This afternoon Italian rugby will meet in silence in Lavinio, on the Lazio coast, to give the last farewell to Massimo Cuttitta, the pylon of the legend who for 70 times carried the blue melee on his shoulders and together with a generation of phenomena led it right into the utopia of the Six Nations. He who seemed invulnerable in the battle reserved for giants been folded by Covid at 54, two weeks of suffering shared with Marcello, the inseparable twin that the virus took away in three days first the beloved mother Nunzia and then half of his life: The last image that our brother Michele and I have of Massimo – he says while waiting for the sanitation of the family home to be completed -, the one we saw through the screen of a hospital tablet. We had to convince him to rely on doctors, he had decided not to be intubated, but the situation was getting worse. When he told us to only care about Mom and raised a finger in agreement before entering the ICU, I realized once more that he was the brother, son and captain that everyone would like to have close to them.
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The phone is going crazy, Marcello dazed, messages arrive from South Africa, New Zealand, England, Scotland and from that extended family that becomes the world of rugby when it comes to offering support. Massimo was an immense player and a coach who taught the art of scrum around the world, always with Marcello ideally at his side. At the time of the national team the Cuttitta twins were an exception, one prop and captain, the other wing and magnificent scorer (28 international goals, no one has scored like him in blue), the yin and yang of the game, physically polar opposites, but indivisible. We teased them – says Paolo Vaccari, another phenomenon of that team – because they never made a decision without being in harmony. For me they remain an example of fairness, friendship and unforgettable moments lived together.
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Massimo recently – says Marcello – had given up on collaboration proposals with the best teams in the world: they had looked for him in South Africa, Ireland, Australia. But after Dad’s death he had decided to stay close to Mom and she couldn’t afford to be away from home for long: she gave us so much, she told me, now it’s right that we give her something back. He had retired to Lavinio: the only distractions allowed the restoration of ancient cars, a gozzo to go to sea and total dedication to mom.
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The last few weeks are hard to tell: We used to talk four times a day, he was happy because he had managed to get his mother vaccinated. Then what happened unexplainable, the positive mother and immediately after him. They entered the hospital in Albano Laziale together, the doctors did everything possible, but they never went out.
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Massimo Cuttitta and the other athletes who died of Covid
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Memories become a difficult tackle to sustain: Always in pairs, at the Pinetown High School in South Africa where dad, engineer, it was for work and where we learned to play rugby, at Milan to win 4 league titles together, in the most fantastic era of the national team. When he became the first Italian to play in an English club (Harlequins of London, ed) I was proud and a little confused. He was convinced that I would join him soon, but I had made a different life choice: a job in Milan and the desire to start a family separated us for the first time. On the pitch and in life he was my reference, humble and always reassuring. really true, we thought with one head. Now he will have to learn to do it himself.
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April 13, 2021 (change April 13, 2021 | 07:53)
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