Italian scout, 16, wakes from ten-day coma after lightning strike on Monte Livata
A 16-year-old scout hospitalized at Policlinico Gemelli in Rome has regained consciousness and started speaking with his parents ten days after suffering cardiac arrest during a mountain camp.
Awakening after ten days in intensive care
A 16-year-old scout who suffered cardiac arrest after a lightning strike on Monte Livata has awakened from a ten-day coma in the pediatric intensive care unit at Policlinico Gemelli in Rome. Medical bulletins released on 18 August 2026 confirmed that the teenager has regained consciousness, started speaking with his parents, and begun moving his arms and legs. The medical team at the Pediatric Intensive Care and Pediatric Trauma Center characterized the clinical progress as a marked improvement following ten days of critical treatment. If his vital functions remain stable over the coming hours, attending physicians will consider formally dissolving his guarded prognosis and initiating his transfer to a specialized neuroriabilitation program.
Lightning strike during Monte Livata scout camp
The emergency took place on Friday, 7 August 2026, during an excursion on Monte Livata in the Subiaco municipality east of Rome. The teenager was attending a summer camp with his group, Agesci Roma 70, at an equipped mountain campsite. The 16-year-old was attempting to retrieve equipment left near a tree when a lightning bolt struck the area, delivering an electrical discharge that caused immediate cardiac arrest. Fellow scouts and local emergency responders provided immediate first aid and chest compressions at the scene, maintaining blood circulation until emergency teams could transport him by helicopter and ambulance to Policlinico Gemelli in Rome.
- Scout suffers cardiac arrest from lightning strike on Monte Livata and enters intensive care at Policlinico Gemelli
- Patient awakens after ten days in a coma, communicates with parents, and begins moving limbs
- Medical team evaluates lifting guarded prognosis to begin specialized neurorehabilitation
Hospital treatment and the chain of survival
Upon admission to Policlinico Gemelli on 7 August, the patient was placed under continuous monitoring in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit led by Professor Marco Piastra. Medical specialists noted that the patient arrived in extremely severe condition due to the combined effects of electrical shock and cardiac arrest. The pediatric trauma team attributed his survival to prompt cardiopulmonary intervention on the mountain coupled with intensive care support in the hospital.
The results achieved so far were made possible by the chain of survival (thanks to the scouts and the first responders on site) and by the intensive care provided.
Family reaction and transition to neurorehabilitation
Outside the pediatric ward, the patient's family members and close friends gathered as doctors shared the positive update. The teenager's parents authorized hospital authorities to share medical bulletins publicly to reassure citizens who had expressed concern across Rome throughout the ten-day hospitalization. The boy's mother, a physician, acknowledged the recovery process while speaking outside the ward with family acquaintances and a fellow former scout.
We are relieved, but the journey will be long and uphill.
His father added that the family felt the support of the entire city during the critical period. With the acute phase stabilizing, hospital doctors are preparing to transition the boy into the second stage of his hospitalization, which will center on neurorehabilitation to support motor and neurological recovery.
