Venice — Before being accompanied to the third floor of the Verona prison, in the section dedicated to sex offenders, in the cell he shares with another inmate, Filippo Turetta has time to talk to those who follow him every day. He spent a whole day in court. He awaited the verdict against him in an isolated courtroom, surrounded by prison police officers, where he spent all six hours of the judges’ chambers. Finally he went to hear the sentence.

«The wait was agonizing. I think it’s a fair sentence, I expected it”, the meaning of the words confided to those who had the opportunity to speak with him. The lawyers had prepared him for the possible epilogue, and he too now appears in the eyes of those who follow him as more “aware”. The 22-year-old from Torreglia is asked if he wants to call his parents. He asked about them a year ago, upon first entry into the Veronese penitentiary institute, a few hours after their delivery to Italy: «No, I don’t feel like it now – he adds now -. I’ll call my mom tomorrow, it’s her birthday.”

Giulia Cecchettin, the story in ten stages from our correspondent Rosario Di Raimondo 03 December 2024

“I want to go back to studying”

Turetta has been detained in this prison since November 25, 2023. In his section there is a school, a chapel for prayer, a gym, a space for writing: perhaps it is here that he produced the ninety-page memorial that later ended up in the trial documents . In prison, as for all inmates, he too thinks about what activities to let him do. To give meaning to every morning. The routine today is that of English class, gym, TV, books, guitar. “I want to go back to studying,” he would have said.

The parents did not follow the hearings

His parents, Nicola Turetta and Elisabetta Martini, will soon visit him again. They did not participate in the hearings to avoid the risk of interfering with the trial, and certainly also to avoid the media crush. Now they are trying to absorb their son’s life sentence. “They ask for confidentiality, they don’t make any kind of statement,” says their lawyer Paola Rubini.