Bright eyes, swollen with a pain that cannot find peace, those of Maria and Ettore. Next to them was grandmother Nella, who was left almost without tears. In the church the silence weighs more than words while the community huddles around the coffin in which Ornella Forastefano’s body is kept, accompanying her on her last journey.
The funeral is celebrated by Don Pietro Groccia, who does not mince his words: “It is a case of femicide in all respects.” From the altar the parish priest defends the dignity of every woman, recalling the value of the feminine and remembering that no one can afford to outrage the person to the point of depriving her of life.
His thoughts inevitably turn to his children, to whom Don Pietro makes a heartfelt appeal: to put aside every feeling of hatred and revenge and find, despite everything, the strength to resume the journey. “Live a beautiful, just, honest life” is the meaning of his words “so that even through your life Ornella can find the happiness that she didn’t have here”.
Then the personal memory. Ornella, says the priest, assiduously participated in the Sunday celebration in Marina di Sibari. “I saw so much goodness in her”, says Don Groccia. Today there remains a coffin, a church full of pain and two children forced too soon to say goodbye to their mother. And there remains a community that, in the face of that death, asks that Ornella’s innocent blood not be forgotten and that no other woman should ever die at the hands of those who say they love her.