A LITTLE STORY OF RESILIENCE
Good morning. I am Andrea, a 29-year-old who lives with his family in Bagnasco, a small town in the Tanaro Valley in the province of Cuneo. Why this testimony? Because despite my young age I have lived through very hard times and I have been able to redeem myself despite the difficulties and suffering experienced.
A small but significant story of resilience and courage. As a child I had a great passion: rolling out pizza dough, a Saturday night opportunity to spend time with my family. Mine is a small talent; through my small hands I make the first gestures that in the future will allow me to become a good professional.
In one of my first work experiences I suffered, due to an accident at work, a serious burn to my face and upper limbs with subsequent hospitalisation. My motivation for my work as a pizza chef is severely compromised. But I don't give up. In 2017 I decided to have my first experience as an entrepreneur and I opened my first restaurant in Priola, a small town in the Tanaro Valley where I was able to make Neapolitan products known and appreciated. A team of young people worked with me. Things were going well and I had a stable emotional relationship that had lasted for many years. I was happy and I felt fulfilled in my work. I took part in the San Remo Festival in the pizza chefs' team where I was available to the participants in the singing event. I then took part in the La7 television show "Mica pizza e fichi" and became part of "Gambero Rosso" and 50 Top pizza. I was serene and full of life, joyful and courageous.
In the pre-covid period the first problems occur, including the death of my grandfather to whom I am very close. In 2020 the pandemic. Here the collapse begins. Work is scarce, staff and expenses suffocate both me and my family. The difficulties begin. I am gloomy, worried. During the pandemic my other grandfather dies and subsequently my maternal grandmother. After the second dose of the anti-Covid vaccine a small ordeal begins for me. A neurological reaction brings out a rare disease, Tourette's syndrome, which I perhaps already suffered from as a child but was unaware of it as I had few symptoms, fully under control.
The situation degenerates and I begin to have a strong relational discomfort with people as I feel different and am ridiculed for my problem. I present uncontrolled movements of the upper limbs, uncontrolled tics and a depressive syndrome caused by health problems and economic difficulties. The situation worsens from the point of view of health, work and sentimental. After a period of living together and a ten-year acquaintance, my partner leaves me, starts a relationship with my best friend and claims that she stayed with me because she felt sorry for me.
I go back to live with my family. I am gloomy, angry, depressed and suffering. Disheartened. I decide with my family to turn to specialists to try to get help. The pilgrimage to various hospitals begins, which take us around Italy to various specialists. Hospitalisations in the best Italian hospitals, numerous changes in pharmacological treatment, a lot of money spent since everything is private. Different diagnoses are made: obsessive compulsive disorder, Tourette's Syndrome. Rare diseases about which too little is known in Italy.
The drugs gradually reduce muscle spasms but cause devastating side effects. Often the specialists do not agree and everyone tries an experimental treatment, without any benefit, indeed worsening my clinical situation
Due to my health problems I realise that I am losing all the certainties I had and I see the conquests achieved with the pizzeria and bakery activities opened during the COVID period crumble before my eyes in order to find an alternative solution during the lockdown period. All this causes an economic loss of a considerable sum of money that amounts to over 100 thousand euros with unsustainable mortgages. After having "hit rock bottom" subsequently my path of personal and professional rebirth begins through strong resilience in facing the difficulties of the
moment.
I rely on a Psychiatrist and a Psychologist who help me to gradually become aware of my health problems, without hiding or being ashamed. I am a brave and enterprising young man, even a little stubborn and I don't give up. I gradually climb back up the slope. Meanwhile the pandemic ends and I decide to move the business to another municipality in the Tanaro Valley: Nucetto. It is a new pizzeria that I desire with all my strength.
The Sileo project (from the Latin a new start) was born, a completely new place, furnished in the way my mind reasoned in the "most confused" periods, i.e. a jungle. I lost all the recognitions previously acquired but in the space of a few months I managed to redeem myself and see my effort recognised through the certifications of Gambero Rosso, 50 Top pizza, Piemonte a tavola, Mastro Artigiano del Molino Bongiovanni. The greatest satisfaction is that of the return of customers to my place previously lost due to the conditions mentioned above.
Personally, I have decided to tell my story; an experience for those like me who suffer from this disorder.
Never before have so many young people been suffering from a strong psychological distress that exploded after the pandemic. My story is a small testimony of resilience and teaches you not to give up; but above all to believe in the strength of friendship and love. It is precisely when you suffer that you realise how precious the presence of true friends, family, professionals who try to help you is.
I have experienced first-hand what it means to feel abandoned by your partner, by your friends. Finding yourself alone with yourself, crying in silence, wondering why you are suffering so much. Now, trying to live with my tics, I smile and I would like to help other people whose smile has been taken away and who are in the dark. A small light to illuminate the path for those who struggle to travel the path.
A daily life made of small things, where it is possible to create small gastronomic works of art with my hands. I launched a fundraiser for the association “Un sorriso per Giorgia” collaborating with two great Chefs: Ugo Alciati and Sergio Scovazzo, donating the proceeds of the evening to LILT of Cuneo for a solidarity project with those less fortunate. A small drop in the ocean, but we know that drops create the ocean. I am convinced that after the storm the sun shines again.
Am I a dreamer? Maybe, but also a fighter who does not let health problems overcome me. In the near future my goal is focused on a testimony that I will put in writing in a book that I intend to publish to tell my story of resilience and courage in a book