San Martino in Rio The parquet of the Gallesi gyms in Carpi and Gramsci in Modena, in recent days, was much more than a playing field: it became the place where an entire community tried to transform pain into a legacy of solidarity. The first “Thanks Arianna” Memorial, promoted by Aido together with Aics, Csi and the Municipalities of Modena and Carpi, remembered Arianna Giaroli, the thirteen-year-old from Carpi who died on 7 March 2024 in a tragic accident with a horse in a riding school in San Martino in Rio. His young life ended suddenly, but his heart – physical and symbolic – continues to beat elsewhere. His father, Federico Giaroli, from Correggio, entrusts the Gazzetta with a story that is at the same time a portrait and a civil message. «Arianna had two large, blue eyes, which reflected a sensitive and profoundly kind soul», says her father. «She was a reserved girl, in love with animals, especially horses. In the riding stables she wasn’t just looking for a saddle, but a place where she could feel strong, free, safe. He dreamed of a ranch in America, a simple life, in contact with nature. In a school essay she described herself in Western jeans and a cowboy hat, riding a Quarter Horse to move herds.”
A very young cowgirl with unusual tastes: she loved Queen, Maneskin, musicals like Grease and La La Land. And he imagined a future marked by music, wind and freedom. On March 7, a sudden kick to the head extinguished that light. But not his ability to give. «In the darkest moment – says Federico – we chose to donate his organs. It was a spontaneous gesture, a beacon in our darkness.” Arianna’s heart beats today in the chest of a 16-year-old boy, transplanted at the Sant’Orsola hospital in Bologna. One of his kidneys went to Padua: the child who received it returned to nursery school after dialysis. The other kidney was transplanted in Milan: “It is fine and has good functionality.” The liver was divided between Rome and Bergamo and, in both cases, the patients are alive and in satisfactory clinical conditions. The corneas were allocated to two recipients from the Banca delle Cornee of Bologna. In total: seven lives, seven possibilities, seven stories stitched together in the midst of a tragedy. “Thinking that a part of her continues to live in these children and these people is an enormous comfort,” says the father. «Our pain is transformed into a fragile but tenacious hope. My wish is to be able to meet the recipients one day. Tell them who Arianna was, so that her gift is not just an organ but a story to cherish.” l © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
