State funeral will be those that will be celebrated today at 12 in Rome in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, in the presence of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. The highest officials of the state and representatives of the Italian and European institutions will participate. Among these the Presidents of the Senate Casellati and of the Camera Fico, the President of the Draghi Council, of the Constitutional Court Courage, Ministers and members of the Government, the governor of the Bank of Italy Visco. The president of the EU Commission Von der Leyen, the president of the EU Council Michel, the deputy vice president of the European Parliament Metsola and senior officials of the European Parliament, the Italian member of the ECB executive committee Panetta will be present.
The body of the president of the European Parliament David Sassoli, who passed away last Tuesday at the age of 65, arrived this morning at the Campidoglio, room of the Protomoteca, where the funeral home was set up and remains open until 6pm last night.
The first to enter the Promotoca room, welcomed by Gualtieri, was the head of state Sergio Mattarella, who stayed with the family of the president of the European Parliament. Immediately after, it was Mario Draghi and Roberto Fico’s turn. But in the Campidoglio also Nicola Zingaretti and then Giuseppe Conte, who arrived with Goffredo Bettini, wanted to give their last farewell to Sassoli. A moment before, it was Massimo D’Alema who lined up to express his condolences to Sassoli’s wife and children. Forza Italia presented itself with a delegation made up of Antonio Tajani and the group leaders Bernini and Barelli: in addition to Stefano Fassina and Dario Nardella, Mario Monti also testified his condolences to the Protomoteca. And the same did Walter Veltroni and Gianni Letta.
A final farewell to the President of the European Parliament was a delegation from the Democratic Party, Graziano Del Rio, Debora Serracchiani, Matteo Orfini, Enzo Amendola and various deputies and senators. Matteo Renzi, Maria Elena Boschi, Ivan Scalfarotto, Luciano Nobili, Ettore Rosato, the leader of Uil Pierpaolo Bombardieri also paid tribute to Sassoli.
The secretaries of the Democratic Party and the Lega, Enrico Letta and Matteo Salvini are also in the funeral home. “I met David Sassoli as president of the European conservatives and I can say that he was a loyal person who respected his opponents and for this I miss him” said the president of Fratelli d’Italia, Giorgia Meloni, after visiting the funeral home. “It was painful to stop in front of David Sassoli’s coffin. With emotion I hugged his wife Alessandra and daughter Livia in the funeral home set up at the Capitol,” said Deputy Pd Laura Boldrini. The Minister for Regional Affairs Mariastella Gelmini also paid tribute to the President of the European Parliament in the Protomoteca room.
In addition to the institutions, fellow journalists such as Gianni Riotta, Beppe Giulietti, the national secretary of the Fnsi Raffaele Lorusso, Lazzaro Pappagallo of the Roman press association, Chiara Geloni, Pierluigi Diaco wanted to pay homage to Sassoli. Bruno Vespa after paying homage to the coffin and greeting his family, remembered the former colleague as a brilliant correspondent, a generous person and a gentleman, a very serious loss for politics and journalism. Monica Maggioni, Marco Frittella, Raffaele Genah, Maria Luisa Busi, Donato Benecenti, paid tribute to the former colleague of Tg1 David Sassoli, journalist and television face before being a politician, taking sides on the picket line.
