He would surely have come up with yet another story about Rome and the Romans. Laughing even at death and maybe making some jokes, lucid and brilliant, about waiting to enter the afterlife. A wait that for Gigi Proietti, who passed away on Monday 2 November, is further lengthening due to the chaos in the Capitoline cemeteries. In particular that of Flaminio Prima Porta where the emergency for cremations broke out after the increase in deaths in recent months, also due to the coronavirus.
But not only: the problems according to many cemetery operators are structural and have been dragging on for some time. The fact is that in this chaos, in which the mortuaries are full and hundreds of corpses are waiting to be cremated after being moved to Verano, even the great actor has been put “in line”. Waiting for the cremation that was scheduled for these days and which, instead, was postponed for at least another week.
Funerali Proietti, the memory of Cortellesi, Brignano and Insinna: “He will always be our teacher”
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The wait
The beloved showman, king of irony and smiles under the Dome, will have to wait a little longer before presenting himself “on his knees” to that Saint Peter he mentioned in the sonnet dedicated to Alberto Sordi on the day of his death. And then comes to mind the dialogue between Brancaleone, played by Vittorio Gassman, and Death, who was the same Proietti, in the film “Brancaleone alle Crociate” directed by Mario Monicelli in 1970: «What are you doing? Run to me, I can’t stand anymore! I impose it to you … I am here! ».
Gigi Proietti, “Goodbye maestro”: from Verdone to Rome, the homage of the world of entertainment and sport
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Romanity
And you can really imagine, with your imagination and thinking back to many of his jokes, what he would have said about this situation: he would have taken it as another example of that “Roman spirit” to smile about but also to reflect on. And he would have drawn around us a new cameo to tell and interpret in his unmistakable way. Without discounts. For nothing and for anyone. But always with great understanding towards everything and everyone. This postponement is incomprehensible, however, for Carlo Calenda, candidate for mayor of the capital, who thunders in a tweet: “How can this be achieved?”. With Guido Crosetto responding via social media: «The shameful thing is that if it hadn’t happened to a known person, we wouldn’t have even known. Where I come from they would have kicked out the mayor for years (of any color) ».
