Italy pays its last tribute this Wednesday to former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who died on Monday, with a state funeral on a day of national mourning.
The Italian government has declared a day of national mourning in honor of Berlusconi, coinciding with the state funeral of the former prime minister and leader of the Forza Italia party, who died at the age of 86.
Silvio Berlusconi’s funeral will be celebrated by the Archbishop of Milan, Monsignor Mario Delpini, in the Milan Cathedral, at 3:00 p.m. local time (2:00 p.m. in Lisbon).
Since Monday, the Italian and European flags have also flown at half mast in all public buildings in Italy and in all diplomatic and consular offices.
Berlusconi’s body lay in a burning chamber on Monday at his villa in Villa Martino in Arcore, near Monza, north of Milan.
After a police inspection, for public order security reasons, it was not possible to carry out the combustion chamber on Tuesday in the studios of its Mediaset television channel.
In Rome, the city where he developed his political career, the Italian flag flew at half mast in the Senate, a chamber in which he held a seat since the last elections, in October 2022.
The Chamber of Deputies interrupted its activities for two days.
Silvio Berlusconi was a controversial figure, media mogul, right-wing conservative and Prime Minister of Italy for nine years (1994-1995, 2001-2006, 2008-2011).
He was the target of corruption allegations and was at the center of sex scandals that would culminate in his ouster from the Italian Senate in 2013.
In 2022, the billionaire returned to the political spotlight as a senator and leader of the party he founded, Força Italia, a member of the currently ruling right-wing and far-right coalition led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Source: TSF
