PADUA – The sudden death of 28-year-old Dr. Margherita Salvucci, which occurred on Friday after an accident at sea on the Portuguese island of Madeira, has deeply shocked the great families of the Hospital Trust and the University of Padua, starting from the School of Specialization and the entire Psychiatry unit. A young and promising professional, a native of the Marche region but who lived in Padua where she had decided to put down roots: having taken up residence a few weeks ago, in the coming months she was ready to move in with her boyfriend (and colleague) Venetian and to give a twist to her already brilliant career with the much desired permanent position. Dreams shattered on Thursday afternoon against the rocks of Seixal, where she was swallowed by a wave.
Margherita Salvucci, for her a plaque and a tree
Yesterday morning, more than seventy of Margherita’s colleagues met online to remember her and begin to process a grief that was difficult to accept. The 28-year-old, who grew up in Colmurano (Macerata), had come to Padua to study Medicine. She graduated brilliantly in July 2021 and she never left the city of the Saint. She was in her third year of graduate school Psychiatry and worked in clinics for the prevention of mental illnesses and affective disorders, where there is now a great mobilization to remember her. “We are living a highly traumatic situation – explained Professor Fabio Sambataro, director of the School and Margherita’s thesis supervisor -. Accepting a loss like that is even harder for those who do our job. We have created both virtual and real noticeboards for our memories with her, we would like to dedicate a plaque and a tree to her to symbolize the lively, sunny, interested person she was, who will continue to grow with us every day. We would also like to name an award after her or perhaps a Specialization Student Day. Even involving her family, if they want. In the meantime, starting Wednesday, we will organize other meetings and moments of reflection and remembrance. Everything beautiful that Margherita was must be remembered.” The funeral will take time (at least a couple of weeks), but when the date is set, Sambataro and a delegation from Padua will be present: “We would like to bring all our third-year classmates, we trust there will be many of us,” explained the professor. Yesterday, the rector Daniela Mapelli also dedicated a thought to Margherita: “The news has deeply touched the entire large community that forms the University of Padua. It is difficult even to try to imagine the pain of Margherita’s family, her boyfriend, relatives and friends. We extend our sympathy to all of them, as well as to our colleagues in Psychiatry, shocked by what happened.”
The heartbreak of the boyfriend
The Psychiatry group is also shielding Margherita’s boyfriend, the Venetian Marco Romanelli, who works in the same clinic. “He is an exemplary boy, he is going through a devastating moment” explains Sambataro. On Thursday he was informed of the accident and since then he has remained in constant contact with the Portuguese doctors, being a doctor himself and speaking good English, acting as an intermediary with Margherita’s parents and sister, who are on holiday with her. He knew that his girlfriend was in very serious conditions. “I want to go and see it, even if it will be the last time” he confided to friends and colleagues on Friday as he boarded the first plane available for Madeira. That morning Margherita passed away, but no one wanted to tell her until she arrived on the island in the evening. The dire news greeted him there. With him the 28 year old had decided to put down roots in Veneto. Three weeks ago you took up residence in Padua. They would soon move in together. «They didn’t have time – the professor commented in a broken voice -. Margherita had won a competition for a permanent position at the Venetian Ulss 3 and would have started working in autumn 2025. In two weeks she would have returned here to us, then in August she had to go to Bolzano and then to Canada until spring, before returning to finish theses and internships. She was excited about this family trip because she would no longer be able to stay with her parents for a while. She was a professional and a wonderful person, the patients loved her. If there were delicate cases I always indicated her. We will not forget her.”
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