«My brother had important values, which have always distinguished him on the pitch. Sporting loyalty, first of all, and then the battle against racist behavior". Carmelo Imbriani, a former footballer, died at the age of 37 due to a form of leukemia, his brother Gianpaolo in 2013 founded an association, "Imbriani don't give up", just to continue spreading Carmelo's principles.
His goal is to tell this story and he does it by traveling the world. Everything starts from football: «In 2013 the fans, from north to south, united under a single banner, "Imbriani don't give up", for a player who was already ill, could not boast of any trophies but who, evidently, had left a sign as a man», explains Gianpaolo. «I have traveled a lot, I have counted 12 round-the-world trips by hitchhiking, bus, train, ship, bicycle and motorbike, always with the flag of the Four Moors attached to my backpack to show, to those who see me pass, my love for this island which in my eyes is the most beautiful ever. There were many nights spent at the home of the families who hosted me. Then, due to the coronavirus, I had to stop the odometer». During the lockdown he enclosed his greatest dream in a book: «To see 5 football fields built, one for each continent, dedicated to Carmelo. To date there are already those of Benevento and Itigi, in Africa. I'm working for that in Salta, Argentina».
Resuming the journey, Gianpaolo was recently in the United States. In New York he met the members of Pietro Porcella's Cagliari Club: «I gave him the Benevento shirt from when my brother was coaching».
Gianpaolo was born 43 years ago in San Giovanni di Ceppaloni (Benevento), and fell in love with Sardinia thanks to his brother: «He always promised me a great trip if they promoted me at school and the year of my diploma we finally left . Destination Sardinia. Since then, although I have seen so many places in every corner of the planet, I have not found anything more beautiful. I would really like the Sardinians to fully understand the great fortune they have ».
And on the backpack there are not only the Four Moors: «Even a mask of the Mamuthones and other symbols of Sardinia are important to me».
His brother was taken away from him by Hodgkin's lymphoma: «He had discovered he was ill while he was in retreat with Benevento, which he was coaching at the time. He always had a high fever but the doctors did not immediately understand the cause. Only once did the diagnosis arrive in Perugia, seven months later death occurred.
A few weeks had gone by when Gianpaolo was invited to the Campidoglio in Rome to collect an award dedicated to Carmelo: «After the ceremony I didn't want to go home, I got into the car with some friends heading to Trieste, on my shoulders the rucksack he had given me my brother, with the Sardinian flag. I got dropped off at the border, which I crossed on foot, to reach a station but I realized it was late, so I stretched out my arm to hitchhike. At that moment I had the feeling that someone was touching my arm, my brother had been dead for a month, so I was convinced it was him. Rationally then I realized that it was a gust of wind that had pushed a backpack strap. The fact is that a car had stopped. And he had given me a lift. I realized at that stage that in that season I hadn't worked to be next to Carmelo, and I didn't have a large sum in my pocket. Hitchhiking would have allowed me to travel and tell our story, showing photos of the many displays of affection for my brother.'
Among his thoughts is a line from a famous film, “Big Fish”: “By telling his stories, a man becomes those stories. They live on after him, and thus he becomes immortal." «These words take up a bit of the promise I made to Carmelo in the hospital, when he asked me "Who will take care of my children?". My nephews were one two years old and the other five months old. Their father will never die, because I will continue to tell everyone about him."
This evening, at 7 pm, at the "Cagliari Club Pavoletti" in via della Pineta in Cagliari, Gianpaolo will present "The story of a promise", a projection of images to explain his ambitious project. «I will talk about my first 70,000 km of travel, but first I will tell about my brother. Marco Mancosu and Pietro Porcella will be with me, they were my "connection" to be in this beautiful city today». The event is free to enter.