Letters of thanks, photos, those who brought the colors of their favorite team, signs with writings dedicated to the journalist who raised the curtain in the Italian home for a lifetime. Thousands of people paid tribute today to one of television’s greatest personalities. In the Church of the Artists – the Basilica of Santa Maria in Montesanto – the funeral ceremony after two days of funeral home open to the public.
The coffin leaves the church with the theme song of the Costanzo-Show
Applause and the acronym. So Maurizio Costanzo’s coffin came out of the church. The theme song of the ‘Maurizio Costanzo Show’ is broadcast in the air, If I Think Of You, written by Franco Bracardi and Gianni Boncompagni. The last trip
it is in the Verano cemetery where Costanzo will be buried.
Costanzo funeral, the exit of the coffin on the notes of the talk show: the emotion of Maria De Filippi
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Mass is over. Gerry Scotti reads the artists’ prayer
“Lord, turn your eyes to our work, that of your artists, those who give fuel to their wings to be closer to you and help our brothers and sisters. Forgive us if we are fragile, inconstant, but we are men. Give us your strength. We pray for all artists, let us help men through our art. Give us beautiful wings to lift us up to you”. These are some of the most beautiful verses of the artists’ prayer read by Gerry Scotti during the ceremony, just before the end of the mass.
Daughter Camilla: “You’re in heaven to do a talk show with Bracardi on the piano”
“Daddy, you didn’t just have three children. But many more. You leave humility to the three of us. You who wouldn’t have expected even so many people here today. You would have said: ‘But you realize, all this for me And we imagine you with Alberto Sordi now and Vittorio Gassmanin heaven to organize a talk show, with Alberto Silvestri e George Bracardi on the floor. Dad, nothing you’ve done will be lost, we love you,” said his daughter Camilla.
Don Insero: “He asked me: What’s around the corner?”
There is also the image of the beloved black cat Philip on Constantius’ coffin. “He had a great love for animals”, for the cat Filippo and also “for the other living creatures with which he felt in harmony”, says Don Walter Insero during the homily and also recounts the questions that the journalist increasingly asked him frequently: “What’s around the corner?”. His relationship with his family, with his children, was one of love, with Mary also of “tenderness, esteem and complicity”. With regard to those who were next to him, added Fr Walter, “he had developed a strong sense of protection” whether they were his loved ones or his collaborators.
“One day we will embrace Maurizio again”
Don Insero ended the mass with a last farewell “may he strengthen our faith. One day we will see him again”.
Britti: “My son loved the turtles he gave him”
“I lose a friend. I was talking to him about culture, books, football, Roma. About many things. I will miss his advice, his tips. How to deal with the good things in life, companions, children. The last time I saw him a few months ago. He was a bit fragile but I went to see him, he gave turtles as gifts, my son liked them a lot but we didn’t have time” he says Alex Britt from the Church of the Artists in Rome.
Don Insero: “He was greedy for chocolate. And never greedy”
Maurizio, says the priest, “was very greedy, I know that dark chocolate was secretly passed on to him”, he underlines while Maria De Filippi hints at a smile. Towards his loved ones “he had a strong sense of protection, but he also helped many artists in time of need”, recalls Insero again. “He didn’t give importance to money, he wasn’t greedy, he managed to dose it to share it with others. He was a humble, loyal man, he kept his word and respected the opinions of others, without judging differences, inclined to understand the reasons of others He tended to be lazy, he loved Roma, he wasn’t a practicing sportsman. He wanted to listen to others, get to know people, their stories, he had an intuition before listening to people’s characters”.
Pier Silvio Berlusconi at the funeral
Pier Silvio Berlusconi he is attending the solemn funeral of Maurizio Costanzo, the CEO of Mediaset is seated next to Maria De Filippi in the Church of the Artists in Rome. In church too Sabrina Ferilli con Flavio Cattaneo, Aurelio De Laurentiisthe Minister of Culture Gennaro SangiulianoMayor Robert Gualtieri, Alfonso Signorini, Lorella Cuccarini con Silvio Testi, Luciana Littizzetto, Christian De Sica, Vittorio Sgarbi, Stefano Coletta, Paolo Bonolis con Sonia Bruganelli, Carlo Conti, Enrico Mentana, Eleonora Giorgi, Valerio Scanu, Mara Venier, Milly Carlucci.
Sgarbi: “Maria De Filippi is now Costanzo”
Vittorio Sgarbi: “Capable people who have become a spectacle for the world. His wife has gone even further, Costanzo is her now. In 1987 at the first invitation to Maurizio Costanzo I quarreled with him and returned in 1989. He was a duplicate of life. Mai told me I had to be calm. He is living flesh, television today talks about him as if he were still alive”.
Don Insero: “Maurizio was not a believer. He was curious”
“Maurizio didn’t profess to be a believer, but he was curious,” said the priest. “He was curious about the story of Jesus, of Mary. He was not practicing but in the moment of the final battle he raised his eyes to heaven and invoked the protection of the Virgin Mary. He was compassionate, he had great respect for the poor. He helped whoever he could, like he could. And when it came to helping someone, you know, he did it with all his might.”
