Contrary to the usual approach, I decided to start this interview at the end. Edoardo Bove and I are sitting in the incredibly comfortable red seats in the back row of The Castle, an independent cinema in London. In a few minutes, the premiere of Primetime, Robert Pattinson's latest film, will begin, and we will have to leave the room. The interview has gone on longer than expected, so I decide to wrap it up with a short question, though that doesn't make it any easier to answer.
I tell him to take all the time he needs: if he had to describe who he is today in just a few words, which ones would he choose? The question stems from everything we have discussed up to that point, but also from the release of his documentary, In un battito ("In a heartbeat"). I want to know how he sees himself today, after everything that has changed and everything that happened on that day. A few minutes go by. Then Edoardo Bove turns towards me and says: "Grounded. In relation to myself, I feel connected. I feel right at the very centre."
Suit DIOR; Shirt PAUL SMITH; Tie LOUIS VUITTON.
Full look FERRAGAMO.
Suit DIOR; Shirt PAUL SMITH; Tie LOUIS VUITTON.
Suit DIOR; Shirt PAUL SMITH; Tie LOUIS VUITTON.
Full look FERRAGAMO.
A response that, in reality, gradually emerged over the course of our conversation, as we looked back not only at what happened during the match on 1 December 2024, but above all at everything that came afterwards, perhaps the hardest part of the entire journey. "The truth is that I knew I would have to face the situation, because I'm also aware that if you don't confront certain kinds of thoughts or even certain feelings, you might be able to put them away in a drawer and postpone dealing with them, but sooner or later they will resurface. So I knew I had to face the situation straight away, for what it was, because that would put me in a better position in the future. That's why reliving it didn't bother me all that much."
Reliving at least some of those feelings was certainly not easy, but for Edoardo it was also a necessity. In un battito, his new documentary, tells the story of everything that happened after he collapsed on the pitch. Edoardo chose to let a small camera follow him, documenting his rehabilitation journey while also sharing glimpses of his private life, his medical readings and everything that came with them. The aim was to leave something with those who watched the film, without necessarily conveying a specific message or a clearly defined lesson: "The first thing I think about is whether something has stayed with you, something that makes you think. Not necessarily a lesson, but something that gives you food for thought. If that's what happened, then I think the film has, in some small way, achieved what it set out to do."
A need to tell his story that stemmed from the desire to bring to the surface emotions he had kept inside for a long time, and which he found cinema to be the most suitable medium to express. The result is a natural, never pre-constructed narrative, through which Edoardo retraces not only his rehabilitation, but also his past. As he told us himself: "My agent and I were thinking about what the right path might be for a project like this, given that I had no experience of the world of cinema or television. It all started with this need I had, first and foremost, to let out emotions that, knowing the kind of person I am, I knew would be difficult to express. I'm a very introverted person, so I wanted to find a way to externalise them, and the camera helped me do that.
At the same time, I felt I wanted to do something with a social impact, to raise awareness about first aid and also to tell the story of an ordinary young man, not necessarily a footballer. Then, naturally, the football aspect became part of the documentary. But I wanted to focus more on the experience of a young man facing difficulties and trying to overcome them. The truth is that I wanted to do something, and I also wanted to keep myself busy because I knew I would be away from the pitch for some time after an episode like that. Then I met Giovanni Troilo, the director, who immersed himself in my life and that of my family in an incredible way. That helped me enormously, because he was never intrusive and somehow managed to find a way to tell my story."
Full look LOUIS VUITTON.
Full look LOUIS VUITTON.
During our interview at the cinema, one feeling that came up time and again was boredom, something I would never have thought of from the outside. As we know, a footballer's life is far from boring: between training sessions, matches, flights and away trips, commitments follow one another constantly, often leaving no time to stop and think. And yet, one of Edoardo's first concerns, alongside, of course, recovering and getting back to full physical and mental health, was precisely boredom.
Suddenly finding yourself with an entire day ahead of you and nothing to do might sound wonderful, at least at first, but it can also become disheartening. Having so much time on your hands can drain your energy or, conversely, leave you with a sense of emptiness. This was another aspect Edoardo Bove had to come to terms with, a potential obstacle that he ultimately managed to turn into an opportunity to discover parts of himself he had yet to get to know: "Having free time isn't always as easy as it might seem. In a way, I needed to feel useful, both for myself and for my family, as well as for society. I started taking up small hobbies, such as fashion, photography and cooking, and discovered and developed a whole range of new interests. Little by little, by filling my life with these things, I found the strength to keep going, and that definitely helped me. It's certainly a lesson I've learned: how to manage my time better."
