Dear friends of OMBRE E LUCI, I am delighted to share with you the experiences my brother Stefano continues to have in both sports and music.
For nearly four years now, he has been an athlete with Polisportiva Milanese, an organization affiliated with the Italian Federation of Sports for the Disabled (F.I.S.D.), a federation of the Italian National Olympic Committee. It promotes sport for disabled people and organizes competitions across every discipline and at every level.
The federation's aim is straightforward: to ensure that everyone—regardless of the nature or origin of their disability—has the right to participate in social and recreational life with the greatest possible autonomy.
Sport allows young people to experience joy and emotion just like anyone else, to express themselves authentically and fully, and to achieve harmony in both body and mind.
For Stefano, his years as an athlete at this club have been deeply meaningful. He competes in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, shot put, and the 4 x 100 relay.
The team, coaches, and volunteers have woven a strong net of friendship around him. Training together once a week in the gym has been wonderfully motivating for Stefano and all the others: we can have fun together and push ourselves to improve. And if you want to compete in races, you have to put in the work.
The competitions themselves are unforgettable. The young athletes give their all, they follow the rules, and—they always win! The medal ceremony is a moment in the spotlight; Stefano treasures every single one and keeps them carefully in a box. Within the group, a true team spirit takes hold, and the young people cheer each other on.
For three years, there were also the Italian National Championships at Montecatini Terme. What a gift it was to go away together for three or four days, have fun, and come home richer in both experience and medals! The training and racing have made Stefano more confident. Now every summer he wants to continue training, and every year he asks specifically to go to the mountains—the Dolomites.
In the mountains too, he wins his medals, reaching countless mountain huts and hiking for hours at a time, though always with rest stops and on well-marked trails.
Beyond these sports, Stefano has also been doing hippotherapy for several years. His work with horses has improved the coordination of his movements and given him greater security in his own body.
Being the true athlete he is, Stefano is also an Inter fan. Together with his brother Alessandro, he follows the results and the teams' performance closely. On Mondays, you can get plenty of information from Stefano about Sunday's matches.
Recently, alongside his passion for sport, Stefano has thrown himself into music with real enthusiasm. He is in his first year of the Three-Year Laboratory of Applied Musicology, directed by Monsignor Pierangelo Sequeri. In music, and thanks to excellent educators and musicians, Stefano has found a powerful means of communication and fulfillment. Drawn by his love of music, he has managed to work steadily through the initial difficulties that usually appear at the start of any new experience.
He has learned to work with others toward a shared goal—the orchestra—and to feel himself a true part of it. Under the guidance of his educators and the gifted orchestra director Licia Sbattella, he has taken up the cello, timpani, and xylophone.
The end-of-year concert left everyone amazed by the excellent results and by the commitment of every young person in the group.
— Maria Carla Farioli, 1995