MADRID Domenico had dared to dream of a life alongside his most beloved friend, Pierrick. He said that «"Only those who know how to dream can fly"» and those who knew him swear that those words had nothing to do with his profession as a steward.
Years and years spent flying, first for Alitalia, then for Air France. Domenico Riso, raised under the sun and overlooking the Sicilian sea, took more planes than highways, saw more clouds than buildings. He is the only Italian to die among the wreckage and flames of the MD-82, on the runway at Barajas..
He was 41 years old and had the ambition of someone who is happy: to live a hundred years with the people he loved most. Pierrick and his three-year-old son, Ethan: they were those people. They were his "family"«, his holidays, his dreams, his roommates in the beautiful Parisian house, "a small, welcoming and warm palace," confirms the steward's cousin, his namesake. Pierrick Charilas and Ethan were next to him on the catastrophic flight. They died sitting next to each other because Domenico was among the passengers on Tuesday afternoon: he hadn't boarded that plane for duty. This time they were leaving for vacation, the three of them together, as usual, for a few days of rest on the beaches of the Canary Islands.
Domenico had obtained a discounted fare from Spanair, the one reserved for children. That's why "niño" (child) was written next to his name on the passenger list, making it difficult to identify him. Until yesterday morning, no one had asked for information about that passenger with the Italian name. Not a single call from a worried relative or friend. It seemed like a mystery. The embassy and Spanair later figured out why. Domenico was always in the air and often didn't even call home to say where he was going. For him, a flight was like driving a few kilometers.. He had called his father Pietro a few hours before leaving on Tuesday. But it was just two words: "I'm going on vacation for a while," no details about his destination. So neither the old sailor Pietro nor Domenico's sisters (Concetta and Marianna) could have imagined him on the plane of his death (their mother passed away a few years ago).
They found out yesterday morning at the Riso house. And they also learned about Pierrick and Ethan, names they'd heard from him many times. Pierrick was once an aerobics champion, had an unsuccessful love affair with Ethan's mother, and then She decided to live with the child and Domenico in the Parisian apartment, as if they were one family among many, with the child to raise together.. Not that the matter escaped the attention of the gossips of Isola delle Femmine, a seaside village on the outskirts of Palermo that the "man of the skies" (as his friends called him) had left in 1997 for the French capital. Two men living together are known to be a source of gossip, and in the village there is certainly no shortage of gossip.. And if there's a small child involved, beloved by both of them and like a son to Domenico, the gossip can get pretty vicious. But Domenico has always continued on his own path. Like the time he decided to wear an earring. Never mind if someone didn't like it.
If a few too many words irritated him, he'd deflect his anger by singing, especially opera, one of his many passions. Domenico wasn't the type to be daring. He could fly. And "only those who know how to dream can fly.".