Davide Astori’s partner Francesca Fioretti gave a deeply moving insight into life after the Fiorentina captain’s sudden death. “We were meant to walk together.”
The Fiorentina and Italy defender died in his sleep in the team hotel in Udine the night before a Serie A match on March 4, 2018. He was only 31 years old and it’s still not entirely clear what caused his heart to stop.
He left behind girlfriend Francesca Fioretti and their infant daughter Vittoria.
Davide Astori’s partner Francesca Fioretti gave a deeply moving insight into life after the Fiorentina captain’s sudden death. “We were meant to walk together.”
The Fiorentina and Italy defender died in his sleep in the team hotel in Udine the night before a Serie A match on March 4, 2018. He was only 31 years old and it’s still not entirely clear what caused his heart to stop.
He left behind girlfriend Francesca Fioretti and their infant daughter Vittoria.
She sat down with the Corriere della Sera for a deeply moving interview on her need to keep going.
“On March 5, I took my daughter to school and then went to the children’s psychologist. Life with Vittoria was hard, as life didn’t even give her the joy of the days I had with Davide.
“I know that I cannot live my pain through her, as I mustn’t appear sad or distraught. Her peace of mind depends on mine. For all that the thought of Davide might make me suffer, it mustn’t become a taboo, a name that cannot be mentioned or a gap that won’t be addressed.
“She has realised he won’t come back, but we placed him in an imaginary scenario where he is happy. Now I need to build some wings with which Vittoria can soar in life.
“We mustn’t get swallowed up by this black hole of sorrow. I don’t know what gave me the strength to find the focus to immediately work on my only priority: my daughter.
“Those people who were around me at the time told me that I alternated between moments of total emptiness, lost in my pain – when Vittoria wasn’t there – and magically springing back to normality in her presence.
“I was able to suffocate the pain so that the harmony we had with the three of us could remain, even if he was no longer here. I maintained the usual daily routine, taking her to school, making dinner.
“It was the most tragic event that could’ve hit me, it annihilated me, but I could not let it destabilise her. I will shed tears with her one day, but I must ensure she realises they are not tears of desperation. They are tears of emotion, the kind that only the most beautiful memories can create.
“Together we’ll be able to fill the void with memories and images of our brief but intense period as a family. That is I think the only gift I can truly give her, to be an anchor when she needs me, a secure port to call home, but also to let her live her life like any other child of her age.”
Francesca discussed how she met Astori in September 2013, they bonded through their love of travel and he wrote to her every day for a month via text, messages that she later printed up to keep.
“We had such wonderful times together. I cannot accept that he went away like that. It wasn’t an accident, nor an illness… It seemed like a wicked fairy-tale twist, the end of all our plans, dreams and desires.
“In the box of memories, there’s a Papier-Mache piggybank that I made, but instead of putting coins in, we would write down little notes with our desires and memories. We never opened it. Maybe Vittoria will, on a day that she chooses as important to her.
“Davide was a kind soul, a curious and happy man. He loved architecture, read a great deal and enjoyed discovering things he didn’t know. We were truly happy. I felt that life had given me such a gift with him.
“I am certain of only one thing, that I made Davide happy in our time together. In moments of pain, I think that destiny was cruel and unfair to us, but I am ready to shoulder the burden of that sorrow because if I hadn’t met Davide, we would never have experienced the joy of our love that made it possible for him to feel complete as a man and a father.
“He went away, but it was in the most fulfilling and happy moment of his life. So if my pain must be the price I pay for giving him that joy, I’ll carry it always.
“We were meant to walk together, into the great unknown. Instead we are alone. Both of us. There was a life that was possible, for me and for him. Now, at least for me, there is another life that I did not choose.
“The only constant joy is represented by Vittoria, the life that keeps on going.”