Vito D’Ambrosio is excited like all students on the eve of maturity but, whatever the final exam grade, no one will be able to take away his primacy: he is the oldest student to have attended evening courses at Moses Bianchi in Monza, at least in recent years.
In a few days will receive his diploma in tourism at the age of 64: «I am older than my teachers and principal – he claims – My friends are mostly between 18 and 22 years old. I have a wonderful relationship with them: I almost consider them my children, they invite me to birthday parties and to discos».
In her class there are several foreign girls, mostly South American and from Eastern Europe: «I helped them with Italian and they with IT. – explains – This address opens up many job opportunities for them, even in their countries of origin».
School, second diploma in Monza for the 64-year-old retired student: three years later
Vito D’Ambrosio, a retired Brugherese, retraces the last three years made up of evenings spent in class and days spent studyingthe result of an experience born by chance: «I graduated as a surveyor over forty years ago but I have always been a tourist bus driver – tells – one day, while walking around Monza, I saw an advertisement for evening tourist courses and I signed up out of curiosity, with the intention of attending for a few weeks and then dropping out.».
School, second diploma in Monza for the 64-year-old student-pensioner: «The first test»
However, he did not come to terms with it the passion for study that overwhelmed him: «I started from the third as I already have a diploma – he adds – but I had to take three supplementary exams including one in computer science. The impact was traumatic: at the first math test I stood there for an hour in panic in front of the blank sheet of paper, then I unblocked myself».
And he got into gear, driven above all by the love for the history of art and visits to museumsincluding the one at the Egizio in Turin, organized by the school. The teachers, he assures, have always treated him like all the other students, without showing any awe for his age.: «However, they gave me a 10 in conduct. – it needs – because I had very few absences while my classmates happened not to come because they were busy with work».
School, second diploma in Monza for the 64-year-old student-pensioner: and then the music
Vito D’Ambrosio, unlike all the other graduates, he will not start looking for a job: this does not mean, however, that he will remain calm at home enjoying his retirement. Having put the books aside, he is already ready for a new adventure that he will undertake in September: «I can’t sit still – dice – I signed up for a guitar course and a singing course at a music school in Brugherio. When I was young I used to sing in clubs, but I never played the guitar».
In the meantime, he enjoys the satisfaction of having reached an important goal: «My wife is also very happy – comment – many of our acquaintances stop her on the street to compliment her».
