Reggio Emilia, 7 February 2023 – Shocked, incredulous, grieved. The news of the teacher’s tragic death Francesca Frassinettifrom Reggio but hinged on the Cesena branch of the Psychology Faculty, fell on my department colleagues like a bomb. The professor was 55 years old and died in a road accident which took place at 1.30 pm yesterday on a road in the Reggio Apennines.
She went off the road in her Audi and it is plunged into an escarpment. The car has caught fire and the woman was stuck in the car engulfed in flames (photo). When help arrived, nothing was possible to save her. The Cesena colleagues who only learned of the tragedy in the evening were almost speechless. “I can’t believe it… I heard it around noon (yesterday, ed) – says the professor Alessio Avenanti, organizational manager of the Cesena branch of the Psychology campus who has been working alongside the missing teacher for years -. We had a remote meeting on important projects related to Neuroscience of which she was a researcher of international scope. She said she wasn’t feeling well and would send an assistant to her. We were part of a project included in the Pnrr. A special teacher, a colleague with whom we were all proud to collaborate. A tragedy that leaves us dumbfounded.”
The same profound and saddened bewilderment aroused in the President of the Cesena Campus Council, professor Massimo Cicognani: “I’m shocked, I only found out now. She was an extremely active person, a teacher of great thickness. I had recently heard from her about a request for support for one of her projects by the education commission of the Cassa di Risparmio Foundation that I chair. Her prestige and her commitment had been welcomed.”
In the evening also came the condolences of the rector Giovanni Molari: “I learn with great pain this terrible news, which is a reason for deep condolences for me and for the entire Alma Mater community. We suddenly and tragically lose a highly esteemed researcher, a much loved teacher, a person who will be immensely missed by colleagues and students. We rally around the family in this dire moment.”
Professor Frassinetti leaves behind two teenage children.
