Milanese queued to pay homage to Carla Fracci, the great dancer who died yesterday. The funeral home in the foyer of the Teatro alla Scala, his ‘home’ for many years, was opened around 12.30.
A long applause greeted the coffin covered with white roses, even inside the foyer. The entrance to the coffin was accompanied by the music of a quartet, which played pieces from Puccini’s ‘Crisantemi’ and then a Mozart adagio, ‘Adagio from the quartet with clarinet’. Then those present observed a minute of silence.
The mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, the president of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana, the superintendent of La Scala, Dominique Meyer, and the music director Riccardo Chailly welcomed the coffin. “She was a unique artist who made history and gave so much to her city and the whole country. I called her the star of the stars. I had the pleasure of meeting her a few months ago and she truly represented in herself Italian art and has exalted this theater in a particular way “, said Fontana. Fracci represented “a great pleasure to see, to witness his interpretations. It was pure poetry,” he added.
With the passing of Carla Fracci, Milan “loses a part of its recent history”. The great dancer will be remembered by her city, but to dedicate a street or a square to her “we must keep the ten-year rule, because otherwise the exceptions are not good. But we will think about it, we will see what to do”, commented Sala, welcoming the coffin. “The way to recognize the talent and love you have given to Milan pushes us to find solutions”.
Fracci, Sala recalls, “loved Milan deeply and I believe that rarely has there been such a sincere change from the city. It is one of the rare cases in which everyone is in favor, in which everyone has admired and loved it. It is also a good story, being born into a normal family, with a desire to build something important for you and because it is around you “.
The story of Carla Fracci “is also a bit of Milan, the idea of giving opportunities to those who want it, the idea of welcoming everyone, but she has certainly given us a prestige that is difficult to imagine and to repeat. And it is clear that there is pain, but there is also the awareness of how much love has circulated between her and the city and this I must say is refreshing “, he concluded.
In the foyer of the Piermarini, where access will be limited, there are delegations from the corps de ballet, the students of the Accademia della Scala, the family and the staff of the Foundation.
“It was a marvel”, the memory of the Milanese
“He was a marvel, an angel. The only show I saw live was’ The Nutcracker ‘, with Nureyev, in the’ 70s. I was a worker and I couldn’t afford a ticket but the union had put some on. arrangement on the Loggione and so I went. It was an exciting evening, I keep a beautiful memory “. The mask barely hides the tears of Leonardo Caputi, 79, from Puglia but Milanese by adoption, who, like many of his fellow citizens, queued up to say goodbye to Carla Fracci.
“There are no women like that – Francesca Vinciguerra, 70 years old from Milan, who arrived at La Scala with her husband Enrico, explains to Adnkronos -. Not only was she a great dancer but also a great Italian”. At the funeral home set up in the foyer of the Teatro alla Scala, among roses and white flowers, many do not hold back the emotion, between masks and quota entrances due to the anti Covid regulations, each telling a particular anecdote linked to the queen of the world stages.
“When she danced – explains Mr. Enrico Vinciguerra – it was like seeing an angel flying. We always followed her with my wife and for this reason we came today to pay her homage”. Rosalba Amato, also from Milan, aged 69, feels “a great sadness”. “I feel an emotion and an incredible love for everything she did for dance and for the example she gave to all of Italy and to the whole world – she explains -. Carla Fracci was a strong, simple woman, one who comes from people but who stood in the midst of the great ones, always remaining herself “.
And he adds: “The other day I saw her on TV as she exits the Scala, with her father on the tram who stops to greet her. For me there has always been a single divine, it was Callas … but Fracci she is the divine of dance. I have a fantastic memory of her, of a woman who gave so much, who transmitted to young people the love for dance, a certain composure and the desire to do “. Fracci still continues to talk to the young people, as demonstrated by Chiara, a 17-year-old student of the Virgilio classical high school, who arrived at La Scala with her mother: “I have always seen her dance on TV, in videos with Nureyev – she says -. She made the history of ‘ Italy and made our country great in the world. It was a symbol of righteousness and discipline. When we learned of his death we talked about it in class with the teacher and all my classmates know her “.