The chapel set up for Pippo Baudo at the Teatro delle Vittoria in Rome will be open from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm today and from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm tomorrow . The historic theater, at the center of programs that have shaped TV history, will therefore receive the coffin of the famous host.

Baudo will be back on that stage today for a final farewell from the audience who loved him so much throughout his sixty-year and exceptional career.

The funeral , explained Viale Mazzini in a statement, will be held in his beloved Militello Val di Catania, his hometown, and will be celebrated on August 20th at 4:00 PM in the Church of Santa Maria della Stella . Mayor Giovanni Burtone has declared a day of mourning for Wednesday, the day of the ceremony.

"If the coffin arrives hours earlier than expected, we will set up a chapel of rest in the San Domenico auditorium," Mayor Giovanni Burtone explains. "We will coordinate with the police headquarters," he adds, "for all necessary services, given that we anticipate a huge turnout. We will have large screens set up outside the church."

"Choosing a funeral in his hometown," Burtone says, "is an act of affection Pippo wanted to give to his city, which is grateful for what he did for us as a man and a father. Baudo was the father of all Italy because he was a key figure in the growth of the entire nation."

(Unioneonline/vl)

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