The lifeless body of was found late on Thursday afternoon, after hours of searching. Emilio Franco Pezzotta, 71 year old originally from Gorlago but resident for about twenty years in Palazzolo sull’Oglio in the province of Brescia, who was missing after being buried by a landslide in Val d’Aveto, in the Piacenza Apennines, in an area hit by bad weather in the last few days.
According to initial reconstructions, the man was on a street between the hamlets of Curletti and Cattaragna, in the municipality of Ferriere, and while he was working with a chainsaw to cut some branches in the woods near his second home he was overwhelmed by a pile of rocks, earth and trees. All this under the eyes of his partner, unharmed but in shock, who witnessed the scene a few meters away, from the road, far enough away not to be overwhelmed by the landslide too.
Once the alarm was raised, the 118 vehicles, the carabinieri, the firefighters with specialized teams and the Alpine Rescue intervened on the spot. The deployment of forces was consistent, so much so for the searches for Pezzotta a helicopter and an excavator were also mobilized. Rescuers dug for hours and finally found his lifeless body buried under a pile of debris.
Born in 1953, originally from Gorlago, Pezzotta had been living in Palazzolo sull’Oglio in the Brescia area for some time. About twenty years ago he had met Ferriere thanks to some colleagues from Piacenza who worked with him in a metalworking factory. And struck by the beauty of the small and suggestive hamlet of Curletti, nestled in the Piacenza Apennines, he had decided to buy there a house where he used to spend holidays with his partner.
In the small village of about a hundred inhabitants Pezzotta was well integrated and spent himself in the community as councilor of the local Anspi club, the national association San Paolo Italia, a front-line organization to enliven the hamlet through numerous initiatives designed to promote sociality through culture, music and aggregation.
The site of the landslide (Photo by Freedom)
«He was a reserved person, but at the same time particularly active and integrated into our community, always ready and available to lend a hand – recalls Daniele Bertotti, president of the Anspi club of Costa Curletti -. Thanks to some work colleagues, originally from Curletti, he got to know our hamlet and fell in love with it, so much so that he bought a second home. And every year he came from Palazzolo sull’Oglio in the Brescia area to Curletti to spend his holidays here on the Piacenza Apennines. Pezzotta was a councilor of our Anspi club: he took particular care of the library, a commitment he cared about a lot.”
This year too Pezzotta went to Curletti as usual to spend his summer vacation. And on Thursday, in the heart of the beloved Piacenza Apennines, the pensioner was the victim of a tragedy that cost him his life, swept away by a landslide while he was busy chopping wood not far from his second home.
