Gift of Organs by Grieving U.S. Family Touches Italians : Transplants: The generosity of parents of slain 7-year-old Nicholas Green means life for other children.

ROME —  In death, 7-year-old Nicholas Green gave life, and the humanity of his parents is giving Italians a wrenching moment of introspection.

“Their gracious and generous gesture gives us a lesson in civility,” one national television commentator said of Reginald and Margaret Green.

The Green family, on vacation from Bodega Bay, Calif., was driving in southern Italy along a freeway in Calabria Thursday night when three masked bandits opened fire from another car. Police think the gunmen decided to attack and rob the Greens in their rented subcompact after seeing them at a rest-stop coffee bar along the road.

Reginald Green frustrated the attack by refusing to stop. But one bullet mortally wounded Nicholas, asleep in the back next to his 4-year-old sister. The children were tired: The family had toured the southern coast during the day, swum in the sea and visited the Greek ruins at Paestum south of Naples.

Nicholas Green was declared brain-dead at a hospital in Messina, Sicily, Saturday night and disconnected from life supports. His parents asked that his organs be used to save other children.

“Reginald Green’s courage has amazed and moved Italy,” the Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera said.

“I want to thank you, not only for the transplants but also for the lesson of generosity, of composure,” said commentator Enzo Biagi, in an open letter addressed to Reginald Green. “Someone has written that nothing makes us greater than a great sorrow. This, you have shown.”

Newspapers and television commentators are railing at government inability to make safe a main north-south artery. The stretch between Salerno and Reggio Calabria in southern Italy is a notorious lair for highwaymen who attack passing cars.

A high-pressure police hunt for the boy’s killers has been fruitless so far. Inevitably, Italians are comparing their less-developed southern region to Florida, where attacks on tourists have found international echo.

Sergio and Daniela Russo, Romans who were shot Aug. 24 while celebrating their silver wedding anniversary in central Florida, returned home over the weekend to find doctor and hospital bills of around $350,000.

“I was sad for Nicholas Green. While I was in the hospital in Florida, I told people that incidents of this sort didn’t happen in Italy. I wish my tongue had fallen out. Now we too have reached a level of unsustainable barbarity,” said Daniela Russo, shot in the stomach in the attack in Kissimmee.

Although it is home to the Mafia and other branches of organized crime, Italy is not a violent country by American standards. About as many people are murdered among the 57 million Italians each year as in Los Angeles.

But Italy also has one of the lowest organ donation rates in Europe, according to Health Minister Raffaele Costa: six donations per year for every 1 million inhabitants.

“The Green family serves as an example. In Italy, half of those who could agree to donate organs don’t, with predictable consequences for those waiting to be saved,” transplant surgeon Carlo Marcelletti said in Rome.

Passengers and staff at Catania airport applauded the Greens as they began their trip home Monday. The city of Messina said it would pay to transport Nicholas’ body.

The mayor of Rome ordered a gold medal in recognition of the Green family’s courage. Mayor Giacomo Mancini of Cosenza said his Calabrian city would name a street for the dead boy.