Interview to a friend

Poster

Before answering your questions I’d like to inform you that I was forced to return to Italy because we were unable to put together the necessary sum for the transfer to Key West. Therefor we were unable to continue preparation in the ocean or to sign the contract with the captain Vanessa Linsley, the person who is supposed to organize and preside over the crossing and provide me with assistance and security.
To return to your question I want to tell you that in reality I never thought of this enterprise as simply a purely athletic performance. The athletic aspect obviously has its weight, and without training I could not face the “Strait of Messina”, but athletic achievement is not the sole meaning of this initiative.
In a moment when I felt the need to participate, swimming was a way of communicating. It also helps me fight to change society. I’m not good at speaking or writing. This initiative allowed me to make a contribution by doing the thing that I am good at, a thing that makes me feel good and free and light and, amazingly, completely eliminates my disability! Walking with a prosthesis, even a technologically advanced one, still feels a little ‘hard work’, you live with the discomfort of having to coordinate and manage a limb which is, in some ways, “not yours”, not natural. These feelings disappear in the water. You finally feel like you are the master of your own limbs.
The thing I want us to remember that today is that (and this is something for which we must be gratefully aware of the work done at the United Nations Convention) disability should not be a private matter. It should not be the responsibility of the individual. It should be something that is dealt with by the community as a whole. It‘s not the person who is disabled, it’s the environment in which he lives.

How has your life changed since you began to swim?

Beyond the physical wellbeing, swimming was an important moment of growth for me. I was finally able to open myself up to others. I have learned to listen. Starting from my experience, I could help people to see beyond their own physical impediments. I finally realized that, beyond the physical performance, each of us contains a world full of meaning and values. In a society that wants to call itself civilized, we have to fight for everyone to be allowed the fullest expression of themselves, their attitudes, desires and hopes.

At first the Capri – Sorrento, then the swimming tour of Italy in, then Europe then the World: what makes you swim and what are your next goals?

I would like to make it clear that the real obstacle to a full inclusion of people with disabilities is cultural in nature. My goal, and I say this with great humility, is to remind everyone with whom I come in contact that there is a great part of humanity which has to struggle in a world that has been structured to accommodate so called “able-bodied” people. This is a reality that all of us must work to change. We must create conditions which allow people with disabilities to actively participate in the life of the country. We want to contribute to this growth and development by putting the resources we have to use. This is a duty that is no longer possible to avoid. Obviously, I’m just one person among millions of people. After ten years of “wandering” the one thing I’ve come to understand is that people won’t get anywhere by themselves. I’ve met many people in associations, institutions who have been engaged in this battle for a lot longer than I have. They’ve confronted the issues with great skill and great passion. Many of them, whether because of carelessness or lack of time, had never come in contact with our reality. When they did they helped with great enthusiasm and sensitivity.

I understand your company is also linked to a biomedical scientific research project: how important is it to continue investing in research nowadays?

Technology means the future for people with disabilities because it allows them to live an independent life by facilitating mobility, access to housing and public buildings, access to education and the ability to perform work. Furthermore, scientific and technological researches in Italy have developed prosthetic devices that can revolutionize their old way of living. I am sincerely grateful to Professor Maria Chiara Carrozza and the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, prof. Eugenio Guglielmelli and the Campus Bio-Medico, both for the interest they have shown towards my initiative and for the concrete commitment with which they take care of the disability issue through their scientific work. Then I want to thank prof. Fabio Graziosi, the University of L’Aquila and Leonardo, (ex Finmeccanica), engineers that will provide me with the Personal Tracker to monitor me during my journey.

What do you think Italian government can and should do for disabled people?

Italy is a country at the vanguard of legislation on disability and of scientific, medical and technological field too. Despite all the authoritative attempts, we have not managed to ensure to disabled people could access to new technologies. We were unable to completely break down the barriers and strengthen the infrastructure to improve mobility in our cities and we could not get in all schools to ensure disabled children have normal access to the classrooms. It hurts me to say it but it always seems that there’s not enough money to invest for this, as if it was not yet clear that a country to call itself civil has the duty to ensure that all citizens can live with dignity.

What makes you most afraid of, and what more angry?

Selfishness scares me, which is creating division with indifference and arrogance. What makes me angry is that forty years after the approval of the Law on architectural barriers, ( L13 / 89 ) we are still discussing how to tear them down.

You told me that you train many hours a day: Could you tell me more about your daily routine?

When I am in Rome I am at the office until 16:30, then I train at the Aniene Rowing Club (my second family, the first ones who believed in me, without their help I couldn’t have done none of what I’ve done so far!) for at least three hours a day. I do it quite early so I can train four or five hours on weekends and I can get into the water in the morning. I work in Finmeccanica (Selex Galileo) and I want to take this opportunity to thank the executives that with extraordinary sensitivity and participation have allowed me to get ready this event.
On the other hand, workouts are more intense here in Miami: I get up at six o’clock and I go to the gym for a half hour after breakfast. Then I work from my laptop. I train for about eight hours a day in two sessions, crossing by swimming the circumnavigation of Rivo Alto, a small island of Miami Beach. I am in the water at eight until 12.00 and again at 14.30 until 18.30.

So far you have as many as 11 crossings path: which is the moment you cherish the most?

They were all amazing, each in its own way, for people, places and the affection I always received. But perhaps Goma, North Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is the one that has influenced me, for better or for worse, leaving in me both a yearning deep and a great joy.
It was an amazing experience from many points of view. How people were welcoming really struck me: despite the objective daily problems that plague this land, the joy and the desire to participate have characterized every moment of my stay. I have met extraordinary people, both among the population and among those who work in international cooperation. The crossing of Lake Kivu has been possible thanks to the great support of the people of Goma that, at every level, have worked hard making available all possible tools, from boats to carers to “cheer” incredible citywide waiting for me arrival. Also, the help of the bishop and the entire community of Caracciolini, was crucial, even in the relationship with the civil authorities.

Thanks to my friend and journalist Raffaele Nappi of “Il Fatto Quotidiano”