A first violin. Giulia Cecchettin receives a degree (in memory) in Biomedical Engineering, the title she has earned, which would have been rightfully hers, which represents neither a gift nor compensation. At the University of Padua, in front of her family and friends, the 22-year-old student 'takes back' what her ex-boyfriend Filippo Turetta took away from her last November 11th, just five days after that dream, when the 'He stabbed himself to death, hid his lifeless body and only after a week on the run did he confess to the crime.
Father's memory: “I was confident that you would do great things”
The ceremony in the great hall of Palazzo Bo is an “act of love” for a “gorgeous girl who couldn't wait to wear her well-deserved laurel wreath” says dad Gino, moved. “You don't know how many times I imagined you smiling, just as you knew how to be, and rejoice with us for this moment that you cared so much about. You were not able to personally taste the happiness of the well-deserved achievement. The choice of the Engineering faculty had left me perplexed. You wanted to study literature, but you preferred a choice with more job opportunities and you followed it to the end, with the utmost commitment”. Giulia's death “It caused a rift in our consciences and in mine first and foremost. I was confident that you would do great things, but I didn't realize what a giant you were. I will do everything possible so that your name and your example of life can push people to reflect on the importance of empathy and solidarity that you, in your simplicity, have embodied in an exemplary way. I miss you, we miss you more than oxygen” she whispers before leaving the floor to her daughter Elena, capable – immediately after the feminicide – of transforming a private mourning into collective pain.
Sister: “I admired you so much”
Today Elena is 'just' a sister. “You don't know how proud I am of you, of how she always has been. I've always admired you so much, I've always seen you as a little genius, you managed to be a good student in Engineering, a faculty that I knew wasn't the most similar to you, to your romantic soul, and yet you did it and great. Now I can say it without you saying it's not yet true, congratulations engineer.” Applause fills the room several times, but we cannot pretend that today there is an empty chair. “You have done many beautiful things for yourself and for us , but we must never forget how many things you could have done if the possibility of doing so had not been taken away from you. We must not forget it so that no other woman is deprived of the possibility of doing so” concludes Elena.
The rector of the university: “He was a first violin”
The ceremony is “a due act” to use the words of the Minister of University and Research Anna Maria Bernini, but it is also an opportunity to remember that feminicide is not a question of women and each of us must do something: there is no such thing as indifference, indifference is an insult to Giulia” to whom the University has dedicated a red bench symbolizing violence against women, a classroom and a degree award that bears her name.”She was smiling, interested, a 'first violin', or rather one of those students that we teachers take as a reference to understand the quality of the lessons. She had prepared a brilliant thesis, she was ready for one of those days that are among those who remember, not among those who make volume, of one's life” explains the rector Daniela Mapelli.
He had explored the development of biomaterials for the surgical reconstruction and regeneration of tracheal tissues, comparing the different solutions present in recent scientific literature. “What struck me most about Giulia was her extremely correct way of doing things, her serious and constant commitment, her kind and attentive attitude. Unfortunately she is not here today to hear my appreciation of her commitment. I think However, it is important to remember it, especially how a young woman very determined in building her future” says the speaker Silvia Todoros without holding back her emotion. A hoplite, as she liked to define herself, who “would have managed to reach and make her dreams come true” recalls a friend. “Giulia's story must teach us that no one ever dreams must be torn away, no one must be deprived of the freedom to live and be themselves and we must all work hard to make this happen.” No one says Filippo's name on Giulia's day, but he – a fellow student – walked through corridors here and met glances before being capable of “a violence that is even more frightening because we cannot decipher it, understand it, because it was born in a context of normality” explains the rector.
“We saw with horror what the discomfort that affects a young man, one of our students who frequented our classrooms, can lead to. And as a professor of many of them, as a father, as a man I promise to do something to be able, in the small way university reality that I represent, to be a support when they find themselves in difficulty” adds Gaudenzio Meneghesso, director of the Information Engineering department. “We all know that symbolic gestures will not be enough, but we know how much these are imbued with value. Let's start from here, therefore: from giving Giulia Cecchettin the title that she would have deserved. It's not compensation: it was already hers.”
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