Mattia Costenaro, a young deaf man from Triver, has almost achieved his goal: 4 more exams and will graduate with full marks in medicine at the Sant’Anna University of Pisaovercoming the limits imposed by his disability and also the difficulties caused by the pandemic.
The other evening was celebrated by those who believed in him at the Circolo Cacciatori, where Professor Ugo Faraguna, his tutor and new president of the Puteano College, also spoke after the death of Professor Franco Mosca, a native of Biella and a great friend. of our territory.
«After finishing high school – said Pier Giacomo Borsetti, president of Rotary Valle Mosso at the time – Mattia had obtained one of the scholarships that the municipality of Biella historically holds for its students at the Puteano College in Pisa. Moscow, who was my friend, knowing that my presidency was very oriented to the enhancement of young people, called me to report the case of Mattia who, for bureaucratic reasons, had been revoked the scholarship previously granted by the former mayor Dino Gentile .
It was at that point that the Rotary of Valle Mosso and Biella, whose president at the time, Giancarlo Petrini, was also a director of the Puteano College, the Inner Wheel of Valle Mosso, the Unione Industriale Biellese and Ideabiella decided to take over. In recent years we have paid 41 thousand euros providing everything necessary for Mattia’s studies ».
Professor Faraguna, successor of Franco Mosca, has taken up his baton and knows Mattia well, having been his tutor since the beginning of his studies: «I met him in the second year and Mosca asked me to follow him. He was an exceptional student, even if the pandemic slowed down his schedule a bit, as indeed for all the other students. The University and the Putean College still wanted to guarantee him the support to complete his studies, in which he maintained a very high average, also because he did not attend the exams if he was not more than sure of getting a good grade ” .
The joy of the result achieved and the satisfaction of having believed in a young man of worth, was also expressed by the interventions of the other sponsors present at the evening: Maurizio Ribaldone, president of Rotary Valle Mosso, Marina Santangelo, president of Inner Wheel Valle Mosso and Franco Fogliano, president of the Rotary of Biella.
But what aroused great enthusiasm and a warm applause from those present was the short speech delivered by Mattia: “Life is not easy for a deaf person, especially when studying in a country like Italy where the handicapped often have to overcome very serious problems. Furthermore, I have chosen to attend a very difficult faculty, but I must say that the University of Pisa is very well organized, with an office for the disabled that guarantees all the necessary aids. Professors Mosca and Faraguna are very important people for me, in my university life and beyond. After the difficulties during the Covid pandemic, today I feel a little tired, but the goal is now close. Thanks to you who believed in me, without you I would not have been able to build this fantastic path ».