Who was Andrea Silvestrone, the athlete who died with his children in a terrible accident

He hadn’t let anything stop him before today’s crash.

Paralympic tennis player, lawyer, father of three children, he had faced multiple sclerosis with all the strength he could muster. But today Andrew Sylvester died in a tragic road accident on the A14, near Grottammare. Together with him, after a violent head-on against a truck, the youngest child, 8 years old, and the eldest daughter, 14, also died, while the other child, the middle one, 12 years old, is hospitalized with several fractures but it would not be life threatening.

A dramatic end for him who had climbed the difficulties of life: he was 33 years old when he was diagnosed with the disease and since then his motto has always been: “If you can dream it, you can do it”. And he had done it: he had become multiple Italian Paralympic tennis champion and, in 2022, after his many encounters with children in schools, he had been awarded an honorary degree: «I am a great collector», he said, «I collect moments . And I thank the life that has given me so much, much more than what it took from me. But this time he took everything away from him.

According to an initial reconstruction by the motorway police, Silvestrone took a gutter losing control of the vehicle. He tried to counter-steer but collided with the truck that was passing at the time. A fatal moment.