Pirozzi: “I will not forget King Charles III’s tears in the red zone and his surprising humility”

“I remember that when King Charles III, then Prince of Wales, was preparing to come to Amatrice, I was warned that he could not be touched, that he would not eat anything, perhaps only taste, that he would not be entertained with people. his surprising humility, with the simplicity that will surely help him make a difference as a king, upset the rigid rules on that occasion, showing us a true closeness that at least here, in our tormented land, warmed the hearts of those who had lost everything. Not only was he moved, walking in the red zone, but he tasted an amatriciana and stopped to talk to my people “. It is the memory that Sergio Pirozzi entrusts to the Adnkronos of King Charles III, on a visit in April 2017 in “his of him” Amatrice. Eight months had passed since the earthquake that had wiped out the town in the province of Rieti, dismantling the surrounding villages and from there most of the cities of central Italy like so many small dominoes. King Charles III was Prince of Wales, Pirozzi the mayor of a city that no longer existed. On that visit their so distant worlds shrank, without ceremonial or label. “It was of an exceptional courtesy and availability – continues Pirozzi – after gathering at the monument dedicated to the victims, I took him inside Radio Amatrice, I explained to him why it was created, so similar to Radio London, to communicate to all citizens what there was to do and they had to know. Literally it broke up. ” “He was very easy going, I even handed him the Amatrice sweatshirt. He congratulated me on the radio, on how the emergency was handled, struck by the pride of the people who had not left their homeland, who had resisted. And then, interested in the agricultural sector, he wanted to know how many companies there were. The atmosphere was so real that I gave him a pat on the back, I remember that the translator laughed. If he had applied the protocol, in that occasion, he would have been out of tune. He knew it, as an intelligent person he is. He will do great things as a King “. (by Silvia Mancinelli)