A book by Grazia Andriola, who traveled 5000 km in 120 days in memory of the victims of femicide.
Grazia Andriola, 48, a nurse, has undertaken a very significant initiative. A path in support of all abused women and victims of femicide. The woman traveled 5000 km in 120 days, from Santa Maria di Leuca to Santiago de Compostela. More than a hundred women made some strokes with her to tell her about her tragic experience. With these women there was also a "repentant" man. Because you can get out of a life of violence and fear.
The Camino de Santiago becomes a symbol to say enough to femicide
Grazia Andriola started on June 27 last year walking 8 hours a day for 4 months and covering 5000 km. Thirty a day and every step on dirt roads, beaches and paths was aimed at one of the women killed at the hands of a man in the last year. Emanuela, Vania, Sara, Rosamaria, Stefania, Giulia, Gloria, Fabiana, Rosaria.
From the southernmost tip of Salento, Santa Maria di Leuca, to Santiago de Compostela, the lives of these women have accompanied Grazia. During the walk, notifications arrive on the nurse's cell phone. Another name is added to the list. Other dead women killed.
A woman victim of femicide dies every 3 days
The stories that women tell echo in Grazia's ears. Unknown, scattered among the dirt roads, she walks with her 11 kg backpack on her shoulder, listens to the tragic stories. Stories that tear you apart and tear you apart.
Like that of Maria, from Tuscany, who has been raped and beaten by her husband for 10 years. Despite this life of extreme suffering, she justifies the violence that she and her minor daughter suffer.
The fear that her husband could make a massacre and kill the whole family has taken hold of her so deeply that her tolerance level exceeds any known threshold. Yet he did it. Little by little she found the courage to put together the pieces of her residual strength and turned to an association against violence, which placed her in a protected environment.
Valentina's story is also very sad. The woman lives in Piedmont and after years of violence, she is now in a shelter house. Her "mistake" was that she never went to the hospital. She had only reported her husband to the police. But without medical reports it is useless, also because the man who beat her was a "notable" of the town in which they lived.
A book against femicide
The need to talk about violence is profound but also complex. We prefer to talk to a nurse walking towards Santiago, as in this case, instead of going to a specialized center. This means that fear and shame prevail.
Grace Andriola she wanted to make sense of her steps by telling them in a book against femicide entitled: #steptostopviolence. A walk in memory of the victims of femicide.
The woman reached Santiago de Compostela on 22 October 2016, with 10 kg less, some tendonitis and many significant encounters. For all women victims of violence and femicide, Grazie arrived in Santiago wearing a green T-shirt. The color of hope.
