“I go to schools to talk about Costanza and how you risk dying”
Carlotta and Costanza were 17 when the Seat Ibiza they were traveling on went off the road. It was late at night, they were returning from an evening in the company of friends from the parts of Verona and Alex, behind the wheel, fell asleep. Carlotta Mancini was saved as well as the two boys who were with them. Constance, his twin, died.
The tragedy turned their lives upside down. Especially that of Carlotta who from that day, was March 19, 2016, she realized that she had lost not only her beloved sister but also an important part of herself. She tells it in an interview with Corriere della Sera.
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“That evening my boyfriend at the time was driving and I was next to him. Behind was my sister with a friend. We were returning from Peschiera where we accompanied a girl home. I went to sleep, also because it seemed to me that Costanza was talking to the other. I woke up in the middle of a vineyard and I heard my sister’s name being mentioned – says Carlotta – Then my father arrived who didn’t say anything and my mother who screamed instead … I felt guilty for not staying, for what I could have done and also why he was driving him. And then that evening I could stay home with her … I felt a great disappointment for my parents. But I must say that in the end, relations with them strengthened ». It took Carlotta a while to get over the trauma. “I will say a banality but for me it is not: the 18th birthday party, organized by my parents, was hard without her,” she admits.
At the Arena di Verona now he goes to speak to the students:«I am part of the Safe Verona Association. Almost every Friday, and when I can’t go my dad, we go to high school. We explain the risks involved when he drives by drinking an extra glass, when he is tired. We teach the need to always be awake. I’m talking about Costanza and who is in the passenger seat. Where was I that night, when I got it all wrong. “