Mattia Aguzzi, 37, was leaving his office in in Turin, Italy, when he heard a man yelling from an upper-floor apartment. Aguzzi looked up to see a little girl leaning dangerously over the ledge of a balcony above.
He yelled for the little girl to get away from the ledge and when it became clear that she wasn’t listening, he positioned himself underneath the balcony. "I started yelling at her to stay still and to go back inside but she didn’t. When I saw her fall, I stepped in the way, closed my eyes and hoped that everything was going to be for the best.” The little girl landed on Aguzzi and they both fell to the ground. At first he thought the girl wasn’t breathing, but then she started crying, and he breathed a sigh of relief. The girl was rushed to the hospital and was later reported to be unharmed.
Turin Mayor Stefano Lo Russo praised Aguzzi’s "heroic and extraordinary gesture" on social media and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also expressed thanks, calling the banker a hero. But Aguzzi doesn’t think he’s a hero. He says he did what had to be done and is grateful that he was in the right place at the right time, saying, “What more could we want? Destiny put us there. Chance, fate. As far as I know, we’re all fine. And this, believe me, is the most beautiful thing.”