Francesco Totti feared dying from COVID-19 in late 2020, suffering a bilateral pneumonia just weeks after losing his father, Enzo, to the virus, according to his autobiography. The former captain and number 10 of Roma battled the infection in home isolation before seeking hospital evaluation when his oxygen saturation dropped to 88%.
Francesco Totti Diagnosed With COVID-19 After Private Film Screening
The infection struck Totti in the autumn of 2020, shortly after he hosted a private screening of a biographical film about his life for a small circle of family and friends. He had avoided public presentations following the death of his father, Enzo Totti, who died on October 12, 2020, at age 76 after contracting the coronavirus. Days after the screening, several attendees tested positive, prompting Totti to arrange private nursing tests at his home. The results confirmed he was also positive.
Isolated in a bedroom at his residence, Totti developed a 39-degree fever, persistent cough, and severe shortness of breath. While his ex-wife and children Cristian and Chanel also contracted the virus with mild symptoms, Totti’s condition steadily worsened. Haunted by memories of his father’s final days, Totti experienced panic and called his children from a distance to tell them he did not know if he would survive.
Hospital Refusal and Medical Guidance From Alberto Zangrillo
After two weeks without improvement, family friend and staff member Vito Scala intervened, and an ambulance transferred Totti to the Campus Bio-Medico hospital in Rome. Doctors diagnosed him with a bilateral pneumonia and an oxygen saturation level of 88%, strongly advising admission. Totti refused, telling the medical staff he wanted to die at home rather than locked away without seeing his children, and signed himself out.
Back home, his breathing grew more labored at night while dealing with underlying asthma. Pier Silvio Berlusconi then connected Totti with Alberto Zangrillo, chief physician of the San Raffaele. Rejecting an offer to fly to Milan, Totti followed Zangrillo’s advice to change his sleeping posture from his side to lying prone on his stomach. Combined with his Rome medical team’s ongoing care, the positional adjustment helped raise his oxygen saturation to 99% and reduce his fever.
Persistent Respiratory Effects Years After Infection
Totti spent nearly a month confined to bed during the acute phase of his illness before sharing his recovery publicly on social media on November 20, 2020. Years later, the trauma of the experience continues to affect him. Totti reports that he still cannot breathe the same way he did before contracting the virus.
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