A dream called home. This is the life of Vittorio Piroi, 84, and Ignazia Addari, 89. Or rather, they would have their home. But it is an apartment on the sixth floor of a public housing project, in via Emilio Lussu, which they cannot access because the elevator is broken. So, their home is in the countryside. They built it themselves, four walls protected, so to speak, by eternit . But living there is becoming impossible.

The shack

"We moved a couple of years ago, the elevator has been broken for at least seven. It rains inside, the house sits directly on the ground, sometimes the tiles crack, so we touch the ground," says Vittorio. He and Ignazia have been together for sixty years, a wonderful love story, amid difficulties that they face with irony: "The secret of being together is just listening and understanding each other," says Ignazia sweetly and timidly. "We've always worked," continues Vittorio; "I was a truck driver, I built crates, I made envelopes, a thousand experiences, like my wife who worked as a servant and much more." They also built the house themselves, on land they own. A self-sufficient home, with a water tank and solar panels; then a living room, bathroom, bedroom, with furniture recovered from second-hand or waste; they wash the dishes outside due to lack of space . But if only the care and effort put into it counted here, it would be a palace.

The paradox

"We always pay the rent for the council house," Vittorio says angrily, "but there are those damned 240 steps that we can't do anymore." The other way is to build a small house on this land, something better than the current shack. "I've been to the Town Hall many times, they tell me that the space on my land isn't enough, according to the law. I spent my funeral money to buy more land, but unfortunately it's still not enough," Vittorio says, shaking his head. And yet he and Ignazia don't lose their will to fight.

By their side

At the forefront of those following them is also regional councilor Michele Cossa, former mayor of Sestu: "I've been denouncing the situation for years," he explains, "but I've always found a brick wall. Now, however, we can no longer wait: forcing two elderly people to live in such conditions is contrary to the sense of humanity and is unworthy of a civilized country. It is a situation that requires urgent and non-deferrable actions, and it must be resolved before the rains arrive and the temperatures become rigid. The health of these people depends on it."