On a sunny afternoon in 2006 Alberto and I had to go through a few hundred submissions for the Venice RECOMB conference, look at each of them, sort them by topics and  decide the referees. A lot of work, so I guessed we should have met early at his office, in our department at the University of Padova. Right? Wrong. He had a better idea.

At an harbor by the sea, near my hometown, he was keeping his boat, a nice catamaran with plenty of space and a big table in the interior. That was the perfect place to  look at our big bag of papers. And so we did (not before he had put on some classical music for the background and poured us a glass of wine).

Now I wish my current office were on a catamaran too. It isn't but at least thanks to Alberto I lived the experience of working on a boat. He surely knew how to enjoy life and I will miss him.

Giuseppe Lancia