Blog Page – Simone Berliat Blog

09/07/202609/07/2026

Giving New Life to the L400 Dash: A 5-Month DIY Journey

If you own a Mitsubishi Delica L400, you are probably familiar with the factory triple-gauge pod sitting right in the middle of the dashboard. In the older models, this little housing packs a compass, a volt meter, and a vehicle slope/attitude meter.

Over time, it is incredibly common for these factory instruments to fail. In my case, both the compass and the slope meter had been dead for a couple of years. I finally grew tired of looking at that wasted prime real estate on my dash. The volt meter was still working perfectly and is genuinely useful, so I set out on a mission: keep the functioning voltometer, scrap the broken gauges, and redesign the rest of the pod into a modular, future-proof anchoring system.

Here is how a quick weekend idea turned into a painstaking, highly rewarding 5-month engineering project.

22/06/202622/06/2026

Northern and Central Italy trip – December 2025 – Part two

And here we are, the second part! Excited… to be part of this journey around Europe?
Sorry, it took me a while to organise the time; I will start now to share with you my little trip in the old country. Here you are, the second part of Italy.

Here are the towns we have been visiting between the five regions of Italy: Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, and Umbria.

Bergamo
Sirmione
Padova
Venezia
Prosecco wine region
Bologna
Firenze
Pisa
Volterra
SanGiminiano
Siena
Castriglione al Lago
Perugia
Assisi
Gubbio

Enjoy and see you next week, which will be in Bulgaria!

19/06/202619/06/2026

Stop Hiring More People to Fix Burnout. You’re Doing It Wrong.

I recently lost a LinkedIn post in my feed, but the argument stuck with me. A hospitality “professional” was discussing the industry’s massive issue with staff burnout and exhaustion. Their brilliant solution?

“Just hire more people to improve work-life balance.”

Let’s be completely honest. As someone with 32 years of experience in this industry—spanning completely different markets from Italy to Australia—I can tell you that this advice is not just wrong; it’s actually contributing to the problem.

Here is why adding more bodies to a broken system backfires:

12/06/202620/06/2026

Northern and Central Italy trip – December 2025 – Part one

And here we are! Excited… to be part of this journey around Europe?
Sorry, it took me a while to organise the time; I will start now to share with you my little trip in the old country. Here you are, the first part.

Here are the towns we have been visiting between the five regions of Italy: Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, and Umbria.

Bergamo
Sirmione
Padova
Venezia
Prosecco wine region
Bologna
Firenze
Pisa
Volterra
SanGiminiano
Siena
Castriglione al Lago
Perugia
Assisi
Gubbio

Let’s start from where everything started for me.

08/06/202609/06/2026

Ducks war board game

The ultimate bath-time Battleground

Hey everyone, today I have been working on some of my old passions, strategic board games, yes, before strategic computer games, there were the board games.

One of my first and favourite was Risk! board game. It was played at family reunions, with friends at their houses and sometimes even with strangers at pubs and shared accommodations. Risk! was the first that started it, followed by many, and lately the Carcassonne game, designed in Germany by Hans im Glück, was a source of many good evenings of gaming with friends and family.

Another big passion was a mix of strategy, the fantasy world and the miniatures hobby, brought together by Games Workshop, a British manufacturer based in Nottingham, England. Warhammer is a game of fantasy battles. That game was an addiction, if you want to say, and definitelly costed lots of money to buy as miniatures where not coming cheap.

So, let’s say I had my time on board games and some of this passion I always wanted to pass it to my son, he, on his side, has a bit of the collector tooth for rubber ducks, so, as you might guess. Here you are, the topic of today, our first board game. With some imagination, a bit of rule adaptation and good help from the AI Gemini, we have designed our first board game.

Ducks war.

A board game where, with a little bit of basic rules of movement, fightings and lots of immagination you will command a group of rubber ducks against the enemy with always different scenarios.

02/06/202612/06/2026

The concept of Strength

What strength is? Is it the power of muscles, tendons or bones?

01/06/202602/06/2026

Beyond the 10%: Exploring the Intersection of Biology and Modern Relationships

Conversation with the AI Gemini

Introduction

We often like to think that our choices are entirely governed by the rational mind, but are we as evolved as we believe? Some perspectives suggest that a significant portion of our daily interactions is driven by deep-seated biological imperatives—hormones, DNA, and evolutionary programming—that operate beneath the surface of our conscious intent.

In this post, Simone will discuss with the AI counterpart Gemini, using it as a scientific auditor to the concept and delve into the complex interplay between the female menstrual cycle and interpersonal dynamics.
By examining these behaviours through the lens of evolutionary biology, we will explore whether the friction we encounter in our closest relationships might actually be a relic of ancient survival strategies, and what it means to bridge the gap between our primal drives and the requirements of modern social life.

Women’s period theory podcast

31/05/202631/05/2026

My Vespa Journey: From a Simple Oil Leak to an Accidental Engine Rebuild

In February this year, I purchased a Vespa PX 200 E Millennium.

I bought it after selling my old one back in Italy—a beautiful 1983 Vespa PX that I had owned for ages. It made me quite sad to sell her, but I just couldn’t find a good reason to organise shipping her all the way to Australia. Considering what happened next, it might have actually been a better choice to do so… anyway, back to my story.

So, in February, I bought this “new/old” Vespa. Not that old, but still right on the limit of those classic, reliable, low-tech Vespas that they just don’t make anymore. Same body frame, same engine, no electronic injection. Just a classy old Vespa.

29/05/202631/05/2026

Complexity: The secret of a Happy and Healthy life

Introduction: The Sommelier’s Theory of Happiness in Life

Have you ever wondered why certain experiences leave a lasting impression, while others burn brightly for a moment and then fizzle out?

Throughout my 33 years of experience in the hospitality industry—serving thousands, if not millions, of customers—I have been working to prove a philosophy. It is a theory deeply rooted in my training as a sommelier and my understanding of sensory knowledge, and it directly correlates to how we can live a more fulfilling, happy life.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4zgKouoNANNGFVGS8vXusv?si=Hc5xLvDpQTekY0JcMS454g