A 'fit and healthy' 14-year-old ballet dancer died on New Year's Day less than a week after falling ill on holiday.
Much-loved Valentina Sanna was described as "extremely kind and extremely beautiful" by her devastated father Alberto.
The popular teenager contracted a rare form of meningitis while seeing family in Sardinia, Italy.
The Royal Ballet school dancer, who trained six days a week, told her parents she had a headache on Boxing Day.
She died on January 1 after fighting the illness in hospital for three days.
Father Dr Sanna, 48, said he, his wife and two other daughters are devastated.
He said: "We were very lucky to have her for 14 years."
Valentina was a talented dancer at Procter Dance Academy in Crosby and her skill led her to earn a place at the Royal Ballet School.
Dr Sanna, who is a professional musician, said: "She was extremely graceful and very elegant, even when she was just walking, everybody noticed that about her.
"People noticed how she used to tiptoe into a room. She was very kind and very gentle. We thought she was very musical. She was always perfectly timed and just really, really beautiful."
Away from dancing, Dr Sanna said the schoolgirl was academically "one of the best in her class" and had a good group of friends.
He added: "She loved and was loved very much. We couldn't of asked for any more, life will be very different without her."
Her sudden death came "completely unexpectedly", he added.
The family had travelled to Sardina, where the family are from, for their annual Christmas trip before Valentina said she felt unwell.
She displayed symptoms similar with the flu, Dr Sanna said, and had complained about having a headache on Boxing Day.
When her symptoms began to worsen, her family took her to hospital on December 29.
He said: "It was immediately clear that this was to be treated urgently, so they started straight away with antibiotics."
She tragically died on New Year's Day.
And in a final act of kindness, Valentina helped to save the lives of four young people by donating her organs.
Dr Sanna said: "It was really good for us to know that in our sorrow someone else was getting a new life."
"We've been very lucky to have so many friends and family support us. This all happened in Italy so our close friends and family were there, but at the same time people have been there for us in sorrow.
"We would like to thank everyone for their support."
The family said they are hoping to set up something in ballet to help others so they can honour Valentina's passion for dance.
In helping others, Dr Sanna already has a Liverpool-based charity called Early Music as Education which has already helped 7,000 people.
