The white and pink balloons in the sky as Michelle Causo's coffin left the church of Santa Maria della Presentation.
The applause broke for a moment the silence that accompanied the last farewell to the 17-year-old killed and battered last Wednesday in Primavalle , the neighborhood on the outskirts of Rome that yesterday rallied around the parents of the young victim, amidst tears, emotion and appeals to justice. "Let this death not be wasted - the words in the homily of Bishop Baldo Reina -, let it become the sign of a need, that of changing our world together". «My daughter - the words of Michelle's mother, Daniela Bertoneri - represents a cry of hope to put an end to feminicide. Michelle lives in all of them. In each of us."
Hundreds of people in strict silence accompanied the white coffin inside the church, while in the square friends and schoolmates wore a t-shirt with a photo of the young woman and the words "Your smile shines in the sky".
Michelle's mother became the mother of many other boys and girls who burst into tears hugging her. «My daughter – she told them – represents a cry of hope to put an end to feminicide. It can happen to anyone. Children must live peacefully without fear. Michelle was this: simplicity, youth. Her life was cut short."
Also present at the celebration were the boyfriend of the young woman, Flavio, and her father Gianluca. They were in the front row, to the right of the coffin, close together.
When the coffin came out of Santa Maria della Presentation it was greeted with tears and applause. As well as at the entrance. The composed silence of friends and relatives during the celebration was broken only by a few sobs. And outside, at the end of the mass, the cry "Michelle!" preceded the launch of the balloons into the sky. Some, in the shape of a letter, composed the inscription "Mimmi", one of the nicknames of yet another young victim of feminicide. Many flowers were left in front of the church: mostly white roses and sunflowers. Among these, also the crowns of the fiance - with the inscription "I love you" - and those of the president of the Lazio Region, Francesco Rocca, and of the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri.
