130 | March• 2019
GQMAGAZINE (AUGUST 2017), © JOSHUA HAMMER, GQ.COMDi Quinzio said, as he reached
beneath Matrone’s armpits and lifted
him out of his tomb.
The rescuers gently placed him on
a mattress. Matrone gazed up at a
dozenfaces,silhouettedbythelight
oftheirheadlamps.Acheerwentup
in the small crowd: “Bravo!”
Forthefirsttimesincetheava-
lanche, Matrone felt cold. Wrapped
in a thermal blanket, he was airlifted
byhelicoptertoahospitalinPescara.
Gangrene had burrowed deep into
his right arm. The nerves in his right
ankle had practically been destroyed.
Whenheawokefromthefirstof
many surgeries, Matrone was told
thathadhebeenrescuedeventwo
hours later, his arm would certainly
have been lost.
Five days after his rescue, Matrone
wasgiventhenewsthathiswifehad
died – one of 29 people killed by
theavalanche.Herbodyhadbeen
found, crushed by debris, next to
where Matrone had been trapped.
Theangelwhohadappearedtohim
in his fitful dreams had, unbeknown
to him, never left his side.In all, 11 people survived the
Rigopianodisaster. The Pescara
public prosecutor is continuing its
investigation into allegations of
criminal negligence. The families
of some who died in the Rigopiano
avalanche are pressing for a
reinvestigationofthehotel’s2007
zoning variance and an inquiry into the
authorities’ failure to clear the road.head, one curled beneath his left leg.
Reaching him finally, Di Quinzio
wrappedaclotharoundMatrone’s
head so he couldn’t see the bodies.
“We’re covering your eyes because
of the dust,” Di Quinzio told him.
Matrone played along, knowing he
hadsharedthespacewithatleast
one body. Rescuers slipped body bags
around the two dead women and
pulled them through the hole.
As his eyes adjusted to the artificial
light, Matrone studied his pinned arm
with horror. The wrist had swollen to
four times its normal size, and most
of the limb had turned black. The
rescuers raised the concrete beams off
Matrone’s limbs with a hydraulic jack.
“You are a bad-ass guy, a superhero,”
Giampaolo Matrone recovering
in hospital