Two shaken communities, a school in mourning and countless young people struggling with grief that is hard to accept. The death of Riccardo Gualtieri, the eighteen-year-old found lifeless Thursday morning in his home in Verucchio, has left a deep void in San Marino as well, where he was in his fifth and final year at the scientific high school (liceo scientifico).
Just a few months remained before his final exams, after which a new chapter of his life would have begun. Instead, tragedy cut everything short, leaving friends, classmates and teachers speechless.
A minute of silence was observed at the San Marino school in memory of the young man.
Condolences to the family also came from the Secretary of State for Education, Teodoro Lonfernini, while in Verucchio Mayor Lara Gobbi expressed the municipal administration’s sympathy.
Riccardo was found by his mother around 7.30am on Thursday, lying on the bathroom floor of the family home on Via delle Vezze. She had gone to wake him for school, but he was not in his bed.
Emergency responders from the 118 service were unable to save him. The working theory is an accidental fall, possibly caused by a sudden illness, during which the eighteen-year-old struck his head violently. The exact sequence of events has yet to be clarified.
The body has been taken to the Rimini morgue, at the disposal of judicial authorities for further investigation.
Meanwhile, both Verucchio and San Marino remain in shock over a life cut short at just 18, right as Riccardo was preparing to complete his school journey.
