Belarusian Woman Found the Italian Family Who Hosted Her After Chernobyl. She Thought the Italians Had Abandoned Her
In fact, Alena's Belarusian foster mother cut off communication. She even moved the girl to another city so that she couldn't receive letters from Viviana and Alfio's Italian family, who wanted to adopt her. She only confessed this before her death.
Alena Zakharankava, photo: sanmarinortv.sm
Alena Zakharankava (Shaviardzenka), a 38-year-old actress from Zhodzina, twice stayed as a child with a family from Pesaro, Italy, as part of a program for hosting children from areas affected by Chernobyl. Her foster mother told her that the Italians no longer wanted to see her. This was a lie that was uncovered only thirty years later. Zakharankava shared this with the Italian publication Open and in a social media post that went viral in Italy within a day.
Zakharankava arrived in Pesaro — a city in the Italian region of Marche on the Adriatic coast — in 1993 and 1994, when she was approximately six to seven years old. She traveled under a reception program that Italian families organized for children from territories contaminated after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident, as well as orphans.
Alena's biological mother was deprived of parental rights, so the girl was raised by a foster mother. At the time of her trips to Italy, Alena was studying at school No. 3 in Shklov.
She was hosted in Pesaro by a childless couple, approximately 35-45 years old — Viviana and Alfio Bucchi. Zakharankava remembered a white two-story house with a garage and a black car.
She describes the events of her two visits in detail. The first time she arrived, only Viviana and Alfio were in the house, without an interpreter, and she herself did not speak Italian. The second time, she flew by plane during winter vacation; then, in addition to "aunt" and "uncle," there was also a grandmother, and Alena could already understand them.
According to her account, she ran and laughed a lot; Viviana and Alfio carried her in their arms, dressed her well, and fed her delicious food. One of her brightest memories is egg yolks whipped with sugar, a kind of Italian gogol-mogol, which she really liked.
At one point, Alena started calling Viviana "mom": in Belarus, her foster mother did not hug her or say that she loved her, and Alena herself begged to go back to Italy.
When Zakharankava returned to Belarus, contact with the Italian family gradually faded. The Bucchi family sent parcels for some time, but the connection weakened.
According to Alena's account, her foster mother told her that the Italians didn't love her, didn't want to see her anymore, and that she was "bad." Because of this, the girl no longer traveled to Italy. She says that for a long time afterward, she felt bad, she was sad, but eventually she resigned herself.
The truth was revealed only many years later.
In 2025, on her deathbed, the foster mother confessed that she had lied: Viviana and Alfio loved her very much and wanted to adopt her. According to the same account, the foster mother even moved Alena to another city so that she couldn't read letters from Viviana.
Upon learning that the Italian family had not abandoned her, Zakharankava, according to her words, immediately began searching. First, she contacted the Belarusian Children's Fund; they promised to help her, but the employee handling the case resigned, and Alena decided that finding her relatives was not meant to be.
Her husband insisted on continuing the search — for her to contact the fund again and write on social networks. People in Italy advised her to publish an appeal in the group "Pesaro è la mia città" ("Pesaro is my city") and gave her web pages and addresses where to write.
On June 15, 2026, Zakharankava published her first post, where she was looking for Viviana and Alfio "or at least news about them." The post quickly spread: Daniela Bucchi — Viviana's sister, who wrote that she remembered Alena well and would connect her with her sister — responded to it. The "aunt's" relatives were found literally in one day.
Zakharankava is now 38 years old; she lives in Zhodzina, has two children, graduated from the Academy of Arts, and works as an actress. She connects her profession with her Italian "aunt": according to her, Viviana always listened to her sing and said that the girl had a beautiful voice.
The women have already exchanged phone numbers, messages, and photos, but have not yet called — a language barrier prevents them. Zakharankava has been learning Italian for two years and enrolled in courses. She says that Viviana has not changed at all and remains beautiful.
Alena and the Bucchi family hope to meet — either Viviana will come to Belarus, or Alena to Italy. According to Zakharankava, visa documents have already been submitted.
Comments