Pier Giorgio dies at the age of twenty-four, one step away from graduation. His last months of life are tormented by a strong internal suffering.
There are several things that distress him. First of all, the acute tension between his parents, one step away from separation, in the face of which Pier Giorgio and Luciana are the only ones capable of maintaining the unity of the family.
When Pier Giorgio feels the love for the forge Laura Hidalgo growing inside him, he senses the magnitude of the problems that this love could cause in the family. For Pier Giorgio, scion of a prestigious family, designated heir of «La Stampa», the desired bride is quite another.
Before showing his affection to Laura in any way, he confides in Luciana. Then he makes a decision: he gives up his love. The long training to put himself aside to give himself completely and without reservations has reached its highest point. «Destroying a family to create a new one would be absurd and something that is not even worth thinking about. I will be the one sacrificed; but if God wants it so, then his will be done.». It is a tough battle. The inner torment is excruciating. He confides in very few people, whom he continually asks to pray for him. But the suffering never gives way to sadness: his faith remains firm, he knows that God does not abandon his children.
In January 1925 Luciana married a Polish diplomat and moved to The Hague. Pier Giorgio felt the weight of the family situation slipping off his shoulders.
When, in June, his father asks him through a reporter to join «La Stampa», and therefore to give up his dream of working as an engineer among the miners, he still bows his head and says yes.
«I am now close to reaping what I have sown.». This is what he wrote to Marco Beltramo on June 15. This sentence perhaps contains the mystery of Pier Giorgio. Death reaches him and takes him, quickly. In six days, fulminant polio kills his strong body. Pier Giorgio wastes away in silence, progressively paralyzed in bed, while the family is gripped by the agony of his elderly grandmother and does not realize the gravity of her illness. Not a request, not a demand, not a complaint comes from his lips. Nothing for himself, even if death advances. No fear: he knows he is going into the arms of God.
Today I went to the burial of a literature graduate who was a friend of Bertini [...]. I reflected and thought that in a few years I too will be in that state; I too will arouse a sense of compassion mixed with that of disgust and even at times I have been ambitious. To what end: death, this great mystery, the only just one, because it does not look anyone in the face, will dissolve my body and in a short time turn it into dust. But beyond the material body there is the soul to which we must dedicate all our strength, so that it can present itself to the Supreme Tribunal without guilt or at least with small guilt, so that after having served a few years in purgatory it can ascend to Eternal peace. But how to prepare for the great Passing and when? Since one does not know when Death will come to take him, it is great prudence to prepare every day to die on the same day; So from now on I will try to make a little preparation for death every day, so that I do not find myself unprepared at the point of death and have to regret the beautiful years of youth, wasted on the spiritual side.
And what do you do? What do you think of these resolutions, which I hope with the Grace of God to be able to keep?
Letter to Antonio Villani – July 19, 1923
Dearest, I am reading Italo Mario Angeloni's novel "I loved like this" where in the first part he describes his love for an Andalusian woman and I think I feel emotions because it seems like the story of my love.
I too loved like this only that in the novel the Andalusian makes the sacrifice while in mine I will be the sacrificed but if God wants it so let His Holy Will be done.
Today I am going to Sauze d'Oulx: to try the Giovane Montagna race track, tomorrow the company leaves for S. Bernardo and my spirit is there with them for a double reason: because S. Bernardo was the cradle of my dream, alas!, broken and then because there is the one I loved with pure Love and today by renouncing I desire her to be happy. I urge you to pray that God may give me the Christian strength to bear serenely and to Her every earthly happiness and the strength to reach the End for which we were created. On the day of your graduation I experienced how true are the words of St. Augustine who says: "Lord, our heart has no peace until it rests in you". In fact, foolish is he who goes after the joys of the world because these are always fleeting and bring pain while the only true joy is that which Faith gives us, and the beloved companions especially through this powerful bond will always remain united even if the contingencies of life will toss us far away. Thus she will always be for me a good friend, who, known in the dangerous years of life, will have helped me to continue on the straight path towards the Goal.
Write me something and pray a lot for me. Best wishes for a good ending and a good beginning to you and yours, kisses from
Pier Giorgio
Letter to Isidoro Bonini – Modane, 28 December 1924