There were emotional scenes on Monday at the funeral for Mario Cerciello Rega, the Carabiniere police officer stabbed to death in Rome on Friday in a case that has shocked the nation, at the Santa Maria del Corso church in his Campania home town, Somma Vesuviana.
Two young American men have been arrested for the homicide of Cerciello Rega, who bled to death after being stabbed 11 times.
Deputy Premiers Matteo Salvini and Luigi Di Maio and Lower House Speaker Roberto Fico were among the throng of mourners inside and outside the church.
Premier Giuseppe Conte paid his respects as Rega's body lay on State on Sunday. The 35-year-old officer got married less than two months ago at the same church the funeral was held in and he had only recently returned to duty after his honeymoon. A well-liked and cheerful character, he is considered a hero for his work on and off duty. He did volunteer work for the Order of Malta, accompanying sick people to Lourdes and Loreto, and he also regularly went to Rome's Termini train station to feed the needy.
Italy's fortunes will be boosted if people follow Rega's example, the priest presiding over the funeral said on. "If we all are able to learn a sense of the State and of common good from men like Mario, Italy will rise up," said Monsignor Santo Marcianò.
The Carabinieri Commander, General Giovanni Nistri, said "debates" about the homicide should be "put aside today" in order to avoid the Cerciello Rega suffering a "12th stabbing". Nistri stressed that Cerciello Rega died to "protect the rights of everyone, including those of an arrested person.
"Together we ask for respect for all the other Carabinieri who do the same job". Cerciello Rega's widow shed tears as she read a moving piece on "being the wife of a Carabiniere".
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