I met Renzo at his house for a chat in January 2021. Even in the middle of winter, it was sunny outside. A cold and beautiful afternoon. The trees were bare, but it was only a matter of time before life erupted again. Renzo declared, as soon as we sat facing each other in his office:
 
RENZO: If today they locked me in a dark solitary room, giving me just enough to survive, I would still be the happiest man in the world – for all I've ever lived. The important thing is not the length of a life, but the intensity with which a man lived.
 
INTERVIEWER: What will you do when you get to heaven?
 
RENZO: I'm going to tell Saint Peter that if my name isn't on the guest list, I'm going to beat him up!
 
INTERVIEWER: Do you have any remorse?
 
RENZO: None. Because even when I was wrong, I wanted to do the best. I kept my heart pure.
 
INTERVIEWER: What do you want them to write on your headstone?
 
RENZO: “You who come here to visit me, tell future generations that I lived and fought according to our family belief.” Loyalty. And courage.
 
INTERVIEWER: How do you imagine your own death?
 
RENZO: Sheik Tahnoon (from the UAE) once asked me: “If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, what would you do?”
“Nothing,” I replied.
The prince was perplexed: “What do you mean?”
I told him, “My brother, I hugged whoever I wanted to hug. I kissed who I wanted to kiss. I said “I love you” to all the people! I'm not late, I'm up to date. And I just hope it all ends with a fireworks display!”
 
Renzo paused and a thought came to my mind: some of us have the sacred opportunity to be heroes once in a lifetime, in a great act of courage in which we save one or more people, redefining, with our action, the human condition. But Renzo has been doing it for decades, tirelessly, as a part of his daily life. As if this were his duty. That's what makes him a hero of our time.
 
RENZO: I remember reading a poem when I was a child. I don't remember who wrote it, but one sentence stuck with me:
"One day I kicked a ball into the air
and I never heard it fall..." 
My life is like this soccer ball, flying through space. Maybe forever...
 
At that moment, we looked out the window and saw that, in the late afternoon sun, his grandson Roman, 5 years old, was playing in the garden. By incredible synchronicity, the boy played football. After running with the ball in his hands, Roman tossed it into the air; and before the ball hit the ground, the child kicked it towards the sky.
 
Renzo closed his eyes.
And smiled silently.