Rediscovering himself as a person, however, was not an immediate process. There were also moments when he considered giving up and walking away from everything. Opening up and, above all, learning to understand yourself is never easy; doing so after collapsing on the pitch, knowing that the whole of Italy and the rest of the world had witnessed part of your ordeal, is certainly not something that leaves you feeling light-hearted. It's a feeling that surfaces at certain moments during our conversation, in the pauses and silences that fill the small Victorian room of the English cinema. There were times when even Edoardo questioned whether carrying on was really the right choice, not so much for himself, but for the people who had always stood by his side. His family, in particular, found themselves having to relive those moments all over again in some way.
A challenge that, at times, even called the project itself into question, as he told me: "Yes, there were moments like that, because sometimes it can be exhausting. You might have agreed to do something, but then you just want to be alone. The director was always understanding in that respect. Nothing was ever forced, and that meant the whole process wasn't quite so exhausting. The truth is that whenever I saw my family struggling, I would think to myself: Edoardo, maybe I've gone too far. But I've always felt the need to give a social purpose to what I was doing. I wanted, in some way, to be helpful to anyone going through a difficult time or facing a challenging period in their life. That gave me the strength to carry on whenever things reached a standstill."
Full look JILL SANDER.
After discovering all these new sides of himself, our conversation inevitably returned to that day. I find it difficult to bring up the subject: it's always a delicate matter, because you never know whether someone who has been through something like that is willing to revisit it. These are events that change you profoundly, as I also came to understand during our conversation, but that you are not always ready to look back on. In this case, moreover, it's something impossible to forget.
Full look MARNI.
Full look MARNI.
We are still sitting in our seats, and the best way I can think of to approach the subject is to tell him what I was doing and where I was at the time. These are memories I can recall perfectly, down to the smallest detail, and, honestly, I don't even know why. It was lunchtime and I was outside Milan, at my best friend's house. Although I didn't support either of the two teams involved, I was overwhelmed by a sense of concern unlike anything I had ever experienced before, one that also brought me back to my own past. It's strange to say, but that feeling of concern was a mixture of all kinds of emotions: from anger to sadness, through to relief and happiness when everything eventually turned out fine.
For Edoardo, however, things were different. As he explained, he has no recollection of those moments, but as soon as he woke up, he wanted to know and, above all, understand what had happened. Having come to terms with what took place, processed it and, to some extent, moved beyond it, 1 December is certainly not just another day for him, but neither does it carry an entirely negative meaning, as one might imagine: "It doesn't have any particular effect on me. But it's also a positive reminder of the journey I've been through to get to where I am today, so sometimes it's right to look back. The truth is that the images from that day that have stayed with me are mostly of my family, because I woke up with no memory of anything and didn't experience that day directly. So I wasn't the only one who had to move forward. I have a positive memory of last year: I remember putting up an Instagram post, almost as if I were celebrating. Why? Because, in the end, I've been very lucky, and I've felt that way from the very beginning."
Full look AMI PARIS.
Full look AMI PARIS.
Full look AMI PARIS.
Full look AMI PARIS.
All these changes, however, have done little to alter Edoardo's expectations or ambitions. During our conversation, he admits that he can still be too demanding of himself at times, although he seems to have found a different way of approaching his goals: "I don't feel any different from anyone else, absolutely not. But of course, I carry with me everything I've been through over the past two years, so there's definitely something different compared to before. But no, my expectations are still high, although I'm trying to approach things with a little more lightness. That's true. Because football is my greatest passion, but there's more to life than that. And perhaps I didn't see that so clearly before, did I? Now, however, I'm aware of it, so I play football with expectations that are even higher than before. But when I have those moments when I'm feeling a little down about how things are going, perhaps because I'm not happy with the situation, I tell myself: Edoardo, just think about everything you've been through. You've already done a great job getting back to playing. And so, little by little, I find myself appreciating even the small things."
After this long conversation, I realised I had met a footballer who was different from the others. What happened has undoubtedly changed him profoundly in some way, as he admitted himself, but it's not often that you get the chance to spend more than an hour opening up with a footballer about subjects like these. And after an hour sitting together, Edoardo almost seems to have lost that sense of being centred. After our photoshoot, the last thing he says to me is: "Blimey, that's a lot of gel on my eyebrows! I feel attached, not connected, disconnected, come on!" But I can say with absolute certainty that this isn't the case, even if it's time for us to leave.