"We changed, but I remember you were beautiful, you and your brother were. Of course, if I met you today I wouldn't recognize you, but so many years have passed, we are both different". Fiorella Ingrao, at 97, has crowned her dream, to meet at least one high school friend, the Julius Caesar of Rome, the one also sung by Antonello Venditti quite a few years later. He had written a letter on a checkered sheet of paper and had asked his niece Valentina to spread it on social media. Since then there have been many who write them, especially former students, because Fiorella taught Mathematics in a high school and everyone remembers her. Everyone cheering for her, for a happy ending.
The meeting with Mariapia took place through a video call, between memories, names and surnames of class friends of more than 80 years ago, and pitted facts as if they had happened the day before, with a lucidity that would be the envy even of a twenty-year-old. Fiorella also remembers where she was sitting in class, and while talking to her friend she draws in words a map of the classroom that the other immediately makes her own. "We did not expect so much clamor and so much success for grandma's request - says granddaughter Valentina, still incredulous - Many are contacting us, even television. Grandma is very happy and I am now her secretary", she adds with a smile. Fiorella, who despite her age uses Google and WhatsApp in a nonchalant way, had the idea a few days ago to spread the appeal on social media to find her schoolmates through her niece. A kind appeal with a wealth of details on the class, "the class leader Di Cristofaro, the beautiful Pescatori, the talented Todaro, the Occorsio brothers and the Simonetti brothers".
The reference to the professors of section B, his: "The dantista Martinelli, the professor of Mathematics and Physics Bardone". In a few hours the 'likes' had skyrocketed and so did the shares. And the first feedback had arrived: "Many students of grandmother, who taught at the Volpicelli classical high school in Porta Pia, are contacting us. If they remember her and would like to meet her at home, it would be beautiful." The phone call passes like this, with many "do you remember?", with hands gesticulating contentment, with white hair but the spirit of two 97-year-olds who return as girls, albeit for a few minutes.
The strictly checkered sheet, so familiar for a mathematics teacher, the calligraphy in block letters, the use of pencil to erase any errors, the margins left blank to make everything more orderly. Fiorella Ingrao, born in 1925, at the dawn of her 97 years is not content to spend her days in front of the television or even to do crosswords. His favorite exercise is to train the memory that inevitably goes to the happiest years, those of his youth. Fiorella has a desire, to see her classmates who attended with her the classical high school Giulio Cesare in Rome, the one also sung by Antonello Venditti a few years later. And here is the idea of the letter that the grandmother, who despite the white hair collected uses Google and WhatsApp in a nonchalant way, wanted to spread on social media by her granddaughter Valentina. A kind appeal with a wealth of details on the class, "the class leader Di Cristofaro, the beautiful Pescatori, the talented Todaro, the Occorsio brothers and the Simonetti brothers". The reference to the professors of section B, his: "The dantista Martinelli, the professor of Mathematics and Physics Bardone".
The granddaughter did not expect such an echo, but in a few hours the 'likes' skyrocketed and so did the shares. And the first feedback has arrived: "Many students of grandmother, who taught at the Volpicelli classical high school in Porta Pia, are contacting us. If they remember her and would like to meet her, it would be beautiful." Not only that, "the son of a classmate also wrote to me, now we will try to make them meet. Who knows what emotion, so many years later", whispers the niece aware of the fact that many characters mentioned in the letter may no longer be there. The comments are many, there are also those who do not know Fiorella and did not attend the Giulio Cesare but are struck by her story: "I was brightened by the day", writes Antonella.
Many hearts left as a comment and "good luck". After the success of the appeal, Fiorella wanted to thank those who left a word on Facebook, almost all former students: "Dear friends, I read all your answers to my appeal and I felt wrapped in a warm and affectionate embrace, which caused me a strong emotion accompanied by a heartbeat and some tears! My thoughts ran back so many years, first to my carefree youth and then to my serious but not severe maturity." But she does not break down and provides more details of her former classmates, even in a joking and tenderly allusive way: "Vittorio Lumia was a handsome boy and, at the end of school he wrote in my notebook some school memories, which having was then fashionable, the refrain of a beautiful love song that I appreciated very much. Too bad that the events that have occurred have distanced us, otherwise ..... Who knows how it would have turned out!" Life has chosen differently: "I married a doctor and I had a peaceful life and three beautiful daughters who gave me satisfaction in all fields. Now I am the grandmother of two beautiful grandchildren and a lovely granddaughter without whom I could not have made this adventure and my life will continue serenely as long as the Lord wills".
