Thousands turn out for Pavarotti

Italy’s air force is
scheduled for a flyover
during the funeral.

MODENA, Italy (AP) — Thousands of mourners filed past the open white casket of Luciano Pavarotti in his hometown cathedral Friday to pay their last respects to the tenor whose charisma and voice were celebrated around the world.

More than 10,000 people have viewed the body of the city’s most famous son since Thursday evening, when the public was allowed in just hours after his death from pancreatic cancer at age 71.

Pavarotti’s coffin was surrounded by wreaths. He was dressed in white tie and tails, his hands holding the trademark white handkerchief and a rosary. A red veil with an embroidered treble clef was placed at his feet inside his coffin.

“He’s a symbol of Modena, a symbol of Italy, he’s international,” said Simone Sarrau, 32, who waited in line until nearly midnight Thursday. “He’s a one of a kind. There’s only him, and there will always only be him.”

The crowd applauded in a sign of respect as pallbearers carried the coffin into the cathedral Thursday for a viewing that ended at midnight and resumed shortly after dawn Friday.

He is survived by his second wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, their daughter, Alice, and three daughters from his first marriage.

Televised funeral

His funeral today will be televised live and is expected to draw dignitaries from opera, politics and culture.

Premier Romano Prodi was expected to attend the service, his office said, and tenor Andrea Bocelli was scheduled to sing the hymn “Panis Angelicus,” which Pavarotti himself performed at the same cathedral in a memorable duet with his father, Fernando, in 1978.

Giant TV screens were set up near the 12th century cathedral for the public, and the air force’s precision flying team — the Frecce Tricolori, or Tricolored Arrows — will perform a flyover with contrails of red, white and green in the colors of the Italian flag as the casket is brought out of the cathedral, the ANSA news agency said.

The Modena city hall said the tenor would be buried in the Montale Rangone cemetery, near Modena, where members of his family, including his parents and stillborn son, Riccardo, are buried.

“Pavarotti was the last great Italian voice able to move the world,” said Bruno Cagli, president of the Santa Cecilia National Academy in Rome.