S8 Team retreat 2025: Rome
Written by S8 Team
When October rolls around, we put our out-of-offices on and gather for our annual team retreat. This year, we headed to Rome for four days of core memory-making, S8-style.
The long-timers know the drill. Meet at Mama Shelter, sit down for drinks and dinner, and release the merch. But it’s also about meeting our newest faces in person for the first time. This year saw the welcome return of the Slack stickers. Lovingly made by Alistair, and as hilarious as they are haunting, this latest batch featured all the best team emojis to date—sam-facepalm, simon-sad, biel-chicken, and more.
After breakfast the next day, we got down to business with an all-hands meeting at Mama. Where we're at, where we're headed, and how we're getting there. The kind of big-picture planning that’s more powerful when you're all in the same room. By lunch, we'd mapped out the next chapter and were all feeling super energised about everything to come.
Later that day, we had a masterclass in Roman eating. Fried artichokes and codfish, traditional porchetta sandwiches, and supplì from family-owned eateries—all followed by a sit-down dinner of pizza, double pasta, and several vinos. And to finish? Gelato, obviously. Some went for the classics—chocolate, tiramisu, hazelnut, pistachio. Others went rogue with the locals’ recommendation of ginger, lemon, grapefruit and horseradish. But we all agreed that three hours of restaurant-hopping was one of the best ways to discover the Trastevere neighbourhood.
Afterwards, it was time for drinks at Freni e Frizoni. Part of the World Top 50 Bars, this car-garage-turned-cocktail-bar switches up its menu every 6 months. The current drinks list (FRENI 2.0), celebrates the bar’s 20th birthday by putting a punk twist on the classics. Tickle Pickles, Back to the Piscos, and Mexican Manhattans consumed, it was onwards for questionable shots—or back to Mama to call it a night.
The next day, we were all up bright and early for Gladiator School. Previous alumni include Shakira and Tom Brady—and on the morning’s agenda was a chaotic mash-up of myth-busting, ancient Roman bootcamp training and LARPing. We learned a lot. We laughed even more. And yes, we were entertained.
Scores settled in the arena, we downed foam weapons and headed across the city for our next lesson. Because a visit to Rome isn’t complete without pasta-making. We kneaded, rolled and shaped—and it wasn't long before we’d sat down to another feast, this time, featuring freshly-made bruschetta, two types of pasta and tiramisu.
What came next was an afternoon spent soaking up the sights, visiting the iconic Colosseum, and hitting up more of the city’s gelaterias and pizzerias. And before we knew it, it was time for our last night together—family-style dining and final catch-ups over some street-side cocktails.
As a remote agency, in-person get-togethers are always special. We regroup, we reconnect, and we celebrate all our successes so far. This year, more than ever, we came away feeling even more aligned and armed with a bunch of fresh ideas around how we can really up our game. Shout out to Ellie, Jasmine, and Tiago, who were with us in spirit. And as always, huge thanks to Fran and Mario for always going all in.
