March is a month that is dedicated to women, remembering and honouring historical events, and activist movements that were and are made for protecting the rights of women all over the world. Thus, this is the reason why March is called Women’s History Month. However, today’s article is not about the Women’s History Month; it is written in honor of Italian activist Pippa Bacca.
Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo was born in Milano, on 9 December 1974. In nature, she had an activist and feminist soul, always aiming to seek peace and a better world to live in. On 8 March 2008, she and her fellow artist Silvia Moro started their trip from Milan. Both of them wore white bride dresses symbolizing their motto: “marriage between nations”. Their project was called “Brides on tour”. If they had been successful their names would have been in a history with golden letters. However, this journey ended in the worse way possible.
Silvia and Pippa
They travelled through the Balkans and arrived to Turkey on 20 March 2008 hitchhiking. They planned to move to the Middle East and end their trip in Jerusalem. But a terrible misfortune took place and Pippa’s white dress was colored red with her own blood. She disappeared after hitchhiking to Gebze on 31 March 2008. Her dead, decomposing and naked body was discovered in the same city after 10 days; she was only 33 years old. The autopsy on her corpse proved that she had been raped multiple times by different people, including her murderer Murat Karatash. Karatash said that he took Pippa from the gas station with his car and then could not remember what happened because he was “under the influence of drugs and alcohol". Unfortunately, this admission is not an excuse and will not bring Pippa back.
At her funeral, everybody was asked to carry something green which was the artist’s favorite color. “The family wanted to remember her in a joyous manner,” said Silvia Morro. And here is the link for the movie and the documentary that were dedicated to Pippa. I highly recommend them to movie lovers.
Finally, I am proud of being a woman in the world that courageous and rebellious women such as Pippa and Silvia lived in!
I want to finish my article with Pippa’s sister Maria’s words: "Her travels were for artistic performance and to give a message of peace and of trust, but not everyone deserves trust..."
Seljan Huseynzade
31.03.2022
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