The causes of a fire – probably negligent – which caused the death of Vincenzo Dispoto, 87 years old, and his “trusted” dog in San Basile, a small Arbëresh municipality on the outskirts of the city of Castrovillari, are being investigated.
The story of the witnesses is chilling: the flames practically destroyed, around two in the morning, the loggia where the elderly man had probably taken refuge together with his beloved friend. No fireplace would have been lit inside the building. The Carabinieri investigators found, a few hours later, only junk and waste piled up in the center of a room. It took the firefighters about an hour to unhinge a very sturdy gate at the entrance to the building and to begin to tame the tongues of fire. A race against time that failed to save the old man and his friend from a thousand adventures. The fury of the flames was too violent and in a few minutes a real tragedy occurred. On site, in addition to the mayor of San Basile, Filippo Quinto Tocci, also the carabinieri and captain Michelangelo Iocolo. The death of the pensioner immediately led to the launch of investigations by the Castrovillari Prosecutor’s Office. At present it becomes particularly difficult to reconstruct the last remnants of the life of a man who moved about fifteen years ago from the Apulian capital.
The full article is available in the print and digital editions of Saturday 14 November