“You were smile and fun.” In Rometta an avalanche of affection and tears for the farewell to Gabriele Iarrera

“You were smiles and fun. You were and will always be so much. A friend like you is never forgotten. Only you were able to give the true meaning of friendship, only you were able to make the people you love feel special.” An avalanche of affection overwhelmed the family of Gabriele Iarrerathe eighteen year old involved in a road accident on April 16, 2022 and who, after 17 long months, left this world forever late last Tuesday evening, in Austrian University Clinic Innsbruck where he was hospitalized. Family members, friends, relatives, high school classmates, municipal administrators and many people paid their last farewell to him in the church of Sant’Antonio in Rometta Marea, and even before that, last night they welcomed him at the Rometta motorway toll booth. “Gabriele lived and lives to give joy, smile and hope to you who knew and respected him. His brief earthly existence, interrupted too soon, is a school for us – said Father Fabio Cattafi during his intense and profound homily -. He teaches us to distinguish the essential from the superfluous, to commit our energies to the things that matter, without wasting them in superficialities, in envy, in arguments, in frivolities, in rivalries. We say goodbye to you Gabriele, to you who did everything to make yourself noticed when you wanted to greet someone on the street. We say goodbye, which is the word we say when we are certain that, whatever happens, we will see each other again soon.” Outside the church, an emotional and discreet crowd said their final goodbyes to Gabriele Iarrera. The large participation is testimony to how much those who knew him loved him. A good that not even time will ever be able to disperse.