Vita gazette – Silvio Berlusconi, the funeral in the Duomo in Milan with family, friends and authorities. Today, at 3 pm, the state funeral will be held in the Cathedral, presided over by Archbishop Mario Delpini and will be national mourning.

Today, 14 June, the state funeral of Silvio Berlusconi, who died on Monday, 12 June, at 87, will occur in the Milan Cathedral. The ceremony will be officiated by the Archbishop of Milan, Mario Delpini, in the presence of the Head of State, Sergio Mattarella and the country’s political and institutional leaders. It will also be a day of national mourning, and the Prime Minister has established that until Wednesday, the Italian and EU flags will be displayed at half-mast on public buildings and diplomatic and consular offices abroad.

The precedents in the Duomo

The last state funerals in the Duomo were those of Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi in 2017, of Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini in 2012 and, in 2009, of Mike Bongiorno and the poetess Alda Merini. State funerals can be organised both for institutional figures, in office and not, and for significant personalities in the fields of culture, science and sport.

At the funeral home in Arcore, Prime Minister Meloni arrived in the evening with Salvini and La Russa. Inspection of the Milan Cathedral to decide how to participate and the security measures for state funerals. Two maxi screens are set up in the square. The capacity of the Cathedral will be around two thousand people. The former prime minister’s family will be seated to the right of the central nave, while the authorities will be to the left. Foreign leaders will be present. Several foreign ministers and ambassadors will also participate.

Biella Cav commemorated Pella (Fi): “Always by his side.”

Yesterday in Biella at 18.15, Don Paolo Boffa Sandalina – vicar general of the Biella diocese – celebrated a mass in remembrance of President Silvio Berlusconi organised by the Provincial Coordination of the blue citizen who rallied around the pain of the family members and the community of Forza Italia, in the Cathedral of the Piedmontese city. The celebration of the mass was attended by Roberto Pella, deputy of Forza Italia, the provincial coordinator Alberto Fenoglio, many local and provincial administrators, the mayors led by the mayor of Biella, members of Forza Italia Giovani, Forza Italia Seniores and Azzurro Donna and regional representatives of League and Brothers of Italy. On the sidelines of the mass, Deputy Pella reiterated how these are “days of great pain and great gratitude at the same time” and that “in memory and honour of President Berlusconi, we must go forward and complete his battles and defend ideals and teachings that he passed on to us. We must all be extremely grateful to President Berlusconi”, concluded Pella.

Who will be there

The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella and the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, will take part in the funeral. Among the heads of state are expected, among others, the Hungarian premier Victor Orban, the president of Iraq, Abdul Latif Sharid and the Emir of Qatar, Tamim Al Thani. For the EU Commission, the commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, will be present. While the regional council president, Federico Romani, will officially represent the Lombard Chamber. The president of the Veneto Region, Luca Zaia, will be present.

Manfred Weber, chairman of the European People’s Party Group in the European Parliament, will also be at the press conference in Strasbourg.

On TV

Silvio Berlusconi’s funeral will also be broadcast live on TV. Mediaset has announced that it will make the signal available to Italian and foreign broadcasters who wish to, with audio and without commentary. But for hosts, it will also be possible to have a station for operators outside the Duomo of Milan to integrate with their reporters’ comments. The official programming of the Mediaset and other Italian television channels is not yet updated. Still, almost certainly, there will be space for the funeral ceremony within the special editions of the Tg (Tg5, Tg1, TgLa7) or in the broadcasts, as well as, of course, in the all-news channels (Rai news24, Skytg24, Tgcom24). The live stream will be available on the respective platforms.