A Father's Hope and Sorrow: Navigating Life After Tragedy

"There are very difficult moments when it seems that we cannot make it. But life goes on. We gather strength. I look at my other two children and hope for a more peaceful future for them," said Gino Cecchettin on Verissimo, the father of Giulia Cecchettin, the girl killed by her ex-boyfriend Filippo Turetta. How are Gino Cecchettin's children reacting? "Elena is graduating in Vienna, while Davide is in high school. We face everyday challenges like a normal family, but we have to deal with the pain," Cecchettin continues. Does he see them happy? "I'm fighting so that this is the case." A recent episode gives him hope. "We went on a trip to CERN in Geneva, I saw them dance, I saw them happy. A moment, for me, of hope. A first step towards normality." Also because they lost their mother. "We have been afflicted by a double tragedy." The book he wrote after the murder? "Painful, but also healing. The more I tried to remember her, the more I noticed that certain details were missing. I wanted to fix points and try to remember as much as possible. Life with her was short. Some friends have invited me to tell the story." Giulia called her father "daddy." "If I think that this little voice will no longer be there, it gives me so much pain. She gave so much during her life. She also gave me the opportunity to realize a project, that of the foundation, broader, which will also help other women." "Giulia gave humanity to everything. She named insects, she even talked to fusilli. She gave us constant love. We had defined her as an explorer because she had a thirst for knowledge of the unknown." Did she act as a mother? "She felt the responsibility because she was the only woman left in the house. I tried to tell her: 'You need to worry about studying.' But invariably on Saturday morning she would start dusting. We divided the chores, in this sense she was a little mom." Had she overcome her mother's death? "I don't know, when we talked about it she would freeze and start crying. I miss her terribly every day. I found myself alone." "I was hoping for an accident," says Giulia's father, recounting the moments after the disappearance. Was he talking about Filippo? "I often asked her, but I didn't want to invade her privacy. She always said: 'He suffers because I left him, he had the Florence Nightingale syndrome.'" Relations with Turetta's parents? "We communicate by message. At Christmas and also at Easter." With his daughter Elena? "We had an argument, I even asked her why she used the word 'patriarchy.' I always say that I learned the alphabet thanks to her."