As in an American series: our family history is staged with the last farewell to Berlusconi

No one looks into the camera, ever. It looks like a film by Sorrentino, it looks like “Reality” by Garrone, it looks like our family history, it looks like the history of television, it looks like the history of our country, it looks like an American series, with the tired faces of tired children, ex-wives, ex-presidents of the council, valets, surgeons, football players, carabinieri, lifelong enemies, sailors, friends, captains of industry, entrepreneurs, politicians, while outside the Duomo stationed the ladies of Brera with freshly done hair, fans, party members, onlookers, pensioners passing by, flowers, lots of flowers and flags. Inside the Cathedral, the family is in the front row, television in the second row, politics on the sides. Silvio Berlusconi has been many things, and all of them don’t fit in the Milan Cathedral. There is his brother Paolo, there are the children, in order of age and mothers, together with Marta Fascina. Further on, out of frame, Veronica Lario. Behind, Silvia Toffanin next to the most powerful woman in Italy, Maria De Filippi, the only one with a white shirt. Marta Fascina has a diamond as big as my face, dressed as always in dark blue, her daughters and sons are composed in grief for an obviously beloved father. No one has ever heard or remembers what the voices of the women who were part of Berlusconi’s life sound like, everyone only remembers his, just as to many of us it seems so strange the attachment of these children to a man whom we have judged in a tragic way. All sides of politics are there: Sergio Mattarella, Giorgia Meloni, Mario Draghi, Matteo Renzi, Umberto Bossi, they are all there, and I would pay any amount to know what they thought when the coffin passed in front of them. The Duomo of Milan has now become Parliament, Channel 5 and the living room of the private home of a billionaire. The coffin enters the Cathedral, behind the coffin a man with white gloves holds the photo of Berlusconi: in the photo he is smiling, it is the classic photo of Berlusconi, as we imagine him when we close our eyes. Everyone is crying: Marina is crying, Piersilvio is crying, Marta Fascina is crying, Gerry Scotti is crying, further on is Barbara D’Urso who prays with her hands joined. High, low, parody, tragedy, all the space occupied between “Drive in” and the Senate of the Republic. On Raiuno, Canale 5, Retequattro, Italia uno and La7 the live broadcast of the funeral is broadcast, on Raidue Squadra Speciale Cobra 11, while on Sky Atlantic “Succession” is broadcast, but they are still in the first season, before the funeral they must spend quite a few bets. The homily speaks of men, he speaks of friends, he speaks of love, but above all he speaks of success: “Loving and wanting to be loved”, “loving and following the paths of dedication”, “loving and surrendering, this is what can be said of a man”, “to be happy and to love the holidays without too many thoughts and without too many anxieties”, until closing on: “to be happy with the applause of the people”. This was Berlusconi: a man who sought applause all his life. Piersilvio tries to exchange the peace sign with Marina, but Marina had already turned to Marta Fascina. Is it a political treaty? Is it a premonition? Is this the sign of a very near future? All the time we see backcombed hair, major cosmetic surgery jobs, miles of pearls, reflective veils, tears without tears. Marta Fascina looks like Marlene Dietrich in “Witness for the Prosecution”, she seems to be on the verge of saying: “I never faint because I’m not sure I’m falling gracefully, and I don’t smell the salts because my eyes swell”. And then there’s the coffin. Everyone cheers for the coffin, cheers for the dead body of a man we thought would never die, all coffins look small from home. The coffin comes out escorted by the carabinieri, the AC Milan flags are waving outside, the choirs are heard, everyone is applauding, everyone is filming on their mobile phones, perhaps they will want to watch it at home because I don’t understand how a person can make a video of a funeral or take a souvenir photo to a coffin. On Canale 5 it is all a fade between the images of the Duomo and blue balloons flying in the sky, the voice of Cesara Buonamici broken by emotion, people shouting “Ciao Silvio”. Fascina caresses the coffin, still next to Marina. The children thank the people outside the cathedral moved, and go away holding hands. Who knows if in a few months they will still hold each other so close.