Anna Piovesan’s letter to Julia Ituma-Corriere.it

Anna Piovesan19-year-old spiker fromEsperia Cremona, she was a friend of Julia Ituma, the Igor Novara volleyball player who died in Turkey after a fall from the sixth floor of the hotel where she was staying with the team. For the investigators there is no doubt: suicide. Anna had exchanged a series of messages with Julia the day before the tragedy and has now written a letter to Corriere to remember her friend. Here she is in full.

«There was no better pair than Piove and Titu for weights, you can ask anyone. I spent the longest plank of my life with you, in order not to let you win, we incited our flat bench as we gave birth, every day, always a little more, but you always won on this one, hands down. Before I got injured we squatted almost 200lbs at just 16 and if you set records, I had to do it too, and if I did, you broke it again the next day. In the field then it was pure understanding, support for retail.

I want to remind you that we both like to dribble instead of throwing bagher, and we all got our hair on end when we raised our arms to proudly proceed with the technical gesture which in 90% of cases ended with a double and a reprimand. How many aces, hands outs and how many blocks we gave each other, how many smiles though, then.

Last year you came home, we took a house by the sea and we went to disconnect from all that continuous pressure that surrounded you during that time in the gym. After those 3 days you left me your shirt, partly because “I don’t need it anyway” partly because it has always been your way of demonstrating your good to people, through gestures, if the world fell “I love you ” you hardly ever said it. In the realization of a dream there is no room for holidays, and we knew it well. Titta, as only I call you, with you I took my first flight; you were sitting directly behind me, I kept asking “are we speeding up?” “How long do we fly??” and you laughed. Then at 1000 meters from the ground “Ah Nanna, we are flying” and we laughed again.

The following year we spent hours on those deck chairs in the mountains in the cold, in silence, looking at the stars. Then every now and then we said something silly and burst out laughing like two idiots. I don’t remember how many hair colors I helped you choose.

Summer 2021 total darkness, I couldn’t see the light, I didn’t understand what to do, I was sick, physically and mentally, but friends who held my hand limping down the stairs every day helped me get through that bad time, and obviously c ‘you were too.

We haven’t had all the experiences of the national team together, not from A to Z, but I have no half a doubt that we have lived them all 100%, both positively and negatively. We have never played in the same team, we have never clashed in the league. last year me A1 and you A2, this year vice versa, sooner or later we would have clashed in the top flight, as owners, we couldn’t wait.

Titta I’ll never really know what gave you the strength to jump, I’ll hypothesize, I’ll try to understand, to reason, sooner or later I’ll run out of options and I hope, indeed I’m sure, I’ll live it to the best of my ability. Crying for so long in a row is not easy. I don’t know what I feel, I don’t feel anything, I feel everything tight and I miss the air, maybe you felt this too?

All I need now is one of those spontaneous hugs you gave me by surprise, when I didn’t see you, but I felt you and immediately understood that it was you. I’d like to hear you. I would like to feel you on my skin and caress that hair so long to dry… we wrote to each other the afternoon before, you could have called me, you could have told me, I would have done anything, and you know it. forever by your side.