Funeral of Enrica Bonaccorti, "Il cielo" by Renato Zero at the church exit amid tears and emotion

The body of Enrica Bonaccorti left the Church of Artists in Rome to the notes of "Il cielo" by Renato Zero, welcomed by a sea of people around the hearse. Among the hundreds of people present, admirers of the host visibly moved shouted: "Goodbye Enrica, we love you".

Few, concise words from her daughter Verdiana Bonaccorti, overwhelmed by grief, at the church exit. "Today there was so much affection, a big hug. Thank you all. You all gave so much love to mom until the end, and she felt it".

Enrica Bonaccorti's daughter Verdiana with, seen from behind, Giancarlo Magalli

"The poetic word, friends, is the one that truly speaks the reality of death. Not the news, not the medical report, not the bare fact. Poetry. Because poetry perceives what the eyes do not see: the life that resists, that continues, that still inhabits, despite the invisibility of the gaze. The artist, the poet, the actor, the writer - and Enrica was profoundly all of these - has this gift: to penetrate the invisible. Sees the absences and gives them voice. Hears the laughter that no longer comes, yet tells it. Perceives the fragrant smiles, the sharp irony, and transforms them into words that remain. Here is the paradox: absence is full of presence. Silence is inhabited by voices. Death has erased nothing, it has only transfigured".

Alba Parietti

These were some of the words from the homily of Monsignor Antonio Staglianò, spoken during the funeral of Enrica Bonaccorti.

"Enrica, with her writing, with her poetry, with her short stories, did exactly this her whole life: she kept the door open - he added -. She gave voice to those who had none. She told of absences, of unspoken pains, of hidden joys. She penetrated the invisible of her characters, and returned them to us alive, real, pulsating. Today we are here to say that the door she kept open for us is now God who keeps it open for her".

Eleonora Daniele

The bishop then read some verses by Bonaccorti: "On the skin and on the paper, existence leaves furrows / wrinkles / that count my years to others / lines / that tell me about life." With these verses, Enrica opened her world to us. Today we are here, in front of the deepest furrow: the silence of her death. A silence that seems to want to swallow everything: her laughter, her words, her stories, her poems. And yet, the silence of those we have loved - faith teaches us - is not an empty silence. It is a silence that speaks. It is like a silenced cry that she herself loved to quote from Pavese. It is a sound faster than light, which today we must learn to listen to with our hearts. Enrica was not just a writer. She was a seeker of truth".

Staglianò concluded by saying: «Enrica, you will be unforgettable for the furrows you left on paper and in our hearts. You will be unforgettable because you taught us that, even when 'time crumbles fast like a landslide', the only thing that matters is the love we give. You will be unforgettable because you lived, and did not just survive, and in defeat you did not give up, but continued to seek the light, to seek beauty, to seek love».

At the conclusion of the funeral, Eleonora Daniele read the Prayer of Artists. Then, physicist Valerio Rossi Albertini read a short story by Bonaccorti, later recalling that «Enrica was a woman of multifaceted genius» and «her curiosity stimulated me a lot».

Among those present were also Mara Venier, visibly moved, Gloria Guida, Pino Strabioli, Michele Guardì, Franco Nero, and Giancarlo Magalli.