The protagonist is the 42-year-old Alessandro Tammelleo from Udine, a professional musician. The banner will be in St. Peter’s Square and the blessing will fall on those who “signed” it
UDINE. In the beginning it was supposed to be a simple journey along the Via Francigena on his bicycle. As the days went by, it became a path of hope for dozens of people and associations. The protagonist of this adventure is Alessandro Tammelleo, a 42-year-old musician from Udine, a professional musician, who left the Gran San Bernardo on August 1st and headed for Rome. With a mission: to get the flag of Friuli containing the names of friends, relatives or people who believed in the symbolic value of this journey, called “your name be with me”, to the Roman Opera Pilgrimages, to the Vatican. Thus, upon receipt of the Testimonium, the blessing will fall on all those indicated in the banner.
«I am a great mountain lover and I have tried my hand at solo climbs of the Bianco and Rosa mountains, the Marmolada and the Gran Sasso. And every time – he says – friends asked me to involve them and not always leave alone. So, after traveling the Camino de Santiago twice, I got the idea of crossing the Via Francigena with a Friuli flag containing the names of my friends. A way to ideally be accompanied by them ». In a short time, however, the word spread, and Tammelleo began to receive requests to reproduce the names also from relatives, acquaintances and strangers. “By now we have reached 300 names,” adds the Friulian adventurer. “A few days ago a dad called me and asked me to write his daughter’s name on the flag. He has a bad disease and there is nothing more to be done about medicine. With no more hope, he wanted to rely on my trip. An episode that is giving me a great boost and that helps me to keep going even when fatigue and high temperatures put me to the test ».
Alessandro was yesterday in San Miniato, in the province of Pisa. In his timetable, the goal is to travel about eighty kilometers a day, but for the heat, it does not go beyond 50. To sleep, he relies on “Providence”, as he says, knocking on parishes or charities. “In Lucca they opened the doors of the archiepiscopal palace to me for the night,” he remembers.