A long, very long applause and the notes of John Lennon, while the images of the many encounters of a lifetime scroll on the screen.
It is a packed Studio Theater at the Parco della musica Auditorium, with many people still outside (who will have to find a place in another room) to say their last goodbyes to Ernesto Assante, the critic and popularizer, one of the greatest Italian music experts and historic signature of Repubblica, who passed away on 26 February at the age of 66.
"Ernesto was Repubblica, just as Repubblica is Ernesto, for his enthusiasm and the idea of inclusiveness, because music belongs to all of us", recalls the newspaper's director Maurizio Molinari.
"Just this evening we were on the bill here", says his friend, colleague and companion of many adventures Gino Castaldi, retracing their first meeting, the birth of their Rock Lessons, like the time when Assante arrived late because "he had a hole the plane."
But above all, he says, "his belief that music was a way to change the world for the better. We said it again a few days ago".
"He had the virtue of storytelling and lightness", recalls Walter Veltroni.
Sitting in the front row, his wife Eleonora and daughters Costanza and Sofia.
Among memories, stories and the audience, also Serena Dandini, Giancarlo De Cataldo, Luca Barbarossa, Carlo Fuortes, Eleonora Daniele, Corrado Augias, Riccardo Luna, Giuliano Sangiorgi, Vinicio Capossela, Niccolò Fabi, Piero Pelù, Marina Rei and Noemi.
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