“If it's a boy, he will be called Zeno”. The girls had no doubt about the name, even if he was still an idea. 

It was early April 2022, Martina and Sara, two young women from a little village in north Italy, were walking on the streets of Barcelona, hand in hand, dreaming about their future baby, feeling free in a foreign city as they cannot feel at home. 

In a week, Sara will have the oocytes pick-up operation. She started the hormone therapy some days before, and that day, in Barcelona, they met for the first time the doctor who will follow them during the path of the medically assisted procreation. 

Martina and Sara were in love for a long time, and in 2017, one year after the Cirinnà law of 2016,  they had the chance to do civil union. Their dreams have not ceased, and the desire to give their love to a child was very strong. Someone said it was not possible, but after a very thorough search, they understand that in foreign countries their biggest dream could become a reality. 

Indeed, in Italy, it is not possible to access to PMA for lesbian couples or for single women because, according to law no. 40/2004 (one of the most restrictive of Europe), assisted procreation techniques can only be accessed by adult couples of different sexes, married or cohabiting, of potentially fertile age, both living. 

This law has had many side effects, including the phenomenon called "reproductive tourism": citizens of countries where PMA is prohibited go to other countries where it is permitted. Favorite destinations are Spain, Belgium and Denmark. However, these routes are very long and expensive, thus leading those who cannot afford them to try different (sometimes informal and unsafe) routes.

They decided to go to Barcelona: they liked the city and Spanish people, and they liked that the Spanish law wanted that you can’t choose the sperm donor and he will remain anonymous.

They decided to try the ROPA method (Reception of Oocytes from Partner) which consists of one of the women, in this case Sara,  “donates” her oocytes to her partner, Martina,  and this last hosts the pregnancy thanks to FIV. ROPA is a method chosen by many lesbian couples because it allows both mothers to have an active role in procreation.

Many doubts and anxieties obscured their minds: would the intervention go well? Would enough blastocysts have formed to get a second chance if the first goes wrong? And the pregnancy, will it be okay? What about the baby? Their savings were almost gone, since to the costs of this operation thay had to add to the expenses for medication, travel and accommodation. They wouldn’t afford another chance, at least not immediately.

Luckily all went well: a month later, they returned to Barcelona for insemination and, after ten days, they found out that the pregnancy was in progress. This was good news for everyone and, less than 9 month later, Zeno will be born on a Sunday evening in January 2023, beautiful and healthy, making everybody fall in love with him at first sight.

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“Dreaming of Zeno” is a project about an Italian couple of women, Martina and Sara, who dream of having a baby. This project aims to demonstrate the difficult path these two women had to take to become mothers in their homeland. A journey made possible by people who do not stop in front of an obsolete legislation, people who believe in the freedom of dreams and, above all, in the freedom of life. A journey in the true meaning of the word, by the fulfilment of their dream which is now true: the dream of meeting Zeno.