Vanessa Bryant Works Hard To Keep Kobe And Gianna's Memories Alive

Vanessa Bryant has worked hard to ensure her late husband Kobe, and daughter Gianna's memories and legacies are kept alive and well with dedications, murals, and family vacations, among many other ways. Bryant, 40, is mom to four daughters, Natalia, 19, Biaka, 5, Capri, 3, and Gianna who at age 13 tragically passed away with her father in a helicopter accident. She's creating new family traditions while keeping the old and letting her more than 15 million Instagram followers watch.

Bryant's Instagram page shows photos of happy times while visiting the Italian city where Koby lived when he was a child. She captioned a carousel of photos, "Visited Reggio Calabria, a city my husband lived in when he was about 8 years old." The top photo shows her two youngest girls posing in the middle of a street. The photos that follow show the scenery of the area they were visiting.

Over the course of the past two weeks, Bryant has been posting photos and videos of their family vacation to Italy. They've stopped in Matera, Sicily, Capri, Amalfi as well as other areas.  Among their fun times, they've taken boat rides, swam, enjoyed good food, and created plenty of great memories (and saved those memories for all time with tons of photos and videos). One carousel of photos is captioned, "Traditions," and others simply captioned with hearts or other emojis. Comments on her vacation photos were positive, supportive and filled with love.

Bryant is known for letting her Instagram followers see what her life is like for her and her daughters while they keep the memories of Kobe and Gianna alive. In June, Bryant took the girls to Kobe's hometown - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to visit a new mural of him and Gianna at Tustin Playground and Kobe & Gianna Bryant's Court. She captioned a photo of the mural, "PHILADELPHIA where my husband's love for basketball all began. Today, in the historic Tustin Playground and thanks to the generous contributions of donors, fans, and friends, our foundation @mambambacitasports opened 2 more @dream_courts with @nlcharities, which were beautifully surrounded by the artwork of @Art_by_Ernel. I chose this location so that young people in this community may have a space to play with equal opportunity which was important to Koby and Gianna."

Kobe and daughter Gianna died in a tragic helicopter crash in January 2020. Kobe is widely considered one of the greatest NBA players of all time. He was a first-round draft pick in the 1996 draft, made 18 All-Star teams during his 20 years with the Los Angeles Lakers, won five NBA championships and a two-time NBA Finals MVP.

Gianna, whose nickname was Gigi, was the second oldest child of Kobe and Vanessa. She shared her father's love of basketball. Her father would often refer to her in Instagram posts as "Mambacita," inspired by his nickname, "The Black Mamba." Kobe said during an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in October 2018 that Gianna wanted to play in the WNBA.