Grief-stricken relatives paid their last respects yesterday to 95 victims of southern Italy's devastating mudslides.
As the coffins were laid out in long red-carpeted rows at the sports ground in the worst-hit town of Sarno, some men and women fainted and were stretchered away by emergency workers who had spent days pulling scores of bodies from the rubble. Some of the bereaved screamed and threw themselves on to the flower-strewn coffins.
One young couple fell to their knees next to a small white coffin, banging on its lid. Some of the coffins were placed in groups of four - a grim sign of the heavy losses families suffered in the mudslides, which officials say killed 118 people.
The Italian Prime Minister, Mr Romano Prodi, and the President, Mr Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, joined thousands of mourners at the sports ground.
Over the whole scene towered the dark, scarred mountainside, from where torrential rain sent rivers of mud and topsoil coursing down into swathes of southern Italy last week.
As a choir sang, nuns walked among the mourners to offer comfort and lay flowers on coffins. Afterwards the victims were interred in a special area of the town's cemetery, part of which was destroyed by the rivers of mud.
After the funeral, Mr Scalfaro and Mr Prodi flew to the nearby ravaged town of Quindici, where they offered sympathy.
"We are with you, and we will stay with you," Mr Scalfaro said to applause. "We came here today because we wanted to bring you the solidarity of the whole Italian population."
Mr Prodi echoed the president's words. "All this morning I have heard the same phrase over and over again: `Be close to us'," the prime minister said. "And I tell you, the government will be close to you."
Rome's civil protection department, which has stopped issuing numbers of missing amid confusion over the figures, has estimated that almost 1,500 people have been made homeless in Italy's "modern-day Pompeii".
The blazing sunshine which has followed the rain and the landslides has solidified the mud, hampering the increasingly desperate search for survivors.
Mr Roberto Robustelli (22), was pulled out alive on Friday after three days buried in rubble. But hopes that more might be found grew ever slimmer.
Pope John Paul sent a message of sympathy to the stricken Campania region during his weekly Angelus address to pilgrims in St Peter's Square.
"In the Campania region, which has been sorely tried in the recent dramatic floods, there have been numerous victims and severe damage to the land and houses," he said. "I assure my prayers for the souls of those who have passed away, and with all Christian solidarity I am close to their relatives."
The government, which has borne the brunt of blame-mongering over the disaster, has declared a state of emergency in three provinces. It has set aside 50 billion lire (£20 million) for initial relief and reconstruction and is studying measures to be taken after that initial phase is over.
Politicians, local officials and the media have accused ministers of failing to stop illegal construction or moving to reverse the environmental imbalance in the impoverished south.
Officials of the province of Naples, near Campania, have called for a national lottery to raise funds for the area.
Three years after fashion mogul Maurizio Gucci was gunned down on the steps of his Milan office, his ex-wife goes on trial today accused of plotting his murder. Patrizia Reggiani (50) and four alleged accomplices face up to 30 years behind bars if found guilty. In a murder reminiscent of last year's killing of Gianni Versace, a gunman fired three bullets into Gucci in central Milan in March 1995, finishing him off with a shot to the head.