Palermo is in mourning for the farewell to Totò Schillaci , the champion of Italia '90 who died yesterday morning surrounded by the affection of his wife Barbara and his children Mattia, Jessica and Nicole, the first two he had with his first wife Rita.

Raised in the popular Cep neighborhood of the city, Palermo pays homage to Schillaci with a funeral chapel commissioned by the Municipality and set up in the press room of the Renzo Barbera stadium , open to visits today as well.

The Palermo team, the main local institutional figures, but above all many fans of all ages, and many ordinary citizens, even entire families, paid homage to him.

So much emotion and few words, but very heartfelt, from the people: "He will score goals even in heaven"; "They called him to heaven". "A champion of the people, he will remain in legend" .

Tomorrow morning, the religious funeral will be held in the cathedral of the Sicilian capital. The archbishop of Palermo, Corrado Lorefice, has already commemorated him: «Palermo loses a symbol of redemption. A boy of humble origins who manages to make his way despite obstacles and hostility, to the point of becoming a sports icon».

After playing football, Schillaci did not disdain the spotlight of some reality shows and granted himself some cameos in cinema or on TV; he also had a brief political season, as a city councilor. But his main activities remained linked to sport, which, he said several times, had kept him away from bad company: in 2000 he founded the Ribolla football school, in the Borgo Nuovo neighborhood, near the one where he grew up. He never shied away from many solidarity initiatives, among the many one alongside the Addiopizzo Committee, which greeted him like this: "Schillaci, even before being a great footballer, was and remains a man who, without forgetting his origins, wanted to dedicate the second half of his life also to those suburbs where he came from. For us it was a privilege to have him alongside us in the commitment to Kalsa, to create healthy alternatives in a context invested by poverty and degradation".

The news of Schillaci's death was picked up and commented on by the media in every corner of the planet , greeted with grief by the clubs where the Palermo footballer played, all the way to Japan, where Totò ended his career. Even the Japanese Jubilo Iwata dedicated a memory to their legendary number 11: "We pray that his soul rests in peace, he will live in our hearts."

(Unioneonline/vl)

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