Giorgio Armani was bid farewell with white petals thrown by residents lining the street, and at the church of San Martino—in the churchyard—a wreath of white flowers with a message written in gold, "With much affection, your employees." White roses also lined the paths of the small cemetery in Rivalta, where the designer's ashes will be buried, next to the graves of his parents and brother Sergio. The funeral, officiated by the parish priest, Monsignor Busani, took place in the early afternoon in a strictly private ceremony in the heavily guarded hamlet of Rivalta, with approximately seventy family members and friends admitted.
Simultaneously, in Milan and around the world, at precisely 3:00 PM, Giorgio Armani stores and offices closed in mourning. Shutters were down in the boutiques, traffic was blocked on the websites, and computers were turned off in the offices as a sign of respect : the thousands of employees of the company founded 50 years ago worked as usual, but only until 3:00 PM, when all operations were suspended in conjunction with the funeral, held in the small town in the province of Piacenza where the great designer, who passed away last September 4th at the age of 91, had been evacuated as a child, along with his family.
Armani, la prima boutique a Porto Cervo aperta nel giugno 2021
On Saturday and Sunday, 16,000 people paid their respects at the funeral chapel set up in his theatre on Via Bergognone.
Milan remembered him today with a day of mourning, and the City Council also observed a minute of silence at the beginning of the session. Council President Elena Buscemi recalled that in Milan, "his adopted city, he gave so much and from the city he received love and gratitude." She promised that "Milan, to which he gave so much, will remember him in the best possible way."
Mayor Beppe Sala had immediately offered the family a place in the Famedio, but Giorgio Armani chose to rest in the family chapel alongside his father Ugo, his brother Sergio, and his mother Maria Raimondo. After the funeral, once the summary of the death certificate has arrived from the Municipality, the will will be opened.
Summoned before the notary are his nieces Silvana and Roberta, daughters of his late brother Sergio, and Andrea Camerana, son of his sister Rosanna, as well as Leo Dell'Orco, Armani's partner in both work and life. Despite the mourning, everything at the company will continue as the designer would have wished, with the exhibition in Brera and the fashion show, both desired by King George, on September 28th in Milan during Fashion Week, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company that bears his name. Everything, of course, has already been carefully planned down to the smallest detail, as he loved to do.
(Unioneonline)