Gino Cecchettin enters the main hall of Sapienza with emotion.
"This applause - he says, wiping away a tear - I hope it is for Giulia: I couldn't help but get emotional when I entered, because she was a student like you. She was a fantastic girl. I thought about writing a book so that Giulia's memory would remain. collected the essence of love, altruistic towards anyone who had the slightest need, from the family to those who had difficulties, he did his best, he wanted to be useful. The book is for her to stay."
The audience - the event is Objective 5, organized by Corriere della Sera - applauds warmly, moved by so much strength, so much clarity and composure at the same time.
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But it is the answer to a question about the parents of Filippo Turetta, the murderer of his daughter, whom he mentions for the first time, that leaves everyone stunned by Gino Cecchettin.
"I identified with Filippo's parents several times, also because they are very rational. They have all my understanding, I would give them a hug; I can't judge them, they are experiencing a bigger drama than mine. I will try to smile again, there I've already succeeded, I have fantastic friends and children; they will struggle more, they will always be the parents of a murderer", he says with a simplicity and sweetness that leaves the audience in silence.
And he talks about the attacks he suffered.
"After a loss you have to cry - he reasons - otherwise you don't suffer, this is the belief.
But committing doesn't mean not suffering, there isn't a day when I don't cry thinking about my wife and my daughter but you can't just cry, you have to move forward;
this is also my character, I'm not used to feeling sorry for myself and I have the habit of looking for solutions but it hurts to hear that I'm profiting off my daughter's back.
I have learned, however, to let things slide over me.
After the first wave of criticism I had forgotten Giulia for two days and then I said: no this is not possible".
In the book you write, among other things, that you have returned to dancing.
"Dancing is a form of freedom and life. I have to thank my wife, for years we tried to do a dance course, we succeeded until it was closed due to Covid, then we started again and had to stop due to the disease. I have to thank my dance teacher, who after my wife's death asked me to go back to dancing, I didn't want to. It was Giulia who told me: 'Dad go, you were impeccable with mum, you have to try to be happy' This also makes you understand what my daughter was; my judges, for me, are only my children. There are shortcuts to happiness, dancing is one of them."
Gino Cecchettin also says that he dreams of his daughter every night.
"Every night I dream that I arrive at the industrial area, I put her in the car and go home, I also enjoy this pain because in that moment I see her, perhaps scared. But it remains a painful moment, it hurts", he says, and to the students if they ask him if in some way it is better that his wife died first, so as not to give her the pain of the loss of Giulia, he replies: "I have thought many times about the fact that my wife, having died first, did not suffer from the death of Giulia; I don't know to what extent to be grateful or not for all this; from a certain point of view one would like to be with one's partner as much as possible but not making her suffer this torment was better. Monica has already suffered for 7 years, having them could have also spared this pain, perhaps...it was for the best."
"Those who need to change are the males: up until the age of 22 - he concludes - I wanted my father not to exist, I was born into a united family, at times happy, but I felt the oppression of a master father who placed his way of being in every moment of my life. If a woman tells you 'I don't love you anymore' and you don't accept it, that's patriarchy."
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