Now that the nightmare is over, there's even a way to joke about it: "Perhaps Gennaro wanted to go to school and took the road we usually travel by car" says his father Carmine, still dazed after four hours of searching among the orange groves of Nerano , a jewel of nature between the Sorrento Peninsula and the Amalfi Coast.
Gennaro, 3 years old, with golden curls and green eyes, is laughing nearby while holding the microphone of a TV operator who is intrigued, perhaps even amused by the chaos caused, with the forces of order and journalists disturbing the peace of this corner of paradise.
Yes, because little Gennaro had to stay at home this morning due to an indisposition he accused last night.
No kindergarten had been decided by his parents, Carmine, a 45-year-old carpenter and Giovanna, a 37-year-old pharmacist. But he,
as soon as he woke up, wearing only blue pajamas and socks, he took advantage of the absence of his father who went to work, and of the momentary absence of his mother, in the kitchen preparing milk for her barely five-month-old brother, to set out to discover the world by crossing the threshold of the house (thanks to an ajar door) and passing the gate of the villa nestled in the mountains close to the sea, losing track of him for an aimless walk.
It was mother Giovanna, it was around 9.45, who noticed her absence: after the first vain searches, the phone call to the carabinieri of Massa Lubrense.
In a short time, the lanes around little Gennaro's house were sieved by the Carabinieri, Guardia di Finanza, Police, Fire Brigade and Alpine Rescue.
The dog units also arrive while a helicopter flies over the area.
But the whole country is mobilizing: at least two hundred people, including the police and volunteers, are engaged in the search for the little one.
They are four very heavy hours from an emotional point of view: many shadows gather on his disappearance.
The worst thoughts make their way, and someone is reminded of what happened in 1996 to Angela Celentano, also 3 years old, who disappeared while on a trip to Mount Faito, not too far from here, and was never found again.
Luckily, it won't be like this for Gennaro.
His story has a happy end around 2.30 pm when a chef from a neighboring restaurant and a police officer find him tried, but not too much, entangled in a dividing net of the "I quattro passi" restaurant, in the line of
air 4-500 meters from home.
Who knows how he got there.
He wasn't crying, but he was scared, his rescuers will say.
For him, just a few grazes on his feet and a bad adventure that he may not even remember.
Not so his parents and grandfather Franco.
For him, seized by a slight illness dictated by the tension accumulated after the discovery of the child, it was necessary for an ambulance to arrive to give him the necessary care.
To console grandfather Franco - irony of fate - thought Gennaro himself who got into the ambulance to comfort him.
"They were terrible hours - Franco Porzio explains later - when my daughter called me my first thought was that Gennaro might have fallen into the valley that leads to the river and I rushed. But I also thought about the possibility of a kidnapping. AND'
It was terrible, luckily it went well". Mother Giovanna also breathes a sigh of relief: "Probably he wanted to go to nursery school - explains the woman - but today we wanted to keep him at home because yesterday he hadn't been well.
We were scared, but all's well that ends well.
Now he's at home playing.
I didn't say anything to him, I just hugged him". It is said reborn dad Carmine who finds it hard to metabolize what he calls "a great fear". "I didn't think it was true - he explains - that it was happening to me, but when the 'I reviewed I was reborn.
Thank you all".
nursery - explains the woman - but today we wanted to keep him at home because yesterday he hadn't been well.
We were scared, but all's well that ends well.
Now he's at home playing.
I didn't say anything to him, I just hugged him". It is said reborn dad Carmine who finds it hard to metabolize what he calls "a great fear". "I didn't think it was true - he explains - that it was happening to me, but when the 'I reviewed I was reborn.
Thank you all".
nursery - explains the woman - but today we wanted to keep him at home because yesterday he hadn't been well.
We were scared, but all's well that ends well.
Now he's at home playing.
I didn't say anything to him, I just hugged him". It is said reborn dad Carmine who finds it hard to metabolize what he calls "a great fear". "I didn't think it was true - he explains - that it was happening to me, but when the 'I reviewed I was reborn.
Thank you all".
