L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 10 L'Italo-Americano E veryone knows Italy's national sport is soc- cer. After that come cycling, skiing and Formula One, where the country always produced great champions. Our relationship with basket- ball is definitely more nuanced, though: as kids, we play it during P.E; as teens, it becomes one of the many symbols of American culture, something that still fascinates and enchants Italian youth. Yet, the recent death of Kobe Bryant made a profound impres- sion on the country, more than one would expect, perhaps.There are, of course, the tragic circum- stances of his passing. There's the fact he was young and famous, a husband and a father. There's the tragic knowledge of how the life of one of his own children, Gianna — such an Italian name, a short version of delicate "Giovanna" — was claimed in the accident as well, too soon, too young. And then, there is the aware- ness of families — the Bryants, but also those of the other people who perished in the crash — being destroyed by sorrow. The sheer, matter-of-fact realization of life's fragility and of the ine- luctable nature of death: indeed, John Donne was right when wri- ting never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. Bryant's teammate and friend LeBron James said it well during his heartfelt, moving spee- ch at the Staples Centre last Friday: Kobe's death forces us all to put our own life priorities in order. Kobe Bryant's death meant all this to Italy. And something more. Because the bond between our country and the NBA star was deep and real and meaningful, even if not many may be aware of it. Here, Kobe had learned how to play. Here, he had discovered his love for the sport. Here, his dream had begun to turn into rea- lity. And he never forgot it. Kobe's father, Joe "Jellybean" Bryant, had played in the NBA for quite sometimes when he eventually decided to spend the last years of his career in Europe. Italy happened to be the place fate chose for him so, in 1984, he and his family, inclu- ding 6 years old Kobe, moved to Rieti, a pretty town about 50 miles from Rome, where Joe played for the local team, AMG Sebastiani. Here the Bryants spent three years: "we always kept two eyes on the ball and two eyes on him," said Antonio Olivieri, Joe Bryant's former teammate, about young Kobe. "He was a kid when he was here in Rieti. I remember Joe always taking him to the gym… he used to climb into the hoops while we were playing, " Olivieri conti- nued in a Reuters interview. From there, the Bryants moved to Reggio Calabria, right in the country's toe, where Kobe, who was 8, started training with the local youth team: "He moved like a panther, he would take con- trol of the ball and play all posi- tions," his first coach, Rocco Romeo said to The Wall Street Journal. The family then moved back up to Tuscany in Cireglio, a small village near Pistoia that Kobe called home for two years. It's here that he received his first Holy Communion, an important moment for someone brought up a Catholic, and who made of his own Faith an essential feature of his life. In the days following his death, Alessia Pierattini, an old friend of Kobe's from Cireglio, said she had made a photo album, years ago, with many pictures of that day, and that she even had the occasion to show it to Kobe, seven years ago: "One morning at 7, the doorbell rang and I saw Kobe," she remembers. In the same interview, published by Reuters, Pierattini also mentions how friendly the NBA star had been, in that occasion, with all the people in the village who wanted to take photos with him. Then, she confided he had told her he would have loved for his daughters to live in Italy: "I want them to experience what I felt as a child, a reality that does not exist in America," he had said to Pierattini. Words that leave little doubt about the place Italy had in Kobe's heart. But the place Kobe remembe- red with more fondness was, without a doubt, quaint and ele- gant Reggio Emilia, where he lived until 1991. What an impression Reggio must have made on a young kid from Philadelphia: smaller, without a doubt, but so perfectly contained and filled with Old World beauty. The piazzas, the Basilica della Ghiara, the Teatro Municipale… the food! Yes, Reggio, its friendly people, gritty and welcoming just like all Emiliani are, soon became home and family to the Bryants and to Kobe in particular. In Reggio Emilia, Kobe truly felt at home, as he declared in 2016 to BaskeTime Magazine: "I grew up here, I used to ride my bike here. There were all my friends, I have many memories, it's special." Reggio is where he learned to speak fluent Italian and where he liked to return quite often. "When, at the end of his career, Kobe Bryant showed up here in Reggio Emilia, I think that has been the moment during which the entire citizenship of the town understood the genuine depths of the connection," Reggio Emilia's mayor Luca Vecchi declared to CNN. Kobe always stressed how the time he spent as a player of Cantine Riunite's (Reggio Emilia basketball squad) youth team was crucial for his formation as an athlete. Davide Giudici was his teammate in those years, and he also kept in touch with him later in life: "Kobe was very serious and very professional. Even when he was 10 or 11 , he had the 'Mamba mentality'," he said to CNN. During the same interview, Giudici also recalled a particular moment he and Bryant shared in recent years, one that today has become even more significant: during his first season in the NBA, Kobe and his sisters visited Italy and organized a day out in Reggio Emilia with their mates from childhood: "It was an unfor- gettable moment altogether, like when we were children, having ice cream like normal people." Indeed, Kobe highlighted in more than one occasion how much he missed the Italian way of life, "like going out with friends in the piazza to have a gelato." Truly, the time he spent in Italy, between the age of 6 and 13, made a long-lasting impres- sion on him, made him the man he was and he showed it in a myriad of small ways. Some little examples. He gave Italian names to his daughters, Gianna — as we said —Bianka Bella, Natalia Diamante and Capri. He was a great soccer fan and supported AC Milan like a true Italian tifoso: he even kept a team's scarf in the Lakers' locker room. Once he said, " Cut my left arm and it bleeds black and red," AC Milan's colors, " Cut my right arm, it bleeds purple and gold," the Lakers' ones. Aware of Bryant's passion, AC Milan wore black armbands during their last Serie A match against Torino, and played a tribute video to Kobe and Gianna on the San Siro Stadium's big screens before kickoff. Not many Italians knew about Kobe Bryant's love for their country. I didn't know. But, in all honesty, we are happy to have found out. Proud that he felt one us, with his talent and imperfec- tions; that he felt Italy would be a beautiful place for his children to live. In 2011, during an inter- view on Radio Deejay, one of our most popular radio stations, he had said Italy was always to be close to his heart. We'd like to say, today, he will always be close to Italy's heart, too. Ciao, Mamba: Kobe Bryant's profound affection for Italy, where he first learned to play CHIARA D'ALESSIO Kobe Bryant spent 7 years in Italy when he was a child. His bond with the country remained strong until the end (Copyright: Dreamstime) LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE

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