Franco Janfredi, 80, has been battling the effects of Alzheimer's disease for several years. After the holidays he decided to leave the area where he was born, in Tuscany in central Italy, and move to the north, near Turin, where his daughter lives.
However, during his ambulance transfer, the elderly man expressed to the Red Cross volunteers a strong wish: "I would like to see the sea for the last time", he told them.
The volunteers had no doubts. They decided to satisfy his wish and reached by ambulance to the beach of Marina Di Carrara, very close to the sea, opened the back doors and allowed Franco, together with his daughter, to gaze at the horizon and the calm sea that was just in front of him.
The photo that captures the Italian elderly man while looking at the sea, has gone "viral" on the internet and his son, Andrea, wanted to express his father 's gratitude. "I want to thank these angels, the volunteers who allowed my father to see the sea, perhaps for the last time," wrote his son Franco Gianfredi.