There are tears and participation in the alley of the historic center which from today remembers Vincent and Achille. One hundred square meters of spray-painted wall that starts with their stylized names and opens into a large mural that sees them, happy children, playing on the beach to build a sand castle resembling the Olbia lighthouse.
A little further on there is an anti-bullying logo and a phrase, in Italian, English and Gallura, to keep in mind. “Asking for help doesn't mean you're a loser.” Achille Barbino and Vincent Plicchi have never met in reality: what they have in common is, more tragically, the story of a voluntary and extreme gesture that shattered their young lives, catapulting family and friends into an abyss of despair.
When Matteo Plicchi - Vincent's pope - was invited by the mayor Settimo Nizzi to present the mural project, he retraced his son's short life up to the epilogue: the young man from Bologna, a twenty-three-year-old TikToker with over 300,000 followers, took his own life live social media, victim of an unprecedented series of defamatory insults. A mural which, Matteo specified, was to be not only a warning against the dangers of cyberbullying but also a request to young people not to isolate themselves in difficulties.
That isolation that even the parents of Achille Barabino, the fourteen-year-old student and rugby player from Olbia, who passed away in November 2022, would have liked to break. “There was the desire for a son from Olbia to be present and to accompany Vincent in this message - a few moving words, those of his parents Marco and Cinzia - and even if their stories are different, the message we want to send is that the parents The teachers are there. You can always ask for help, for any situation there is a solution."
The mayor wanted to thank the authors, the two writers, Massimiliano Landuzzi (Rusty) and Elvis Pregnolato (Mambo) for their long work. Rusty and Mambo. "Don't be afraid or ashamed to ask for help and then go to Vicolo della Refezione so that the message remains strong in your heart - said the mayor to the many students present at the inauguration - If there is a need, you have to speak; to classmates, parents, teachers, weaknesses must become opportunities. This mural is wonderful because, despite the strong pain that these events have caused, it transmits joy and serenity." Gigi Antolini, director of the Scientific High School, the Achille school. “We will try to work better and better to make you live in well-being – he said – ask for help for any form of discomfort: the school is there”
