«Oh my god. Again? And where did it happen? How old is the victim?». A moment of pause, then, as if to share the weight of responsibility, she adds: «I don’t know what else to do here anymore». Emma Marrazzo, 58, has been forced for five years, among many sorrows, to celebrate her birthday on the day of mourning, the day her daughter Luana D’Orazio’s life was forever sucked away by a warping machine whose safety devices had been deactivated at the company where she worked. It was May 3, 2021. «I was making tiramisu – she says – when the carabinieri knocked on the door». Since then, Emma has been fighting for workers to do so safely. She asks for «fewer words, more controls, and respect for the existing laws». Last May 14, she was also received by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella: «At first I was a bit tense, but when I found myself in front of the Head of State, it was like talking to someone I had always known, a relative. He gave me courage, he told me not to give up, to keep going. He wanted to know how my grandson was doing. And he repeated to me that Luana is Italy’s daughter. Then, when he learned that I have a disabled son, he invited us back to the Quirinale: we also went on June 1st with several associations».
And now?
«I continue to fight. When I went to Rome, I also met the Vice President of the Senate Mariolina Castellone; she was kind, she gave my grandson Alessio a copy of the Constitution and told us that she would try to get Parliament to approve the law on workplace homicide».
Would you agree?
«In my opinion, it would be fair, but as Mattarella says, the laws already exist. I would add that they should be enforced. That’s why I ask unions to stop shouting in the squares and to act. To agree and to carry out more controls. Tomorrow (today editor’s note) I will be in Rome again for a meeting. Even last time, when I was in the capital, at every construction site in the center I stopped to look: there were perfectly built scaffolding. Is it possible that elsewhere they seem to be held together with tape? And then there’s one thing I would do».
What?
«I would take away the company from an employer who does not enforce safety measures, a kind of temporary expropriation, and I would return it to them when they prove they are capable of doing so».
Then they should seize several, because there’s an accident every day.
«Every time a tragedy happens, it’s like reliving Luana’s death. I put myself in the shoes of those who receive the news. Of us parents who lose a child. I can’t forget the moment the carabinieri knocked. It was 1:40 PM, Luana had told me not to wait for her for lunch because she was going to get her nails done and then buy me a little birthday present».
And instead?
«Instead, I remember the screams of my other son on the sofa, of the neighbor taking my grandson away, and of my husband who has shut himself off since that day: he had lost both parents in a car accident when he was three, Luana, after Luca’s problems, was his light. Now he can’t even go to the cemetery; when he gets close, he runs away. That’s why the State should make peace with itself: family members who lose a loved one at work, especially a son or daughter, are condemned to life imprisonment because a chain of affections dies, while employers often get away with it».
Are you also referring to your daughter’s employers?
«I just say that justice has not been done, which is why with the reopening of the investigation, I expect justice with a capital ‘J’. In recent years, Luana has become the symbol of ‘white deaths,’ but these tragedies have nothing innocent about them. It is necessary to move from words to deeds. As far as I’m concerned, I’m not fighting for myself, but for those who still die at work, for all workers. And I hope someone listens to me».
What didn’t you like about the first investigation, where the employers reached a plea bargain?
«Especially the timing, such a delicate investigation closed in less than a year. At this point, if it ends with nothing again this time, a judge will have to take responsibility for writing in a sentence that aliens killed my daughter».
What remains of Luana?
«Aside from the injustice, what remains is that the most beautiful thing in the world is gone. She was a special girl, she had the sun in her eyes».
Do you ever think about what your daughter would be like today?
«I think about it every day: happy, with her child grown up. June 30 would have been her birthday. She would have grown up, 28 years old, as she dreamed. Perhaps today they wouldn’t ask her for ID to buy a pack of cigarettes anymore».
Today your grandson is 10 years old; he was 5 when he lost his mother. Does he ask you about Luana?
«Of course. He remembers, he asks me. For Mother’s Day, he told me: ‘Grandma, go buy the most expensive flower for Mom.’ Afterwards, we went to the cemetery. But he misses her most when he’s in trouble, for example when he falls and gets hurt».
And you? Do you talk to her? Do you dream of her?
«Over the years, I’ve dreamed of her four times; once, from her words, I understood that I would go through a difficult period, and so it was. Now she sends me messages: hearts especially, and the letter ‘L’. The last time inside a cappuccino». «L for Luana» and the poem in verse written with Ugo De Vita that tells the story of the young woman who died at work in a factory in Montemurlo. l
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