I’ve spent countless hours over the last few years following Salvatore Sanfilippo’s work, watching his YouTube videos on everything from software engineering craft to local LLMs and AI. As a fellow Sicilian working in tech abroad, his perspective always felt like a rare bridge between deep engineering and home. But I never imagined I’d actually cross paths with him in person—let alone on a quiet street in his own hometown in central Sicily.
A Fan and Our Common Ground #
Since 2020, Redis has been a core component in the infrastructure I work on as an SRE. Out of simple curiosity while debugging back then, I discovered Salvatore was Sicilian and originally from the inland countryside, just like me. Beyond creating Redis, Salvatore is a thoughtful communicator who shares candid reflections on programming, problem-solving, and life.
When he resumed publishing regularly on YouTube with the rise of modern LLMs, I became a regular viewer, following nearly all his discussions. Living abroad, his occasional references to Sicily and his grounded approach to technology always resonated with me. While visiting family back home on vacation, I knew we were both in central Sicily around the same time—about 70 km apart.
The Signal #
In one of his videos, Salvatore mentioned an upcoming local tradition: the Rietina di Campobello di Licata, a festival featuring decorated horses and carriage parades. The video came out that same day, announcing the event for the following afternoon.
I dropped him a quick, polite note on Telegram mentioning I was visiting nearby and thinking of heading over. He replied that he’d be out and about and that meeting up would be difficult—completely fair and expected. I figured that was that, but the festival itself sounded like a fun afternoon out, so I decided to take the trip anyway.
A Little Family Persuasion #
Being only 70 km away, I persuaded my family to drive out to Campobello di Licata. The Rietina is a genuine folk festival, so it wasn’t a hard sell. We set off to see the horse parade and enjoy the village atmosphere, with just a slight, humorous thought in the back of my mind: what if?
The Serendipitous Encounter #
We arrived in Campobello in the late afternoon. As often happens in small Sicilian towns, the parade scheduled for 5 PM ran on village time and was pushed back toward the evening.
While killing time, looking for parking, and strolling past locals preparing their horses, my eyes caught someone walking along the sidewalk. It took my brain a second to catch up: walking casually down the street, taking his daily stroll, was Salvatore Sanfilippo himself.
There was no crowd around him, no stage, no conference lanyard—just Salvatore on his evening walk in his hometown. It was pure, absurd coincidence.
I hesitated for a moment, then walked over, introduced myself, and apologized for interrupting his stroll. He was remarkably warm, grounded, and approachable. We ended up chatting for about five minutes—naturally, we talked about AI, his recent experiments with local models, and his latest videos. It was a brief, relaxed exchange: just enough to share thoughts, thank him for everything he’s given to the developer community, and take a quick photo before letting him get back to his walk.
Takeaways #
Running into someone whose code and thinking have influenced your career is rare enough; running into them randomly on a small-town street in rural Sicily feels almost fictional. It was a great reminder of how small the tech world really is, and how someone who built one of the world’s most ubiquitous databases can just be an approachable neighbor out for an evening walk.
Here are a few photos of the traditional parade horses from the Rietina festival:
