Hundreds of people at the funeral home in the hall of the Protomoteca in the Campidoglio for a last farewell to Maurizio Costanzo,
who passed away yesterday at the age of 84.
His wife
Maria De Filippi
arrived from a side entrance.
With her, the adopted son of the couple, Gabriele, in tears.
Together they took the front row seats for relatives and friends and the presenter, wearing a suit and black glasses, continues to talk to her son to console him, also watching the flow of people who arrive as a tribute to her husband Waiting for the coffin in the Campidoglio two other sons of Costanzo, Camilla and Saverio.
Lino Banfi, Valerio Mastrandrea, Mara Venier, Pierluigi Diaco, Fiorello, Paola Barale
Gianni Ippoliti, Mara Venier, Pierluigi Diaco
, who burst into tears,
Rudy Zerbi, Ermete Realacci
are some of the well-known personalities who have come to pay homage.
Mastrandrea placed a white rose on the coffin.
Prime Minister
Giorgia Meloni
was welcomed to the funeral home by the mayor of Rome Roberto Gualtieri
Prime Minister Meloni at Maurizio Costanzo's funeral home with Maria De Filippi
Costanzo "leaves us the legacy of a great journalism capable of communicating with everyone and of understanding that the human dimension of things is very important. He was a man with his own ideas but capable of understanding everyone and he was very interested in the human character of people",
Meloni said as he left the funeral home
.
"There aren't many capable of doing what he did in recent years - he added -. He was also a great discoverer of talents, a person who liked to try to understand even what someone who didn't yet have great responsibilities could say" .
The Prime Minister explains "that I am linked to him by very ancient memories, I cannot say that I am a talent that he discovered but my very first television appearances were on the Maurizio Costanzo Show, I was more or less 17 years old. He is a person who went through our history who had his own clear point of view on the events, we lose a great journalist".
"Rarely have I seen a tribute that was a plebiscite. It is as if young and old in this country had all bowed down in front of Maurizio Costanzo".
Gianni Letta
said this
as he left Maurizio Costanzo's funeral home where he arrived together with his son Giampaolo, CEO of Medusa.
"I have a beautiful, positive memory of him - he added - he reaped all the important things he sowed in life".
Before others, "he understood the power of TV, he made it his own and managed it well, with intelligence and humanity like an enlightened ruler. Maurizio Costanzo is television".
The emotion of Rutelli and Palombelli at the funeral home
Among the first to arrive
Francesco Rutelli with his wife Barbara Palombelli
and Emanuela Aureli.
"He has helped millions of Italians to understand and explore life. In his witty, sober, curious way, to understand what's around the corner" said Rutelli as he left the funeral home.
"When Tg2 Post was born, I telephoned him to get his impressions and he gave them to me, together with some very affectionate and friendly advice, I greatly appreciated him. He was a master of television, I think he left a mark important in journalism and in Italian TV. This is also why we have decided in agreement with Palazzo Chigi to proclaim the solemn funeral".
Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano
said as
he left the funeral home.
The minister also recalled that he had become friends with the journalist years earlier, while he was writing the biography of Giuseppe Prezzolini.
The solemn funeral will be held on Monday in the Church of the Artists in Piazza del Popolo in Rome
Farewell to Maurizio Costanzo
"There is a moving tribute from Roman men and women to a giant of television, culture and journalism like Maurizio Costanzo, who was also a man of extraordinary professionalism and humanity. A very sweet and nice person, an unrivaled professional" he said the mayor of Rome
Roberto Gualtieri
at the exit of the funeral home.
"The widespread reaction in the city proves how much he is a person to whom we all owe a lot and to whom Rome will adequately pay homage - he adds -. Now there is a collective embrace from Rome for him, for his family and those who have wished well".
"I learned life and humanity from him. One thing we always said to each other was that we met late. We tried to come up with ideas for the city that we both love. I discovered a person of very profound humanity, capable of speaking of things that are very deep and very light at the same time, to laugh and get excited".
This was stated by the former mayor of Rome
Virginia Raggi
at the exit of the morgue for Maurizio Costanzo in the hall of the Protomoteca in the Campidoglio.