I met Antonella in the mid-2000s, when she was an advisor to the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Public Administration and Innovation, Beatrice Magnolfi. I got to know her better about ten years ago, when she worked as an Internet Governance expert within the activities of the NEXA Center of the Turin Polytechnic, with whom I interacted as Director General of Studies of AGCOM (Communications Guarantee Authority) , and organized the first Internet Governance Forum Italy in Cagliari in 2008.
As for all those who knew her, her lively eyes and her kind and reassuring smile were immediately striking, winning over her interlocutors, even when she recounted with serene detachment her misadventures that were not always positive, sometimes bordering on actual discrimination in as a woman, beautiful and – intolerable if combined with the previous characteristics… – intelligent.
We have heard and seen each other many times in his wanderings between more or less representative positions and in keeping with his great experience and professionalism, and he told me about his (not easy) adolescence, with the loss of his father and the transfer to Rome from his beloved Manduria , of her unpleasant medical experiences in which I tried to help her, of her desire to commit herself to a more humane world protected from the excesses of technology (which she also loved and studied), of her passion for university research, which she had to to abandon due to the refusal of 'baronial' logics bordering on bullying, in relation to which he kindly reproached me (and at the same time admired me) for having similarly left the position of Associate Professor at the University of Tor Vergata after having won the relative competition.
He then spoke to me of his passion for singing (opera), dance, acting, ... and also of his desire to work in AGCOM, which he had - once again - decided to give up due to various vicissitudes and bureaucratic delays, which he had always tried to fight back in his Innovation efforts in the PA.
All without ever allowing feelings of legitimate resentment, never arrogant or opinionated, but maintaining his calm determination and his gaze (sometimes a little sad and melancholic, but always) reassuring and ready to convey serenity and confidence in the future.
Finally, reaching the goal of Head of the Digital Agenda of the Lazio Region, she began her journey towards recognition of her great skills and professionalism, happy all the more for the presence of her beloved mother who in the meantime had joined her in Rome.
Member of various Associations and co-founder of the States General of Innovation, she hadn't renewed her membership for some years, she promised herself to do so and in recent times I've been pressing her about it. She replied that she first had to resolve some «medical problems that afflicted her» – yes.
Having not heard from her since last summer (I later learned that the subtle disease had struck her about a year ago), I looked for her again in the autumn, and after brief interlocutory messages, a couple of months ago she replied that «unfortunately in this period I have serious health problems, I'm not even going to work.' Worried, I called her several times on the phone, and finally - with a certain embarrassed modesty - she mentioned her latest serious health event, begging me not to divulge it (I now consider myself released from the promise made to her), and of her determination to fight for own life. I offered myself several times to go and see her and talk about it to exorcise the fear, and we promised ourselves to do it during or after the Holidays, which she hoped - which at least this fortunately happened - to be able to go home.
We exchanged various messages for Christmas and New Year's Eve, postponing our meeting until after the Epiphany. Thought I'd text her on January 6th evening, but being late – hers chat WApp indicated 22:56 as the last access - I promised myself to do it the following day January 7th. Unfortunately I didn't make it in time – this is my big gripe -, the last access was on January 6th @ 10:56 pm…
We were all shocked, exchanging in the various mailing list And chat an infinity of messages, all agreeing in underlining «her lively eyes and her conquering smile», an «exceptional woman with rare human and professional qualities», a «serious, professional and “respectable” person, uncommon qualities these days », «his commitment and his intelligence in the digital world and in modernizing the Public Administration», «his ability to enter into relationships with warmth and humility and to think systemically and effectively, skills that are quite rare in today's work contexts» , etc.
This awareness will not return Antonella to the affection of her loved ones and of all of us, but at least we hope it will contribute - as far as humanly possible - to alleviate the immeasurable suffering of her mother and of those who feel an unfillable void due to the sudden lack of such a person. "beautiful", young and eager for life who left prematurely.
In presenting the heartfelt and sincere condolences of the States General of Innovation and myself to the family, we are sure that Antonella will remain forever in our hearts, and we are discussing with Anna Masera, an authoritative journalist and her great friend and admirer, Flavia Marzano, Marco Calvo and others to set up a scholarship in memory of Antonella.
I conclude with a beautiful phrase by Prof. Giovanna De Minico, which struck me greatly: «I appreciated her for the balance and sense of the institutions within the Commission for Internet Rights (presided over by her mentor Stefano Rodotà, another great loss for all of us, who had great esteem and affection for her, reaffirmed on many public and private occasions, NDS) and to other working tables. To these two qualities he added a rare sense of modesty in expressing his ideas, almost as if he wanted to apologize for the nice things he said. A true 'Lady'».
Hi Antonella, it was a privilege to meet you, rest in peace…
Fulvio Ananasso