In the square the big screen remains without sound
You can’t hear the screen in the square. Thousands of people remain silent in front of the silent TV, watching. “He is heard very little, only if you move away and only to the right of the church,” says a gentleman in the crowd. Without taking your eyes off the screen.
Don Walter: “He said to me. ‘Do you know father that I will have to come to you?'”
With don Walter, don Armando, a missionary friend of Costanzo, and the two priests of the Church of Artists concelebrate the funeral: “His life goes on, his soul continues to love, to love and to feel our love”. “When I met him it struck me because he told me about his childhood. About the parish in Piazza Bologna. He told me that the parishes did a great spiritual and social service in the neighborhoods. He said to me. ‘Do you know father that I will have to come to you? ‘ Doctor Costanzo, I replied, I don’t accept reservations. And then he confided in me a wish: to be able one day, when the Lord would have called him to himself, to pray for him”, continues Insero”.
Giancarlo Giannini: “Luckily I was his friend”
“I am lucky that he made a film written by him. A man who loves knowledge, very intelligent, fortunately I was his friend. A man of generous and kind humanity,” said the actor Giancarlo Giannini as he entered the basilica.
Don Walter Insero: “The curtain has closed but only the first act is finished”
The solemn funeral has begun at the Church of the Artists in Rome. To officiate the mass is don Walter Insert, recently appointed chaplain by Pope Francis. Chaplain at Rai since 2004, the priest had already officiated the funeral of Gigi Proietti.
In recent months he has shared with Maurizio Costanzo various initiatives undertaken to help the neediest: “The curtain has closed but the first act is over”, he says from the churchyard.
Maria De Filippi enters the church held by the hand by her son Gabriele
Maria De Filippi entered the artists’ church, following the arrival of the coffin by a few minutes Maurice Costanzo before the solemn funeral which will take place shortly. With her in the car was Raffaella Mennoia, author of ‘Men and Women’. At her entrance, De Filippi, in a suit and black sunglasses, was accompanied by the hand by her son Gabriele. A few minutes later it was Pier Silvio Berlusconi’s turn. Inside the church, among others, also the president of Napoli and television producer Aurelio De Laurentiis.
Funeral Maurizio Costanzo, the arrival of Maria De Filippi
Maurizio Costanzo’s coffin arrived, half an hour early
Big applause as the coffin arrives.
Vladimir Luxuria: “If he was convinced of something, he would go ahead like a steamroller”
“Thank you in huge letters. Maurizio was able, when it wasn’t easy, to bring topics such as social inclusion, the fight against discrimination, the fight against homophobia to the general public, he carried out all these with great courage battles. Thank you very much Maurixio. If he was convinced of something, he went on like a steamroller”.
Francesco Totti, the great absentee: he will not attend the funeral
Francesco Totti he had greeted Costanzo at the funeral home of the Paideia clinic. There has always been a special friendship between him and Costanzo. But today he won’t be there, he left with his partner Naomi Bocchi for the white week in Madonna di Campiglio, together with his daughter Chanel Totti and Bocchi’s two children.
Francesco Totti does not attend the funeral of Maurizio Costanzo. “He preferred to greet him privately”
by the Rome editorial staff
Umbrellas in the crowd. But no one leaves
Some have brought a sack lunch to reach the first row in front of the barriers. And even in the rain, no one leaves.
The funeral live on a giant screen
People outside will be able to follow the funeral on a giant screen. In the cordoned-off area in front of the Church, where the press cannot enter, journalists are held by an imposing security service about twenty meters from the entrance. Among the first to arrive also Alessandra Celentano, Kledi, Roberto Giacobbo, Eleonora Daniele and Dado. To check the situation came out a little while ago Don Walter Inserorector of the Basilica Santa Maria in Montesanto in Piazza del Popolo.
Already thousands in the square
An hour and a half before the funeral homily, the first to arrive at the artists’ church for Maurizio Costanzo’s funeral were Alessandra Celentano, Kledi and Eleonora Daniele. Letters of thanks, photos, who brought the colors of their favorite team, these are some of the tributes from Italians to one of the greatest television personalities. Letters of thanks, photos, who brought the colors of their favorite team, these are some of the tributes from Italians to one of the greatest television personalities.
The “Bombolo” yellow and red scarf, the turtle, the folder and the cream puffs: gifts from the Romans for Maurizio Costanzo
by Marco Carta, Romina Marceca
Fiorello’s memory: “How much fun we had together”
Fiorello recalled Maurizio Costanzo in the preview of today’s episode of ‘Viva Rai 2’. In the clip, the showman appeared alone in the street, at dawn, without hiding his emotion for the disappearance of his journalist friend. “I’ve been thinking about what to say about you for three days without being trivial, redundant”, Fiorello’s words. “Maurizio, they’ve been talking about you for three days, saying wonderful things about you, the great man you were, how you revolutionized the world of TV and how you changed the lives of so many people who do this job. Me first “. “I know how much you loved to laugh and we had fun,” he continued. Fiorello finally recalled: “I always called you Mr. Costanzo, then one day you told me, verbatim, ‘Mo’ you broke your co… with this Mr. Costanzo… call me Maurizio'”. The Sicilian artist then sang the famous song, If by phoningwith shining eyes.
Costanzo, Fiorello sings “Se Telefonando”. The moving tribute to VivaRadio2
