Mario and Carlo, heterozygous twins, were abandoned by their mother after their birth on 9 January 1963 at the Bari Polyclinic, and met again 13 years later by chance, discovering for the first time that they were brothers.
The story is told by Telebari who retraces the entire story.
Mario Grieco and Carlo, who are now 61 years old, were adopted by two different families at just 11 months old.
They lived for 13 years a few kilometers apart in two towns in the province of Bari, convinced they had no siblings and without knowing they were adopted.
Then fate made them meet on board a bus while going to the same school they both attended without knowing each other.
Similar interests and habits, they immediately become friends.
And one day Mario invites Carlo to lunch at his house in Terlizzi.
On that occasion Mario's adoptive father, who like Carlo's adoptive parents knew their true story, asked him if he was also born on 9 January 1963 and if he came from Mariotto.
At that moment, the two kids don't give much weight to it and think it's simply a coincidence.
Then, once Carlo's adoptive mother dies, the two families meet and decide to tell the whole truth to Mario and Carlo: "You are twins, children of the same woman, they separated you in the cot".
"We burst into tears and hugged each other - says Mario remembering that moment - both happy and hurt. I thought I was an only child and discovering I had a brother was a wonderful thing but at the same time the world fell on me. In a moment we discovered that we had grown up in lies and from that moment we would have to deal with an inexplicable void that we have always felt."
"I must admit - Mario explains to ANSA - that even before we discovered it from our adoptive parents we felt that there was a special bond between us. Blood never becomes water".
Mario's wife, Francesca, remembers when her mother-in-law told her that in the orphanage Mario and Carlo were in the same crib and the doctors asked her if she wanted them both so as not to separate them.
But she decided to adopt just one.
Her mother-in-law would also have revealed to her that when Mario and Carlo were little, the two adoptive families met by chance at a festival and, while talking, they discovered that those two very similar children were brothers, born and baptized on the same day.
Now Mario is looking for her biological mother because he wants to meet her and ask her why she abandoned them.
"My brother doesn't follow me in this search - underlines Mario - in my opinion because he is afraid of facing some further displeasure, disappointment, perhaps he fears rejection".
"But - he assures me - I have no intention of giving up".
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