GREENWOOD, S.C. (AP) - Sarah Luke Galanti of Greenwood said it is like she’s living in the midst of a war.
She is here, FaceTiming with her Italian husband, Mattia Galanti, who’s on lockdown in Italy. That entire country is on lockdown due to the fast-spreading novel coronavirus.
Sarah and Mattia are wondering whether the wedding ceremony they have planned for June 6 in Castellarano, Italy will now have to be postponed, possibly by a year, as COVID-19 numbers climb across the world.
“My husband and I were married at the Greenwood County courthouse in September,” Sarah told the Index-Journal by phone recently. “But, we’ve been planning a traditional wedding in Italy, so that all of his family could be there. He’s in Italy now and had planned to stay there until the wedding. Before this, he hadn’t seen his family in about two years.”
Sarah said she is supposed to fly to Italy in May and her husband arrived there in early March. They are both 25 years old.
“Italy has been on lockdown,” Sarah said. “Since then, the Italian government is doing everything it can to stop the spread of COVID-19. Now, he’s not allowed to leave his house in Italy at all. He’s self-isolating along with his younger brother, father and mother. You have to justify why you are leaving the house. The police force is patrolling to make sure no one is out without a purpose. Mattia is unable to leave the house, to even go for a walk. ”
Mattia reached out to the Index-Journal by email on March 25, writing: “Well. what to say, the situation is not the brightest, but every day we look for that glimmer of hope to go on. None of us would have expected a situation like the one we are in today. Sarah and I find solace in the little things, knowing that in spite of everything things will turn out for the best. The situation in Italy is ameliorating, the percentage of increase in COVID-19 total cases at national level has been decreasing. As of yesterday, it was for the second time below the 10% threshold indicating a possible turnaround. Sarah and I may have to postpone our religious ceremony to 2021, nevertheless this does not splinter our love, nor does it change our anticipation in waiting for that day to come to confess our love before God.”
Sarah said Mattia has been encouraging her and her family to heed all of the warnings about coronavirus and take precautions.
“I’ve been scheduled to fly out of GSP on May 15, to be with his family for three weeks before the wedding and one week after it,” Sarah said. “Now, the virus has come here and I’m a little bit less hopeful we will be able to have the wedding in Italy on our scheduled date.”
“We’ve said lots of goodbyes during the course of our relationship because we are from different countries and we go and visit each other,” Sarah said. “But, right now, we don’t know when exactly we will be able to see each other in person again.”
Sarah said Mattia finished his bachelor’s degree in Spanish and computer information systems at Lander University, graduating in December 2019. He’s scheduled to begin at Clemson University this fall in a biomedical data science doctoral program. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Spanish, with a minor in poverty studies and Latin American studies from Furman in 2017. Sarah is currently enrolled in an online court reporting class.
Sarah and Mattia met while taking part in a study abroad program in Spain. They both speak Spanish in addition to their native languages.
Sarah has also learned a good bit of Italian in the time she and Mattia have been together, particularly during a three-month stay she shared with his family years ago, where Mattia’s mother taught Sarah the finer points of making tortellini from scratch.
“He was also studying Spanish and we met in a classroom, in October of 2016,” Sarah said. “We’ve always spoken Spanish together. I sat next to him in the class and from the start, I had a crush on him. He was the only boy in the class. By the time I had to fly back to the United States, to be with my Furman class, we knew we loved each other and wanted to be together.”
Mattia proposed to Sarah after they had been dating for three years. He popped the question at the Mailbox of the Kindred Spirit on Bird Island in North Carolina, a special spot not too distant from Sunset Beach, North Carolina. This community mailbox has journals and pens in it and hand-written notes.
“We both wrote letters and Mattia told me he wanted me to read his,” Sarah recalled. “He wrote that he knew he would propose to me at the mailbox when I first brought him to it…When I finished reading, he was on one knee and proposed to me.”
“We’ve always written letters to each other, ever since the first time we were apart, back in December and 2016,” Sarah said. Sarah said she’s looking forward to wearing the wedding dress she has in her bedroom at home in Greenwood.
“At first, I thought my flight in May seemed a long time away,” Sarah said. “Especially now, I’m realizing it’s getting worse and worse. I’m thankful he and I are both well and healthy even though he’s in Italy and I am here. His family there is well and healthy, too. But, I’m wondering when the wedding will now be that we want to have in his country. We’ll probably have to postpone the whole thing by a year. We’re trying not to feel anxious and stressed about all the changes.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.