Bologna, 12 agosto 2024 – Pietra Tagliata pass is a via ferrata that winds its way up Alpe di Succiso. It is this portion of the Reggiano mountain that serves as the backdrop to the video immortalizing Valentina Fino climbing the rocky wall, smiling, quick, and confident. A short video shot on Saturday by her boyfriend, which Valentina immediately posted on her Facebook profile. Without knowing that, a few hours later, that mountain she loved so much would betray her. Valentina Fino worked for the Ant of Bologna, assisting cancer patients. The 31-year-old nurse died in a mountain accident in Reggiano.
“In a world where you can be anything, be kind.” This is how Valentina Fino presented herself. The thirty-one-year-old nurse from Bologna, a climber by passion, fell from the Barbarossa trail on Alpe di Succiso, in Reggiano on Saturday. A fall that violently tore her away from life.
Probably, according to the initial reconstruction, the girl may have slipped due to the paleo, a grass that covers those peaks and often hides dangers and holes that can be dangerous, if not fatal, for hikers. Valentina Fino, a 31-year-old nurse, resident of Bologna, and hiker. An image taken from the girl’s latest social media video shot by her boyfriend.
She was with her boyfriend, a thirty-four-year-old from Carpi with whom she had been dating for a few months, an experienced hiker himself. “I’m destroyed, it hurts too much,” were the only words he spoke yesterday, still in shock. He would have filmed that video, while Valentina, as agile as a chamois, in symbiosis with that mountain she loved so much, climbed up. The last climb of a thirty-one-year-old who had decided, in her life, to help others.
And she had done so by choosing the nursing profession. She graduated from Alma Mater in 2016.
And today, at 31, she worked for the Ant of Bologna, assisting cancer patients. Her death has created a void among colleagues who, with President Raffaella Pannuti, rallied in dismay at Valentina’s family.
Before returning to her Bologna, she had already faced the Covid emergency on the front lines while working at the hospital in Bolzano. And abroad, in Munich, she had trained by working in the hematology intensive care unit of a university hospital.
Five years ago, to share this experience, Valentina had been the protagonist of a video posted on YouTube. “Hi everyone, my name is Valentina and I’m from Bologna,” the thirty-one-year-old presented herself, smiling, happy with this work experience. A video that reveals the calmness and kindness of this girl, taken away from life too soon.
These characteristics also emerge from the young professional’s social media profiles, where the green of the peaks still stands out above all. Many photos tell the story of this summer’s excursions in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines and beyond, often accompanied by her beloved white dog, Linus.
And, in recent times, also by the thirty-four-year-old who was with her on Saturday and who heard her scream and saw her fall 200 meters down. He ran to reach her, descending that steep, vertical, and dangerous slope, driven only by the strength of desperation, hoping for a miracle. The boy reached Valentina, heard her breathe for one more moment. One last heartbeat before closing her eyes forever among those mountains.
