Giorgi: funeral in Rome, coffin carried in on Pink Floyd notes

Rome, 5 March (LaPresse) – The funeral of Eleonora Giorgi, who died of pancreatic cancer on 3 March, is beginning in the Church of the Artists in Rome. The coffin entered the nave to the strains of Pink Floyd's ‘Wish You Were Here’, as Giorgi herself had requested. The square was packed with dozens of people paying their respects to the actress. ‘It was a beautiful moment’, commented Andrea Rizzoli, one of Giorgia's children, speaking to journalists outside the church. “It makes you realise how much my mother managed to touch each and every one of them”, he added. ’Maybe some of them knew her personally, others through the characters in her films or her TV appearances. They all felt they had to give something back. Those here aren't looking for attention, they're saying ‘We loved Eleonora’ and this fills our hearts with joy’. Her other son Paolo Ciavarro was moved: ’Unfortunately we knew that this would be the outcome – he explained – and we enjoyed every moment, minute and second. That's why it was so wonderful’. “What will I miss? Everything, the phone call I used to make to her in the evening – he continued, his voice broken with tears – her audience was always there and we knew there would be an outpouring of affection even though I wasn't expecting such a large turnout”.