John Floriani Sebastiani, the rock climbing worker who fell from Mount Calisio on April 24th while clearing a landslide on the face, did not make it. The 26-year-old boy died yesterday in the early hours of the morning.
Floriani had fallen 60 meters from a rock face on Mount Calisio above the town of Maderno, while he was rearranging the tools at the end of the work shift on the wall where he was dismantling the boulders looming on the path that leads from Martignano to the Calisio peaks. Two colleagues who were with him at the time of the terrible fall and who witnessed the scene alerted the emergency services. The boy’s death is part of the long series of workplace deaths that are affecting our Province. The accident occurred as part of the rock blasting works commissioned by the Municipality of Trento, between the walls that connect the former Campel refuge and the former Calisio refuge, where a large landslide occurred in 2021 which caused extensive damage in the ‘surrounding area.
Floriani’s conditions had immediately seemed desperate. A few minutes after the accident last Wednesday, the firefighters and the resuscitation team arrived on site with the 118 helicopter. The young man was intubated on the spot and urgently transported to the Santa Chiara Hospital. Floriani was admitted to intensive care in very serious conditions and from that moment on began to fight for his life. The boy suffered injuries and multiple injuries from the disastrous fall from over 60 meters in height. Admitted to the intensive care unit, the twenty-six-year-old faced a long and painful week, in which he underwent several surgeries to try to contain the large internal bleeding that ultimately caused his death. However, the boy’s condition did not stabilize over the course of the week, despite Floriani’s enormous physical strength and resistance, as some acquaintances said.
Technicians from the operational unit for prevention and safety at work (Uopsal) were on site at the time of the accident on 24 April. At the accident site the operators carried out investigations with the collaboration of the Trento Fire Brigade. The dynamics of the accident have not yet been clarified, the events should have occurred at the end of the work shift. It appears that the worker was putting his equipment away. Uopsal investigations will continue on Monday to establish whether the boy was properly harnessed and tied. It is not yet known where Sebastiani Floriani precisely fell from, what is certain is that a young life was taken too soon. After the fall, the young rock worker suffered multiple injuries, including a punctured lung. Traumas and bruises that proved fatal.
The boy originally from Madrano, resident in Pergine Valsugana, He leaves behind his family, his mother, father and his two-year-old brother Brian. Some friends of the family describe the two Floriani brothers as “very close, although completely different”. John, however, shared a passion for the mountains and climbing with his brother. Some childhood friends remember him fondly: «His passion was climbing, his life was this sport, which is why he chose such a dangerous job as a rock climber immediately after high school. He lived to be on the wall.” Floriani got his passion for the mountains from his parents, sportsmen and mountain lovers like him. By those who knew him, John is described as “athletic, prepared, trained”. His friends remember him: «On the wall he seemed invincible, a superman». After attending elementary and middle school in Pergine Valsugana, Floriani attended the Galileo Galilei scientific high school in Trento. His life was dedicated to the mountains both for passion and for work. Before working as a scaler for the Unirock company in Bolzano, however, Floriani had studied Physics, a subject that he brought with him from high school. The road for Floriani was that of the mountains, so the twenty-six year old had become a worker on the face. John fought for his life for almost 10 days. Some acquaintances report that the strength that distinguished him in his life was using it all to try to resist.
