On February 28, 2023, I walked into the pool at Tre Fontane in Rome's EUR district for the first time. There to greet me was National Coach Enrico Testa.
That beautiful day changed my life. In these five months, thanks to the FINP team, it's as if I stepped into a fairy tale. Now I'm there twice a week, and every time I come home happily exhausted.
A friend of mine, Liliana Posseri, who has a disability similar to mine, told me she feels transformed into a mermaid. I feel the same way. The emotions come so fast I can barely keep up.
None of this would have been possible without the social taxi service. Without my own transportation, I had to wait for the city to approve it (that's another story). Then I started searching for a pool equipped for people with disabilities. After many dead ends, my sister Sara helped me find Tre Fontane. I started with basic water entry, then moved into a team group of seven people with different disabilities. Now I have my own stroke—butterfly backstroke. In a few days, I'll compete in front of an audience for the first time.