It took her 16 years to speak openly about what happened and to return to Milan after the gang rape she suffered, when she was 21, in 2008. That night marked Valentina Mazara's life, influencing her work, relationships and in every detail of his daily life.

5,800 days terrified of receiving a hug that's too tight, of being in a crowded place or indoors, sometimes even of taking a shower. Without using heels anymore, without drinking alcohol. Between anxiety attacks, falls and choking tears in the face of other people's incomprehension.

«There is always a shadow in front of me. Not a single detail of that night has disappeared, yet since that day I have struggled to remember things. I forget everything except the violence", says the 36-year-old originally from Carbonia who now lives in Rome.

«There were perhaps twenty, I can't quantify. They tore all my clothes, I was beaten while all the people around watched and indifferently walked away. Perhaps this was the greatest trauma. My father, having learned of what had happened, said that it was my fault, for him I should have stayed home at that time. Another violence."

Francesca Melis