Fans of Silvio Berlusconi, who died on Monday at the age of 86 from leukemia, flocked to Milan on Wednesday June 14 before a state funeral which thousands of people are expected to attend, including the peninsula’s top politicians, but few foreign dignitaries.
Several hundred supporters of the “Cavaliere” gathered on Wednesday morning behind the barriers erected by the police near the cathedral, before the official funeral of the billionaire which will begin at 3 p.m. Wreaths of flowers were placed on the steps leading to the forecourt.
Flags at half mast
“Silvio Berlusconi is my first and last political love. It’s a very sad day for Italy,” said Luigi Vecchione, a 48-year-old textile company worker from Borgosesia in Piedmont. “He was a charismatic leader who created jobs and had empathy for everyone. He will be missed,” he adds, sporting a big red heart on his black tee.
Also dressed in black, Lucia Diele, a 30-year-old municipal employee, came from Altamura in Puglia, in the heel of the Italian boot. “Silvio Berlusconi was the greatest politician in Italian history. He leaves a huge void that will be impossible to fill. Giorgia Meloni is a great prime minister but no one will take Silvio’s place,” she said.
In Milan, as everywhere in Italy, the flags are at half mast on public buildings. The ceremony must be broadcast on two giant screens positioned on the famous square of the Lombard capital and the forecourt of the cathedral to allow all those who cannot enter to follow the broadcast.
The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, the head of the government, Giorgia Meloni, and his two deputy prime ministers, Matteo Salvini and Antonio Tajani – number two of the Forza Italia party – will be present.
Elly Schlein, leader of the Democratic Party, and former center-left government leader Matteo Renzi, will represent, among others, the left and center-left opposition.
Giorgia Meloni and Matteo Salvini, the two far-right leaders of the ruling coalition, took part in a funeral wake on Tuesday evening at the billionaire’s villa in Arcore, near Milan.
The European Commission will be represented by its Commissioner for the Economy, the Italian Paolo Gentiloni, ex-chief executive in Rome. According to the ANSA agency, the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Ben Hamad Al Thani are also expected to come.
day of mourning
This state funeral, provided for by protocol, will be accompanied by a day of national mourning, a first for a former prime minister who is not, however, to the taste of all Italians.
“State funerals are planned and that’s right, but national mourning for a divisive person like Silvio Berlusconi seems to me an inappropriate choice”, said Rosy Bindi, former left-wing minister in the Prodi II government. (2006-2008) on public radio.
Andrea Crisanti, senator of the Democratic Party (PD, center left), also made known his opposition. “He had no respect for the state when he defrauded the taxman”, he denounced, recalling the final sentence of the “Cavaliere” in 2013 to four years in prison – reduced by amnesty to one year fitted – in the tax evasion case involving his Mediaset empire.
The journey of this eternal ghost, whose political death has been wrongly announced many times, merges with the Italian history of the last thirty years. He was also one of the richest men on the peninsula with a fortune valued in early April by Forbes at 6.4 billion euros.
Loved or hated, this assumed lover of women much younger than him, including call girls, has been involved in a myriad of lawsuits related to controversial receptions.
Abroad, he was best known for the string of scandals in which he was involved, his blunders that have become legendary, his repeated trials and his diplomatic stunts.