The story of an Italian in Krakow, 'Save for a minute'

He was spending "a carefree weekend in Krakow" when the massacre occurred which left six dead and at least sixteen injured, including five foreigners. The story of Umberto Orsini, a tourist from Bologna, who retraced those dramatic moments in a post on Instagram, is intense.

“We were standing in front of Zara when I said to my friends: 'Guys, come on, let's go have a coffee at the Hard Rock'. A minute later, right where we were, a shooting started,” he said. "Only later - he wrote on the social network - did we discover that a man, aboard a car and armed with a military-style rifle, was crossing the center shooting indiscriminately into the crowd. We took refuge in the place amidst the shouts, going up to the upper floors from the emergency exit. When we managed to get out, we saw the Zara shop window in a thousand pieces and a person on the ground, exactly where we were a few moments before".

"It was at that moment - Orsini continues - that tears came to my eyes. A minute was enough. Just one minute. I'm still in shock, but immensely grateful to have felt protected by something that guided me to move away". Our thoughts now turn to "those people who lost their lives - he concludes - and how thin the line is between still being there and no longer being there, because there is no need to wait for another tomorrow to give value to the life we ​​have today".

There were also 34 students and 3 chaperones from a high school in Albano Laziale in the square in Krakow at the time of the shooting. They were secured by the Italian embassy in Poland which sent the director of the Cultural Institute of Krakow and the honorary consul. Their return to Italy is managed by their travel agency; if they have difficulty finding a single flight they will organize themselves in groups with the assistance of the Farnesina. None of them had to seek medical treatment.