A newborn baby boy was safely recovered on Sunday morning after being left in the “Culla per la vita” (Cradle for Life) operated by the Italian Red Cross in Bergamo’s Loreto district. Emergency services were alerted automatically at 9:45 am. The infant was swiftly transferred to the Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, where doctors confirmed he is in good health and has been feeding normally.

The Culla per la vita is a temperature-controlled, sensor-equipped unit installed outside the Bergamo Red Cross headquarters. When a baby is placed inside, an automatic alarm linked directly to the emergency services activates immediately. A Red Cross ambulance, a medical response vehicle, and a police patrol all arrived on the scene within minutes. Staff used a dedicated neonatal kit to assess the infant before transporting him to hospital.

Crucially, the cradle for life is designed to guarantee complete anonymity. An internal camera monitors the cradle itself. Under Italian law, leaving a child in an officially designated cradle of this kind does not constitute the crime of child abandonment.

The Bergamo Red Cross president, Gianluca Sforza, confirmed that the system performed exactly as intended, with multiple redundant alarms firing and the control room verifying the situation via the internal feed before activating the emergency chain.

A mother’s note

Alongside the baby, a handwritten letter was found believed to have been written by his mother. Scrawled on a page torn from a squared-paper notebook, the message reads: “I wish you a life full of joy and serenity, which we are not able to give you right now. But you have been loved so much. I love you so much.”

The use of the plural, “we are not able to give you” and “you have been loved”, suggests the mother may not have been acting alone.

The infant has been provisionally named “Pietro” by hospital staff pending any future formal registration.

Bergamo’s mayor, Elena Carnevali, responded to the news on social media, describing the act as “a gesture we can read as a final act of love: the choice of a mother to entrust her child so that other parents can care for him and guarantee him a serene future.”

Second use since 2019

This is the second time the Bergamo cradle for life has been used since it was installed in 2019, thanks to the initiative of the Associazione Donne Medico (Association of Women Doctors). The previous case dates to 3 May 2023, when a baby girl was found in the same device. Her mother had left a note reading: “I entrust to you an important piece of my life, which I will certainly never forget.”

The cradle was previously located near the Matris Domini monastery on Via Locatelli before being moved to its current position in front of the Red Cross building.

The right to anonymous birth

Authorities and the hospital have taken the opportunity to remind the public that Italian women have the right to give birth safely and anonymously in hospital. A mother in difficulty can ask medical staff to keep her identity confidential, with the child then placed in the care of social services. No criminal proceedings follow.

The Culla per la vita network, active in numerous Italian cities, represents a complementary safeguard for those who, for whatever reason, cannot or do not avail themselves of that option.

As of Sunday evening, the baby boy was reported to be in stable condition and receiving full medical and nursing care at the Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital in Bergamo.