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Those were very hot and terrible hours that separated the disappearance, on the morning of June 27, and the discovery, the following day. Three years have passed since the death of Chiara Gualzetti, 15 years old, beaten and stabbed to death by a 16-year-old “friend”, a few steps from home, in that oasis of peace and greenery that is the area of the Abbey of Monteveglio.
The boy confessed and in front of the preliminary investigations judge spoke of strange voices that would have pushed him to commit the crime. Between psychiatric assessments, selfies and insults on social media, the sentence of 16 years and 4 months for homicide aggravated by premeditation, confirmed on appeal, without signs of repentance, not only towards the victim, to whom he reserved “despicable words before and after the fact”, but also towards the girl’s parents, continuing to blame his “demon” and telling him what to do. This is one of the main passages of the sentence of the juvenile section of the Court of Appeal of Bologna.
Since that June 27, a lot has happened. Chiara’s parents got married in June 2023, but her mother, Giusy, had already been struck by the unforgiving disease and after a month she died, leaving her father Vincenzo, alone: ”I keep saying that I feel like I’m living a nightmare”, he commented.
Vincenzo’s strength
Despite the misfortunes of life, Vincenzo still fights and brings solidarity to the families who share his fate. He also attended the funeral of Giulia Cecchettin, in Padua, killed by her ex-boyfriend.
At the end of last year, she launched a platform against feminicides, certezadellapena.it., also with the aim of collecting the stories of the victims, the testimonies and the requests of all the families “who have suffered an irreparable loss and are loudly calling for a ‘fair’ Justice”.
“Justice for Chiara” is also a Facebook page created by Vincenzo to keep the memory alive: “A life broken in this way deserves solidarity, humanity but above all JUSTICE”.
Friends, peers and fellow citizens do not forget Chiara: Chiara’s Arch” was officially born on the day she would have turned 16, an association with the dual objective of spreading Chiara’s story and above all of raising awareness among teenagers on issues such as bullying , violence, diversity, addictions to substances and video games, awareness of the use of the internet. The headquarters was inaugurated on the day she would have come of age, at Casa Adelina, in Piazza della Libertà 10 in Monteveglio.
A year after her death, the guys at Radio Immaginaria, the web radio for teenagers, launched a podcast that tells the girl’s story, while the Valsamoggia branch of the Veronelli hotel institute, which Chiara attended, dedicated a classroom to her. And also a red bench in the schoolyard and a scholarship.
In April 2024, on the initiative of the web radio New Music Valsamoggia, with the patronage of the Municipality and the collaboration of various local entities and businesses, the Chiara Gualzetti Youth Cultural Center was inaugurated in Piazza della Pace, in the center of Crespellano.
