The last farewell to the president Giorgio Napolitano will take place at 11 in the Chamber of Deputies. This is just one of the unpublished works that will accompany the secular funeral of the President Emeritus of the Republic today, Tuesday 30 September. The heads of state will be there to greet him Sergio Mattarella, Emmanuel Macron (France), Frank Walter Steinmeier (Germany), the former Francois Hollande), more than one hundred ambassadors, including the Russian one in Rome, the Duchess Sophia of Edinburgh, the premier Melons, the Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama, the mayors of Naples (his city) and Milan, and the Parliament in joint session.
The secular funeral of Giorgio Napolitano: the ceremony in detail
Giorgio Napolitano's funeral procession will move from the Senate at 11,10, will cross the historic center of Rome passing through Corso Rinascimento and then reach the Chamber of Deputies where the commemoration will begin at 11,45. Nine speeches are expected during the ceremony: the presidents of the Chambers Ignazio La Russa e Lorenzo Fontana. Then the son will speak Giulio and the niece Sofia May Napolitano. Then the former prime ministers Julian Amato e Paolo Gentiloni, Gianni Letta, the cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, Anna Finocchiaro. The secular funeral of Giorgio Napolitano, the first in the history of the Republic to take place inside Montecitorio, will be broadcast live on Rai Uno. To ensure the public can follow him on site, giant screens will be set up in the square. Flags were also at half-mast in EU buildings, and national mourning was proclaimed in Italy.
The previous secular funerals
No political figure was hosted inside the Chamber of Deputies for the last secular farewell before Giorgio Napolitano. However, secular funerals took place in 1979, 1999 and 2015 outside the Montecitorio palace. In 1979 the funeral of Ugo La Malfa was held with the oration entrusted to Leo Valiani. In 1999 it was the turn of Nilde Iotti, three times president of the Chamber. Giorgio Napolitano, Luciano Violante, Walter Veltroni, Livia Turco, Tina Anselmi, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro spoke. In 2015 the last farewell to Pietro Ingrao it took place in October and the funeral oration was entrusted to Alfredo Reichlin
