Silvio Berlusconi’s mansion in Arcore, near Milan, it has become the great burning chapel of ‘Il Cavaliere’ waiting for the state funerals to be held this Wednesday in the Milanese cathedral. His house, where the remains of the former Italian prime minister rest, has become a place of pilgrimage for many supporters of the deceased magnate.

The flowers and memorabilia of his followers are accumulating today at the gates of the residence de Berlusconi, who died this Monday at the age of 86 at the San Raffaelle hospital in Milan due to chronic leukemia.

The burning chapel has been installed in the historic residence of the politician, although in the end Only your relatives will be able to visit it. and it will not be open to the public by decision of his family, who have alleged reasons of public order, since, given his enormous popularity, the presence of thousands of people was expected to bid him his last goodbye.

This Wednesday, a day that has been declared of national mourning in the country for the death of a key man in Italian history in recent decades, the state funeral will be held at the Duomo in Milan, Berlusconi’s hometown and from which he forged his media empire and prolific political career.

The ceremony will start at 15:00 local time (13:00 GMT) in the presence of authorities from the country’s political, social and economic life, headed by the Head of State, Sergio Mattarella, and the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who leads the government coalition of which Forza Italia is a part , the party founded by Berlusconi.

The funeral will be presided over by the Archbishop of Milan, Monsignor Mario Delphini. In addition, giant screens will be installed in the “Duomo” square so that people can follow the funeral live through a television signal that will be produced by Mediaset, the magnate’s media group. At the moment, the authorities have not defined the capacity that is expected to be admitted to the temple, whose maximum capacity is about 5,000 people.

Berlusconi’s death marks the end of an era in Italian history, as changed the way of doing politicsbut he also left his mark in the world of business, communication and sports, during the long decades that he led the life of the country.

The tycoon died surrounded by his five children, his brother Paolo and his partner Marta Fascina, 53 years his junior, at the San Raffaele hospital in Milanwhere he was admitted again last Friday, after a brief break, since he had been hospitalized for 44 days after it was revealed that he had been suffering from leukemia for a long time.