Italy’s Federica Pellegrini joined Otto e Mezzo‘s live broadcast on March 30 evening from her home in Verona, where the swimmer announced publicly that she would auction her sports memorabilia with the proceeds donated entirely to the hospital in Bergamo.
“I have decided to open an online auction with my most important memorabilia and the money raised will go to the Bergamo hospital,” Pellegrini said. The full broadcast can be watched here.
In the video, the Olympic and world champion announced that 24 sports memorabilia will be made available for the auction. In addition to this, Pellegrini will donate the stage clothing she wore during her various appearances on the talent show Italy’s Got Talent.
Pellegrini will offer these items on an auction which will take place online, defining her as having a lot of value. From the headphones to the costume she wore at the talent show, those interested will be able to win a piece of her collection. The proceeds will be entirely donated to the hospital in Bergamo. Bergamo is the most affected city by the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.
Pellegrini is a two-time Olympic medalist (one gold and one silver). Her resume also includes 6 gold, 4 silver, and 1 bronze long course world medals; 1 gold, 2 silver, and 5 bronze titles in short course world championships; 7 gold, 2 silver, and 4 bronze European long course medals; 7 gold, 4 silver, and 6 bronze short course European titles; 2 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze at Summer Universiades, and 2 gold medals at Mediterranean Games.
Similar to Pellegrini, Hungarian Olympic icon Katinka Hosszu alongside Iron Swim partners Máté Gelencsér and Tamás Batházi recently donated a total of 1.5 million Hungarian forints (roughly $4,500 USD) to the research of the novel coronavirus.
Italy has been on national lockdown since March 9. Per Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, Italy has a total of 119,827 confirmed COVID-19 cases, out of which Bergamo has over 8,000, with more than 1,500 deaths.