Overview
- Umberto Bossi, the 84-year-old Lega founder, was honored in Pontida as large crowds revived slogans such as “Secessione” and chants about burning the tricolor.
- Matteo Salvini, wearing a green shirt, faced boos and shouts to remove it from veteran militants including supporters of Roberto Castelli’s Partito Popolare per il Nord.
- Giorgia Meloni was applauded along her walk to the abbey, whereas lifetime senator and former premier Mario Monti was met with whistles and cries of “vergogna.”
- Economy minister Giancarlo Giorgetti intervened to calm hardline chants, and Salvini’s partner Francesca Verdini confronted a protester, telling him he was at a funeral.
- The cortege paused at the Sacro Pratone before the coffin left for Varese for cremation, with burial planned in Cassano Magnago.