Elisa Di Francisca, born in Jesi in 1982: 2 gold medals won at the London 2012 Olympic Games, in individual and team foil, and silver at Rio 2016 in the individual competition. At the World Championships in the same races he won 7 gold medals (the last at the World Championships in Kazan 2014 and Moscow 2015), 5 silver and 3 bronze. His record at the European Championships is also remarkable: 13 gold medals (the last in Düsseldorf 2019), 2 silver and 3 bronze.
A life of foil, one could say, but one that carries with it a story of violence and possession that she herself wanted to share with everyone and especially with other women. He said, “Love one another, respect one another, and report them at the first sign.” At 18 he fell in love:“He was my first crush, I was in love with this boy who was very jealous. For him, I even stopped fencing for a while. But once I stopped, my life became hell: he controlled everything, he was always afraid that I would cheat on him. At the beginning – she continues – I didn't listen to anyone because I was convinced that he loved me and that he would change. Until he took my hand.”
Emmanuel Lambertini: born in Cento, in 1999. Wheelchair foil champion. He lives in the province of Bologna, in San Giovanni in Persiceto, he studies automation engineering at the University of Bologna and one of his biggest goals is to create new prosthetics. But he is also a musician and composer. A true force of nature.
He was born with a very rare vascular malformation in his right leg, which degenerated over the years. After painful and incessant treatments in Italy and abroad, the limb had to be amputated transfemorally (above the knee) at the age of 8 and a half. Tell : “I was in the hospital in France and one day the doctor told me that there was a solution to my illness: to amputate my leg.”
He never gave up and lives his diversity in a sunny and smiling way.
