Annalisa Minetti recently graduated with 110 cum laude in Sports Science. At 47 years old she says that she wanted to be credible by not talking about the sport that she gave him so much: «I want to spread its benefits, demonstrate how fundamental it is for kids. To do it best I need a degree. Now I’m thinking about a doctorate and I’ve already attended a master’s degree.” Minetti was a finalist in Miss Italia and winner of the Sanremo Festival in 1998, as well as a Paralympic and world medalist in athletics. Even if you have retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration. And at 18 she lost her sight. «The symptoms began at 12, unfortunately they were underestimated. For the doctors they were an excess of mum and dad’s concern for me.”
The illness
The story continues: «We were four brothers, one of whom had a cognitive delay, according to them this had increased the level of anxiety towards their children. At 16 I hid the problem, I saw less and less, I did my best not to let it be understood. I went to school on foot, the journey became more tiring every day. I stuck to my classmates who were following the same path, their voices guided me. Then I got one of the first cell phones as a gift and I pretended to be on the phone. People, seeing me crash, would have blamed it on distraction. At 18 I had to have a specific medical examination because I was no longer able to study on my own without help and a certification was needed for the high school leaving exam. The disease was in its final stage, shortly afterwards I went blind.”
Blindness
When she discovered it «I felt lost, finished. My father encouraged me: “Instead of saying why he thinks of me, why not me. Transform this darkness into light.” I did it, I cultivated my great passion: music. One evening, while I was performing in a club, an agent asked me if I was interested in the Miss Italy selections.” She then explains why she left the world of music: «I don’t bend to the fashions of the moment. I love jazz, melody, not rap bars. I tried several times to participate in Sanremo with big names, but they didn’t take me. I still sing, but, at a certain point in my career, sport became everything.”
The body
The final reflection: «My body took from me and gave to me. I am also the mother of two children, Fabio, 16 years old, and Elèna, 6 years old. For many I shouldn’t even have had them because I’m blind, but a mother sees with her heart. I raised them with precious help, above all my parents and a nanny, and with instinct.” But she is not afraid of the passing time: «I don’t know what I’m like anymore, I can only imagine. The last time I saw myself in the mirror I was a girl. I have no perception of my wrinkles. I know they exist, yet I feel more beautiful than when I was 20 and many people confirm it. I know the body, my muscles, better than the face.”
