Page 64 - Fins Magazine: Fins Magazine Issue #4

Starfish
Starfish Wishes Memories
Imagined

ARTICLE: Starfish
Wishes by Sirena Thanks to her great passion for the sea and its in- Valentina’s classes are based on monofin swimming,
Valentina habitants, Valentina Villani dedicated her life to the apnoea technics and synchronized swimming. Val-

aquatic environment. Since she was a child, she has entina’s classes are having a great success and she’s
enjoyed going to the beach and on sailboats, looking the first Italian mermaid to offer mermaiding classes
for shells of anything the tide would bring to shore. in two different Italian regions, Emilia Romagna and
Veneto.

She started studying aquaculture and hygiene of fish
production in 2011. Her studies allowed her to start Mermaid Val-
her job career at the Cattolica Aquarium. During the entina big-

same year Valentina started to study monofin swim- gest goal was
ming, along with traditional swimming. achieved in
2018, when
This led to the birth of “Sirena Valentina” (Italian for she was called
“Mermaid Valentina”), who made her first appear- to take part

ance at a fantasy festival in 2012. After her first ap- in a project
pearance she took part in weddings, festivals, birth- promoted by
day parties and photoshoots, including underwater “Onlus Make-

photoshoots. In the following years her career as a a-Wish Italia”.
professional mermaid took off. Andrea, a 6 year old boy sick with leukemia, wished
to meet Princess Ariel in her acquatic kingdom.
In 2016 Valentina started training as scuba div- Thanks to Valentina’s job and experience and to the
er and apnoea practitioner and got her licences in helpfulness of the Cattolica Aquarium, she made

2018. The licences allowed Valentina to offer special Andrea’s wish true. She dressed up as The Little Mer-
guided tours inside the Cattolica Aquarium using a maid and she swam for him inside the tropical tank,
Integrated Diving Mask (IDM), which allowed her giving life to the first real life mermaid show in Italy.

to interact with the people outside the fish tanks.
Valentina was the first one in Italy, along with one of Sirena Valentina
her colleagues, to offer this type of tour.
@sirena_valentina92
FB: Sirena Valentina
In 2018 she launched her “Mermaiding classes”. As Sirena Valentina is a profession-

a FIN swimming instructor, she tried to infuse her al mermaid from Italy. She has
passion for the sea to kids and adults while making been a mermaid for eight years.
their dreams to become mermaids and tritons true.
FINS|64