Franco Zampedri died yesterday, twenty years after the accident that left him in a vegetative state. He was originally from Viarago and on 4 July 2004 he was the victim of a car accident in Canezza. While he was driving he went off the road near the town of Portolo, falling two meters. He was returning from Sant’Orsola, where he had been to visit his girlfriend. The impact caused him to suffer cardiac arrest and he has remained in a vegetative state ever since.
After the accident, Franco Zampedri was hospitalized at the public personal services company «Santo Spirito» in Pergine. The accident tore him away from the people he held dearest: his father Goffredo and his brother Sergio. He had left his girlfriend Cristina Bertoldi, with whom he planned to move to Sant’Orsola. “They were very hard years: I wouldn’t wish on any father to have to look after his own child” says father Goffredo, who despite everything has followed Franco all these years. «I lost my wife thirty years ago, but this was a doubly hard blow. The attention of the staff of the Santo Spirito house has been a great comfort in these years, especially Dr. Maria Teresa Mattivi, who was very close to me. The care you received was very satisfactory. The staff is very specialized and they looked after him with love.”
Before the accident, Franco Zampedri had worked for the University of Trento. Initially he was an employee for the bursar’s office, but he then moved to the offices of Cial, the university’s linguistic center which was based in the Faculty of Letters. Although his life was cut short too soon, the memory he left in people is still very profound today. “There have been many people who have come to visit Franco in these last few days,” continues the father. «In Viarago they remembered him with affection. I stayed with him all day because I knew he was sick. But many of his colleagues also arrived from the University. They all took holidays even though twenty years have passed.”
The closeness was also felt from worlds more distant from that of the most intimate acquaintances. Both local and provincial institutions have always been at his side: in 2007, he received a visit from councilor Tarcisio Andreolli.
Franco’s great passions
There were two Zampedri: the band and football. Also in 2007, news of his situation even reached Juventus. So, the captain at the time, Alessandro Del Piero, also came to visit him in Pergine.
«Goffredo and I are friends and his dedication to Franco was incredible: he came to the RSA even twice a day» recalls Marco Casagrande, president of the APSP until 2015. Also fond are the memories of her grandchildren Natanael, Rihane and little Ilayda and Ileyna, Samantha, Sergio and little Oliver and Elias.
The funeral will take place tomorrow 20 April in the parish church of Viarago at 2.30 pm. Cremation will then follow.
