Global Courant
Italy bid farewell to four-time Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday at a state funeral befitting the business tycoon’s colorful life, with football chants mourning and politicians arguing over a day of national mourning.
Crowds waving the flags of AC Milan football club Berlusconi used to chant “Silvio, Silvio” as his coffin was carried into Milan’s Gothic cathedral, flanked by ceremonially dressed Carabinieri police officers with plumed helmets.
Inside were some 2,300 mourners, including the women, politicians and businessmen who had accompanied the 86-year-old during his rise to power and wealth.
Marta Fascina, the 33-year-old politician who was Berlusconi’s partner during his last years, wept along with Marina, his eldest daughter, who is expected to inherit his media empire and, some say, even his political legacy.
Berlusconi died on Monday at a hospital in Milan, where he was being treated for chronic leukemia. He will be cremated and his ashes will be kept in a mausoleum he built for himself and his family on the grounds of his villa outside Milan, a source close to the family told Reuters.
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The conservative Forza Italia party he founded has dominated Italian politics for much of the past 30 years, as his business empire spanned from real estate to publishing.
Berlusconi was a deeply divisive figure who laid the groundwork for other businessmen turned politicians, such as former US President Donald Trump, with a career marked by scandal and legal trials.
From left are Marina Berlusconi, daughter of the former Prime Minister, his partner Marta Fascina, son Luigi Berlusconi and daughter Barbara Berlusconi, who are seen at the conclusion of the funeral in Milan. Daughter Eleonora Berlusconi, wearing a hat, is in the background. (Piero Cruciatti/AFP/Getty Images)
Archbishop delivers eulogy
The archbishop of Milan, Mario Delpini, seemed to acknowledge his excesses and political enemies in a eulogy.
Delpini said Berlusconi was a businessman who found success and failure, a politician who won and lost, and a notorious personality who had admirers and detractors, “those who applaud him and those who detest him”.
“But what can we say about Silvio Berlusconi at this moment of farewell and prayer? He has been a man: a longing for life, a longing for love, a longing for joy,” said Delpini. “He’s a man and now he’s meeting God.”
The division over Berlusconi was as visible as ever on the day of his funeral, with disagreements between the thousands of his admirers outside the cathedral and a few people who came to criticize him.
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“I was lucky enough to be a part of Forza Italia for 18 years. I was also lucky enough to meet him,” says Lucia Adiele, a Forza Italia member who has traveled almost 1,000 kilometers from her home in Altamura, South Italy.
“The least I could do was be here and say goodbye one last time.”
Stadium atmosphere
In an atmosphere that often resembles a football match more than a funeral, another group of Berlusconi supporters jumped up and down shouting: “Anyone who doesn’t jump is a communist”, a term Berlusconi often used to describe his political opponents. to discredit.
The coffin of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi can be seen on a giant screen as he is carried for his state funeral at Milan’s Gothic cathedral on Wednesday. (Alessandro Bremec/LaPresse/The Associated Press)
The funeral was attended by most of the Italian party leaders, including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose unprecedented decision to declare a day of national mourning drew criticism from some commentators and politicians.
Meloni’s party, Brothers of Italy, Matteo Salvini’s League and Forza Italia are the main parties in the right-wing ruling coalition.
Some opposition politicians, including former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, refused to attend the service, while former centre-left minister Rosy Bindi said an “improper sanctification” was taking place.
The Day of Mourning is not a holiday, but rather a symbolic tribute with flags flying at half-mast from public buildings. The European Parliament and the European Commission also paid their respects in this way.
Tomaso Montanari, rector of the University for Foreigners in Siena, refused to respect the order, saying his university would “lose all educational and moral credibility by flying the flags at half-mast in front of Berlusconi”.
‘Disrespectful to majority’
Bindi, a woman who is often the target of Berlusconi’s sexist taunts, said the national day of mourning was “disrespectful to the majority” who opposed the late leader.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella and former Prime Ministers Mario Draghi and Mario Monti attended the funeral, as did Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was also present, but few other top European politicians made the trip to Milan.
“There is only one president, there is only one president,” the crowd chanted as the casket emerged from the cathedral into the blazing sun at the end of the service, in another adapted version of a popular football anthem.
The coffin was then driven to Berlusconi’s villa, where the former leader will lie until cremation takes place in a few days.
The message from his five children, published in Italy’s main newspapers on Wednesday, read: “Dear Dad, thank you for your life, thank you for your love, you will always be in our lives.”
The coffin of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will be carried for his state funeral at the Gothic Duomo Cathedral in Milan, Italy, on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Berlusconi died on Monday at the age of 86 in a hospital in Milan, where he was being treated for chronic leukemia. (Stefano Porta/LaPresse via AP) (Stefano Porta/LaPresse/The Associated Press)
