The funeral of Marco Simoncelli - a very Italian affair

The funeral was streamed live via the web. I joined it as the clerics lined up at the front went through various stock rituals. In front of them were on either side Simoncelli's 250 Gilera and 800 Honda with the gray coffin bedecked with white flowers between. The Church was full as was a football pitch sized area outside which had relayed sound and a large screen. This event showed what a patrician society Italy still is as those present where overwhelmingly male. The great kind bear that is Paulo Simoncelli received a constant stream of male hugs whilst his mother and sister just seemed overlooked. The congregation included a large number of jockey sized blokes with regulation cropped hair and fuzzy half grown beards. The way the camera lingered on some of them they must be celebrities but most were lost on me. Not so Agostini, very elder statesman like, Rossi, the distraught Capirossi, Dovizioso, the neatly turned out Lorenzo, Vito Guareschi still with shocked 1000 yard stare and Dr Costa who gave a warmly received speech in which I think he said that Simoncelli was a champion and his life a victory.
A very nice and unexpected touch was the placing of the coffin on a carpet on the ground so people could simply come and sit around it for a while. Some Italian versions of rock music were played a couple of times and then the coffin was gently driven away.
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