Granai della Memoria

Luca Calissano's story is an intertwining of professional skills and deep humanity combined with great passion.

Luca Calissano was born in Turin on 13/10/1963. He spent his childhood first in Italy and later in Brazil.

Back in Italy, he obtained the high school diploma and subsequently, with sacrifices and satisfactions, the Diploma in Nursing Sciences.

He began his career at the Molinette cardiac surgery unit in Turin; this professional experience allows him to build a wealth of knowledge and experience that is fundamental to the acquisition of skills as an instrumental nurse.

The need to measure himself in a different professional context will lead him to undertake the free profession by joining a nursing studio.

This choice allows him to implement his knowledge in other surgical specialties, in particular at the multi-specialist operating block of the Giovanni Bosco Hospital in Turin.

After 2010 he left Italy and began a collaboration with Emergency.

He begins a career that leads him to have experiences of profound human and professional enrichment, both in Sierra Leone and in Afghanistan.

And it is precisely here, in the Middle East, that Luca highlights not only a great management capacity of the operating blocks he coordinates, but also important decision-making and responsibility skills, telling with dramatic clarity, a particular and courageous battle in defense of hospital where he served, subjected to bombing during the war between Afghan and Taliban forces.

Inside it will always carry the sensation of constant danger, the thunderous roar of bombs and the memory of the bodies of guerrillas and civilians (including many children) torn apart by explosions of bombs.

Despite the drama of the war events, he will have the opportunity to confront the great humanity and the natural welcoming spirit of the Afghan people, enriching himself in his deepest soul.

In August 2017 he returned to Italy and returned to work as a freelancer in the operating room, also dedicating himself to field training in the cardiovascular area.

The last part of the interview represents a balance of his working life, full of passion, knowledge and professionalism, noting how much the experience with Emergency has changed him from a human point of view.