Cagliari, last coffee before the tragedy: «Manola and Paolo calm and smiling»

"They had two coffees and left around 1 p.m.," says Micael Secci, owner of the bar on Via XX Settembre that the two lovers who died in Cala Fighera frequented every day. "They were smiling, calm as always, laughing and joking."

Tuesday was a day like many others, with its simple and reassuring habits. Manola Mascia and Paolo Durzu had their usual coffee at Chic53 and nothing foreshadowed the tragedy that would take them away a few hours later .

Even the night before the tragedy they had stopped by for a cappuccino, staying for an hour before leaving. "They came almost every day," Secci recalls, still incredulous.

Between them, he assures, there was complicity and serenity. Manola loved that stretch of the Cagliari coast, rugged and wild . "We will miss Manu's selfie moment, she loved to be called that, and Paolo's deep voice," says the bartender with melancholy.

Now all that remains is the memory of those small daily gestures, of a last cup of coffee before everything changed forever.

Secci's testimony comes at a time when the relationships between the two families of the young people, destroyed by grief, are very tense.