Napolitano's chapel of rest: Mattarella, Meloni and, surprisingly, also the Pope arrive, a moving tribute to the family

The coffin of the President Emeritus of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano, who died on Friday at the age of 98, has arrived at Palazzo Madama where the Funeral Chamber has been set up which will last until Monday afternoon.

The guard of honor of the Cuirassiers on motorcycles escorted the former Head of State throughout the journey from the Salvator Mundi clinic - where he had been hospitalized for 4 months - to the Senate.

In the morning, among many , the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni , accompanied by the President of the Senate Ignazio La Russa, and the former Prime Minister Mario Draghi arrived. The leaders spoke in front of the body and greeted the family with emotion: his inseparable wife Clio, his sons Giulio and Giovanni, his grandchildren.

  Surprisingly, Pope Francis also entered through the Corso Rinascimento entrance.

THE FUNERAL – For Napolitano, as he is entitled to as a former Head of State , a state funeral is planned which, by his express wish, will take place in a secular form, on Tuesday morning at 11.30am live on Rai1 TV.

The ceremony will be organized for the first time in the Montecitorio Chamber, in that branch of Parliament of which he was also president in the XI Legislature, when he succeeded Oscar Luigi Scalfaro who was elected to the Quirinale in 1992. And it can also be followed on the big screens will be set up outside the Palace.

Another first for Giorgio Napolitano, in addition to being the first PCI exponent to obtain a visa to enter the USA; the first PCI member to become Minister of the Interior; the first communist to become Head of State. And the first Head of State to be re-elected for a second term.

To allow everyone to say their final goodbyes, politics has decided to stop, postponing many of the appointments scheduled for the weekend. Starting with Fratelli d'Italia who postponed until next weekend every initiative organized for the "Winning Italy. A year of results" event, including Giorgia Meloni's speech.

(Unioneonline/D)