Organised by the pastoral team supporting the activities of the “Sacro Cuore di Gesù al Castro Pretorio” parish, part of the Salesian Headquarters complex, the event began with a time of fellowship and conviviality for the forty or so people present, and then continued in the renovated Chapel of the Word of the Salesian community for the meeting and testimonies.

The proceedings were introduced by the Rector of the Salesian community of the Sacred Heart, Fr Francesco Marcoccio, who, together with Sister Maria José Rey Merodio of the Missionaries of the Risen Christ, outlined the schedule, the dynamics, but above all the purpose of the evening: to listen to some powerful testimonies of the real lives of today’s families, so as to encourage all those present to reflect on the ultimate horizon of Eternal Life from a Christian perspective, starting from the reality of family life.

And so, taking the floor, at times choked with emotion, were the parents of Gilda Cersosimo, Paola and Pasquale; and the mother of the Servant of God Marianna Boccolini, Maria Letizia Tomassoni, accompanied by Father Massimo Reschiglian, OFM, Marianna’s biographer and a long-time friend of her family.

The Cersosimos spoke of the extraordinary witness of their second-born daughter, Gilda Cersosimo (2004–2021), a force of nature packed into just 17 years of life, taken to Heaven by a rare and complex form of cancer. Through their words, they spoke of a young woman who loved sport, languages, travel and fashion… A girl full of life and a natural leader amongst her friends, who lived her short life almost as if embodying the recipe for holiness advocated by Don Bosco: “Always be cheerful, always do your duty well and help others”.

Cheerful and proactive even during her illness, she never lost hope, not even during the terrible recurrence of the disease that struck her, taking care to support her friends and family through their difficulties and bearing witness to a deep faith in eternal life right to the very end.

A similar witness, despite all the differences in personality and life experience, was that given by the mother of Marianna Boccolini (1992–2010), a young woman from Umbria who went to Heaven at the age of 18 following a tragic road accident. A studious girl, a lover of reading and a painter, from a young age she displayed a distinctive Christian sensitivity and a special concern for the least among us. Though gifted with many talents, she did not seek to excel, but rather to help others—starting with those closest to her—to rise above their circumstances. Despite her short life, she wrote extensively, in diaries, blogs and essays… bearing witness to an authentic Christian faith and a desire to contribute to the creation of a more just, supportive and fraternal world.

A few days before the accident that took her earthly life, she foresaw the imminence of her death and asked her mother to forgive the young man driving the car. The diocesan inquiry into her Cause for Beatification was opened on 7 June 2025, in the Narni Co-Cathedral.

Speaking of them, outlining their character traits and recounting their words, anecdotes and episodes, Gilda’s parents and Marianna’s mother bore witness not only that the most terrible of life’s trials can be faced and overcome through faith and with the prospect of eternal life; but above all that living an authentically Christian life within the family today is still possible, attractive and beautiful, and that it is often the youngest who teach adults the most.

To round off the evening – interspersed with brief moments of reflection and dialogue for individual married couples – everyone present moved to the Salesian Basilica of the Sacred Heart to renew, through the recollection of certain gestures from the rite of Baptism, the memory of the sacrament which introduces every believer into eternal life in Christ.

{gallery}Italia – Serata Eternita 2026{/gallery}