

REVERIES OF A SOLITARY WALKER
Novel, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1782
An autobiographical novel about ecology of the mind, where walking is a way to contemplate and achieve not only physical but also mental well-being.

ON THE ROAD
Novel, Jack Kerouac, 1957
Lovers of intense rhythms should follow the rebels Dean and Sal down the highways of America and Mexico in this 1960s cult novel that initiated the myth of the never-ending ride as an antidote to boredom and routine.

MODERN TIMES
Film, Charlie Chaplin, 1936
After years of wandering, the legendary Tramp starts working in a factory. A tragicomic critique of industrialisation, where eventually, despite everything, the Tramp walks away along the road hopeful of a better future.

LEAVES OF GRASS
Poems, Walt Whitman, 1855
A jubilation of joy for every living thing and for every body unfolds in the poems of Whitman, a wandering poet of incredible fortitude. An overseas Homer in love with New York and humanity.

THE ESSENCE OF LAUGHTER
Posthumous book, Charles Baudelaire, 1960
When did cities come to be regarded as urban landscapes with their own charm, different but equal to that of nature? As long ago as 1867, when the poète maudit Baudelaire invented the flânerie, an aimless stroll through the ‘stone labyrinths’ of the city (Paris, in this case), where seductions can be found around every corner. His collection of writings includes diaries, reflections and love letters to his muse, Jeanne Duval.

INVISIBLE CITIES
Novel, Italo Calvino, 1972
Marco Polo tells Kublai Khan about the cities he visited on his long journey. Euphemia, Tamara, Zirma and fifty-three other imaginary cities are places where emotions are exchanged, recalling the fascination of travelling to distant lands when most of the world was still unknown.

PERFECT DAYS
Film, Wim Wenders, 2023
Gazing at tree canopies, riding a bicycle, playing with shadows: all this and more in the odd film by master filmmaker Wim Wenders about the beauty of small things accomplished with great care.

UP
Film, Pixar Animation Studios, 2009
An elderly widower and a young boy sharing a passion for adventure set off to visit Latin American waterfalls on a house lifted into the air by thousands of balloons. An animation masterpiece about dreams finally coming true and how different generations converge.

THE DREAMERS
Film, Bernardo Bertolucci, 2003
An ode to the Parisian 1968, to cinephiles, youth and utopia. The scene where Eva Green, Louis Garrel and Micheal Pitt run hand in hand through the halls of the Louvre Museum is thrilling, Bertolucci’s tribute to Godard.

THE WANDER SOCIETY
Book, Keri Smith, 2016
What to do when we feel caged in? Canadian artist Keri Smith’s experimental handbook points to wandering as a creative revolution in everyday life.

THE POETICS OF REVERIE
Essay, Gaston Bachelard, 1960
What happens when mathematicians dream? Possibly, they write a scientific theory about reverie. This is how Bachelard explains what happens in the mind when daydreaming and how poetic images arise.

A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN
Novel, Virginia Woolf, 1925
A poetic manifesto addressed to women, urging them to strive for freedom, to follow their own inclinations, to develop their personal talents so as to become who they already are.

NOMADLAND
Film, Chloé Zhao, 2020
Best Director & Best Picture at the Oscars 2021, Nomadland is about a woman who, after her husband’s death, decides to live as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad. During her journey across the United States, she makes special encounters and forges deep friendships.

FLÂNEUSE
Essay, Lauren Elkin, 2017
Women only need to walk out their front door to be transgressive. From Paris to Tokyo, London to Venice, the hidden history of women’s conquest of walking the streets as the epitome of independence.

WANDERLUST
Book, Rebecca Solnit, 2009
Discovering new places opens the doors of our inner self, as exploring the world is a great way of getting to know ourselves. Influential Rebecca Solnit profiles some of history’s most intriguing walkers, ranging from philosophers to mountaineers.

THE WALK
Book, Robert Walser, 1920
On a leisurely stroll, one can come across giants and mermaids, first love, legendary criminals: using his irresistible style, the great Swiss author recounts the most extravagant encounters that can happen to anyone who sees the world through the eyes of imagination.