Twenty-two years have passed since the tragedy that struck the community of Ghilarza with the death of cardiac surgeon Antonio Carta, but no one in the village has ever forgotten the young doctor who left a deep void, especially in his mother, Palmira. Since that day, she has only left home a few times due to her grief, and she lives on in her son's memory. His father, Peppe, who passed away a few years later, had withdrawn into a painful silence that has always moved everyone.
On February 24, 2004, a Cessna 500 airplane flying from Rome to Cagliari crashed on the slopes of Mount Cresia, in the municipality of Sinnai, killing Antonio Carta and five others, including Alessandro Ricchi, director of the transplant center at Cagliari's Brotzu Hospital. The plane was carrying a heart intended for a patient awaiting a transplant. Rescuers rushing to the crash site found the wreckage of the plane nearly disintegrated and recovered the remains of the victims.
Carta was 38 years old and considered one of the most promising doctors on the cardiac surgery team. The Ghilarza community remembers Antonio with affection and admiration, while every year his closest friends from Cagliari, led by his colleague Paolo Manca, organize a motorcycle rally in his honor, which takes place right in Ghilarza.
The cardiac surgeon is also remembered through the structures that bear his name, such as Viale Antonio Maria Carta near the Delogu hospital, the Casa Famiglia, and the conference room of the Order of Physicians of the province of Oristano.
