A wonderful family story following a sports journalist’s transition at L’Equipe de Greg

Testimony. The magic of television. Valentin Pauluzzi, a sports journalist in Italy and correspondent for L’Equipe, Canal+ and Europe 1, tweeted on Monday January 30 that Gregory Asher’s appearance on L’Equipe de Greg in early January allowed him to find him. is a part of his family. “My father’s cousin looked up my last name, did some research and contacted him. I restarted myself. It was effective. My father – soon to be 90 years old – was able to see his mother’s face for the first time“, he wrote on Twitter puremedias.comthe journalist agrees to explain to L’Equipe how this intervention allowed him to learn more about his family and origins.

“This is the red thread of my entire professional and personal life”

Before going into details, Valentin Pauluzzi remains on guard, “I want to do something with this story“but find”owl“to be able to say:”This is a common thread that runs through my entire professional and personal life. So I agree to share this“. A story that follows part of Italian history in the 20th century.

It all started in the late 1920s, when Valentin Pauluzzi’s paternal great-grandfather left the village of Friuli and Buja near Udine in northeastern Italy to go to Picardy. Her father, Germain Pauluzzi, born in 1933, was placed under foster care before World War II. At that time, the biological grandmother of the journalist, Alfea, was very young at the time, 17 years old, and could not keep her child, the identity of the father was never known. “My father does not blame him at all. He figured he had good reason not to. Then when I was a young mother and trying to work… Especially with World War II“, he emphasizes. Thus, Germain Pauluzzi grew up in Picardy, not knowing a full part of its history.

In 1976, an earthquake occurred in Alfea region. “My father receives documents for inheritance and land. Then he was able to get his mother’s birth certificate, but she refused the inheritance. He didn’t want to buy land when people were just out on the streets“, defines the voice of Europe 1.

“Always a Mystery”

A few decades later, a future journalist looking for family history and curious about her origins begins a search to find her grandmother: “The logical assumption is that it disappeared during World War II. Many civilians died and not all of them were buried“. At that time, his father had exchanged only two letters between his adoptive mother and Alfea.”He kept hearing from his son, with the idea of perhaps finding him one day“, thinks Valentin Pauluzzi.

In 2008, the young man, who was still a student, flew to Venice as part of the Erasmus program, and therefore approached Buja.only a hundred kilometers“. When his parents come to visit him, he decides to go with them to the Italian countryside to learn more about their lineage. And surprise! The municipality directs them to half-cousins from another marriage. “He stopped there. It was great for us to know more. And they, for their part, did not know what Alfea was. It’s always a mystery“he continues.

“Stupor!”

Two years ago, the mother of the Serie A specialist “out of curiosity“Google comes up with the name Alfea Pauluzzi and a death certificate for someone with the same name in the south of France.”Stupor! How is it possible? is he Isn’t he?“, the journalist asks. And after checking the dates of birth, Valentin Pauluzzi manages to confirm that this is indeed his grandmother.”That’s why my father’s mother lived until 2001… until the age of 78, my father could meet his mother. Here it is“he says with some emotion.

At the same time, Valentin Pauluzzi was already cooperating with Canal+. The journalist, who was sent to Nice for an interview with the former goalkeeper of French football, Sebastien Frey, took advantage of this trip to go to the village where his grandmother died. Interrogating the residents of the commune, he is surprised to learn that Alfea still has a daughter.step sister for my father“and”aunt for me“. However, at this moment, Germain Pauluzzi is not inclined to meet this woman: “He is a great humanist. He didn’t want to enter anyone’s life. He was a little afraid of it“.

“The Valentin Pauluzzi we saw on TV, is that your son?”

But his comments about Italian football in L’Equipe de Greg on January 5 led to his investigation. “My parents get a call on the landline. The man on the phone asks: ‘Is the Valentin Pauluzzi we see on TV your son?’“, he says. On the other side of the device are distant cousins who don’t actually have the same last name, but who know Pauluzzi “because their children had moved in together at the same time“.”My father had never met anyone from his family in France.“, insists the reporter who now lives in Milan, Lombardy.

This meeting is a trigger for the Pauluzzi family. On Thursday, January 26, the journalist’s father finally admits that his son is in contact with his aunt. “I wanted to take a picture of my grandmother. Since she was his daughter, he had to have her“, slides. And to say the stress before calling the phone: “It is elegant. It’s great to see that on TV or in the movies. But when it happens in real life, you should be a diplomat anyway!“.

After texting”a little vague“Valentine Pauluzzi talks to his aunt on his answering machine, happy to learn he has a half-brother and a nephew.”My maternal grandmother never spoke about her first son“he says. And he receives Alfea’s post-war photos by e-mail. Valentin Pauluzzi shares these unpublished photos with his family. At the age of 90, my father sees things differently. He only accepted the positive. It makes him laugh“, – says the reporter.

“Finding a family by appearing on television, I didn’t think about it”

Today, Valentin Pauluzzi is still amazed at how a simple transition can have such an impact on the small screen: “It was this cousin who saw me on TV that set the search in full swing. I’m not sure my father would have raised it any other way. Maybe that piqued his interest. I didn’t think about it when I didn’t go out often because I was able to go on TV and find a family. Less so on L’Equipe. This is a channel for sports fans. Not everyone is watching“.

Today, the Pauluzzi family continues to research its origins. After finding a new cousin, Franco, who has devoted his retirement to reconstructing their family tree, father and son learn that their father left Italy to escape fascism. “This is truly heart-warming information for him. That his grandfather did not want to submit to the fascist regime at that time. This is our culture and beliefs“, he concludes this wonderful story. Just as television can still work wonders.