Flavia Roncalli was born in Italy in 1992. She received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 2014, working on the synthesis of aminoacid derived tetraazamacrocyclic ligands and the catalytic applications of their Ag^I complexes under the supervision of prof. Alessandro Caselli. In 2016, for the thesis of the Master’s degree, she joined our group with a project aimed at the direct synthesis of non-natural aminoacids starting from amines and alcohols. On the 29^th of November 2016,  when she had only started to have some exciting results, Flavia passed away after contracting meningitis. We like to remember her with the dedication she had chosen for her bachelor’s thesis: “Sometimes it is better to get lost on the way to an impossible journey than never to leave…and MINE has been a wonderful journey!”