The body of Luigi Cavallari, husband of Minister Roccella, has been found

After more than a month of investigations – which initially attracted widespread media attention but then continued on a daily basis, albeit further from the spotlight – the tragic story of Luigi Cavallari, the husband of the Minister for the Family, Birth Rates and Equal Opportunities, Eugenia Roccella, appears to have come to an end. A body believed to be that of Cavallari was recovered today at a depth of 18 metres in Lake Vico, a few minutes after 1.00 pm, by divers from the Fire Brigade. Investigations to identify the body will be carried out in the coming hours, ranging from DNA testing to a possible identification by his wife. “Thank you to everyone who worked to find Luigi,” said Roccella. “Finding Luigi does not ease the pain of his loss, but it gives me, our children, our family and the many people who knew and loved him the chance to experience that ‘exchange of loving feelings’ which is the deep bond between the living and those who are no longer with us,” the minister concluded. “Today marks the end of a heart-wrenching period of waiting.”

Luigi Cavallari, aged 84, from Abruzzo, was an architect. As recalled by Antonio Alberto Clemente in "Il Foglio" – who knew Cavallari first as a lecturer at the University of Pescara and later as a colleague – Cavallari was an advocate of interdisciplinary dialogue between architecture and engineering, a combination that led him to become one of the founders of the degree course in Construction Techniques at the same university. “Luigi had this gift: he knew how to draw strength from differences and even from disagreements,” writes Clemente, now an associate professor of Urban Planning at the same faculty in Pescara.

During his years as a lecturer, Cavallari also collaborated with several internationally renowned architects whom he subsequently hosted during his lectures, such as Giancarlo De Carlo and Lucien Kroll. “And yet, Luigi would never have claimed credit for any of this. One of his defining traits remains his modesty,” continues Clemente, “in the face of the gratitude many expressed to him, he was able to turn the debt of gratitude on its head”. In this regard, he recalls a remark made by the professor: “I don’t know if I’ve left anything behind; it’s not for me to say, but this faculty has given me so much: when I meet a former student who tells me they’ve learnt something from me, I feel that I haven’t wasted all these years.” 

Cavallari went missing in Lake Vico on 27 June whilst on a boat trip with his wife. They had been married for fifty years and engaged for a further five. The depth of the bond between them was recounted by Roccella in a book, "Una famiglia radicale", which Nicoletta Tiliacos reviewed in "Il Foglio" the day after his disappearance. This collection of memories recounts just how extraordinary Roccella’s story was – as the only child of two parents committed to changing politics and the world but largely unable to provide her with protection and warmth – and how, over the years, Luigi became Eugenia’s family. “He saved my life,” the minister always told her friends.

Among the first to express their support for Roccella were senators and MPs from Italia Viva, who offered their condolences in a statement.