"I am reading Italo Mario Angeloni’s romance novel “I Loved That Way” where he describes in the first part his love for an Andalusian woman and believe me I am moved because it seems like my own love story."
This is how Pier Giorgio began a letter to his good friend Isidoro Bonini a few days after celebrating what would be his last Christmas on earth in 1924. It is not very common to hear a saint give a firsthand account of his or her love story. There is the occasional dramatic account like that of Saint Augustine in his "Confessions." But so often, the biographies are of priests and religious and avoid discussions of affairs of the heart.
In the case of Pier Giorgio Frassati, however, nearly every biography mentions his secret love for a young woman named Laura Hidalgo. And nearly every biography gives a somewhat conflicting account of the relationship. One says he met her while his family was in Berlin. Another says they played together as children, were acquaintances throughout their lives, then struck up a friendship in 1923 after which he realized he was in love. Yet another says he fell in love in the summer of 1924. Many statements are also given for the reason the relationship ended, most often placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of Mrs. Frassati and her outright disapproval of Laura. Some versions of the story say Laura never knew that Pier Giorgio had feelings for her. Others say she did. One book within a span of six pages says that she both did and didn't know!
What then are the facts about Laura and Pier Giorgio and what he characterized as his "own love story" in the excerpt above?
Laura Hidalgo was not in the same grade as Pier Giorgio. She was three years older and was studying mathematics. Her parents died when she was a teenager and it fell on her to care for her younger brother. She attended the same Massimo D'Azeglio school as Pier Giorgio so it is possible their paths crossed on occasion. In the spring of 1923, during the Italian carnevale holidays (similar to our pre-Lenten Mardi Gras), Pier Giorgio encountered Laura at Little Saint Bernard where he would go for good skiing. Laura was a member of the Catholic female university students' club called "Gaetana Agnesi." There is no question that they developed a close friendship from that point on because she eventually became a member of his inner circle, "the Tipi Loschi."
It wasn't until December 17 of the following year that Pier Giorgio confided his feelings for Laura to his sister Luciana: "...he came to me with his great black eyes and told me he was in love with a girl I know..." Note that this conversation came more than a year after the occasion when Laura visited the family home for tea - an event that has been frequently mentioned in books and articles. Luciana and her mother did not have any idea at the time of the tea that Laura had been invited because Pier Giorgio was developing feelings for her. So it is not true that Mrs. Frassati ever prevented Pier Giorgio from dating Laura. The choice to not begin to date was completely his. What is true is that Mr. and Mrs. Frassati were on the verge of separation and this was a cause of great concern for Pier Giorgio. He did not want to introduce another issue that would lead to even more discord and family drama. He did not want to begin to build a new relationship on the ruins of his parents' relationship so he made the painful decision not to reveal his feelings to his parents or to Laura.
The official canonization documents include the statement that not only had Pier Giorgio said nothing to Laura about his feelings, he had not even hinted at them. But he did share his grief in letters to his friends which have been published. The letters that end 1924 and begin 1925 reflect how painful this time was for him. It was most likely intensified by the fact that his sister happily married in January of 1925 and began her new life at a time when he was sacrificing the idea of a relationship that may have brought him much joy.
"...she is whom I loved with a pure Love and today in renouncing it I desire her happiness. I urge you to pray that God gives me the Christian strength to bear it serenely and that He gives her all earthly happiness and the strength to reach the Goal for which we were created.... Thus she will always be for me a good friend who, having known her in the most dangerous years of my life, will have helped me to keep on the right path toward the Goal."