Vita Gazette – Journalist Franco Di Mare has died; his family announces it in a note. He had been suffering from mesothelioma, a very aggressive cancer.

The journalist Franco Di Mare has died; he was 68 years old and had mesothelioma. The family announced it in a note. “Embraced by the love of his wife, daughter, sisters and brother and by the affection of his closest friends, the journalist Franco Di Mare passed away today in Rome. Communication for the funeral will follow.”

Last April 28, Di Mare, a guest of Fabio Fazio on “Che tempo che fa” to present his book ‘Le parole per dirlo’, had connected from home and faced the interview with the aid of a respirator, revealing that he is suffering from pleural mesothelioma, a “nasty” tumour caused by exposure to asbestos. The journalist, a former war correspondent, linked the onset of his illness to that experience: “I was in the Balkans for a long time among depleted uranium bullets, hyper-fast, hyper-destructive, capable of knocking down a building. Each explosion – he told Fazio – released infinite particles of asbestos into the air.”

Franco Di Mare and Giulia Berdini got married three days ago. After eight years of engagement, the 68-year-old Rai journalist married his partner, who was born in 1991 and works for a catering company. Their relationship was born at Rai headquarters in Saxa Rubra, where she was responsible for catering for the internal bar. “The woman who had the strength to put up with me, even when I couldn’t stand myself either,” the journalist said during an interview to silence comments on their age difference. Franco Di Mare already has a marriage behind him with Alessandra, with whom he raised Stella’s daughter, who was adopted at ten months old when the journalist was a war correspondent in Sarajevo.