Luca Cecca, a 'kind and big-hearted' person, now the ninth Italian to die in Ukrainian conflict

 ROME - Luca Cecca, 34 year-old waiter in a Roman restaurant, has been listed as "Missing in action”, having been in Ukraine since August 2024. No body has been found at this time, despite the Memorial – International Volunteers for Ukraine, a Facebook page that honors the memory of fallen volunteers, including his name and picture. He is now believed to be the ninth Italian to have died in the Ukrainian conflict.

 But Luca, according to those who knew him, may not have left for Ukraine intending to take part in combat against Russia.

 “He wasn’t a mercenary but an idealist, a brilliant, kind young man who cared deeply about others. If I could have tied him down to stop him from leaving, I would have, but for Luca, even years ago, that journey already meant helping others.” These are the words of Angelo Falcone, owner of the namesake restaurant near Via Cipro, where Luca Cecca worked for years before departing.

 “He had already gone to Ukraine in 2023 but returned, and then left again in August 2024,” Falcone continues. “The last time we heard from him was before last Christmas, then nothing. But I want to stress that he didn’t leave Italy for money, he didn’t need it, but because he was an idealist, someone who truly cared about the fate of others.”

 According to what has been reconstructed so far, he was reported missing in December 2024. His father, having received no news, filed a report with the Carabinieri station in Santa Marinella. Luca’s phone rang unanswered, but the family believed and knew he was still in Ukraine. How he ended up joining the combatants is still unknown.

 “He didn’t leave with that intention,” Falcone adds. “He was a brilliant guy, he graduated without even telling his family, and when the time came, we organized a party for him at the restaurant. I saw his parents, so happy about that unexpected achievement, proud and emotional. To me, and to many of my family who came to the restaurant, to the other employees, and even to the customers, he was a kind, big-hearted, sensitive person. I didn’t really like the earrings he wore, or the nose ring, but what can I say, he was only a young man.”

 A lover of history and international relations, the field in which he graduated, Luca spoke several languages and had also written and published a book of poetry. “‘Low profile’ is what you called yourself,” adds a close friend in her tribute, “because you never cared about being noticed.”

 Single, with no children or partner, Luca leaves behind his parents and a brother, who works in their father's business, and a group of many friends who mourn him. It seems the last trace Cecca left was during a mission near Donetsk, close to Toretsk.

 “You used to write on walls: ‘I fear my fellow humans because we are so different.’ Bon voyage, wherever you go,” the friend concludes.

rs