Alessio’s phone does not ring, however. His father Roberto, from Penne, in the province of Pescara, also feels the quake and begins calling him, but maybe the lines are congested. Then he turns on the television and sees that L’Aquila is the epicentre. He sees that at the Casa dello Studente firefighters are helping the kids make their way out. Alessio is a young man who always keeps him informed, he never lets his parents worry. The father begins to lose hope. He calls a friend of Alessio who tells him: ‘I’m trying all the phones, Alessio is the only one who isn’t answering.’ Roberto tries calling everyone in L’Aquila: carabinieri, firefighters, the police. No one answers, or, if they do, they tell him to leave the line free for emergencies. Then at 4.30 a.m. he manages to find out from Alessio’s girlfriend Marianna, who had spent the night at her sister’s house, that Alessio is trapped in the rubble; they can hear Ezio, his roommate, screaming, however, so they must both be alive. ‘When you hear them say he’s trapped, you picture barred doors and windows maybe, but instead they were trapped under there with an entire building on top of them, and couldn’t get out.’ Roberto sets out from Penne with his other sons to go to L’Aquila. It’s dawn and they find everything cordoned off. When he gets to the Casa dello Studente, Roberto finds Marianna who again tells him: ‘Don’t worry! We can hear Ezio!’ At 10.30 a.m. the firefighters pull Ezio out, alive. Alessio’s father is joyous, it rekindles his hope that his son will be alive as well. After all, the two boys slept in the same room, separated only by a nightstand: if Ezio is still alive, Alessio must also be alive. The firefighters continue to dig and a little at a time bring him objects belonging to Alessio: his laptop case, then an envelope full of notes wishing him luck on his degree, the shoulder bag he was never without. At one point his father asks the fireman: ‘What about my son, when will you bring him out to me?’ At 3.30 p.m. the firefighter returns with Alessio’s wallet: ‘He hugged me and I understood.’