The State funeral of Silvio
Berlusconi was being held at Milan Cathedral on Wednesday, which
has been declared a day of national mourning in his honour.
The four-times ex-premier, centre-right leader and media
billionaire died at the age of 86 on Monday.
He was suffering from a rare form of leukaemia.
Berlusconi's coffin was greeted by applause from a crowd of
mourners in the square outside the cathedral and received by an
inter-force guard of honour. After the coffin was taken inside,
Berlusconi's children, Marina, Pier Silvio, Barbara, Eleonora
and Luigi, entered behind it along with with his partner Marta
Fascina.
By the time the coffin reached the altar, Marina and Pier Silvio
Berlusconi and the ex-premier's brother Paolo were in tears, as
were Fascina and Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio
Tajani, the coordinator of Berlusconi's centre-right Forza
Italia (FI) party.
President Sergio Mattarella and Premier Giorgia Meloni and
Belusconi's second ex wife Veronica Lario were among around
2.,000 people attending the funeral.
A delegation from the opposition, centre-left Democratic Party
(PD) headed by leader, Elly Schlein, was in attendance too.
But ex-premier and opposition 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader
Giuseppe Conte was not present and neither were Italian Left
(SI) leader Nicola Fratoianni or Green chief Angelo Bonelli.
Thousands of people were following the funeral via big screens
in the square outside the cathedral with millions watching it
live on television.
Many of the people in the square are fans of AC Milan, and some
had come considerable distances to be there.
The media billionaire owned Milan from 1986 until 2017 and, in
that time, they were crowned European champions five times and
won eight Serie A titles on the way to collecting a total of 29
trophies.
There were chants of "Silvio, Silvio" and "there's only one
president" before the service, but silence gripped the square
once it started. ,
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