A Farewell in the Courtyard of the Family Home: Pavana Mourns Francesco Guccini
Cardinal Zuppi pays tribute to the singer-songwriter; his daughter Teresa bids him farewell with „Buon viaggio, babbo“
Pavana – Two days after his death, Italy bid farewell to Francesco Guccini. The memorial service took place on Saturday morning in the courtyard of the family home in Pavana, the Apennine village on the border between Tuscany and Emilia that the cantautore immortalized in his songs and books. Guccini had died on August 6 at the age of 86 in the very place where he had spent the last decades of his life. We previously reported on his work and his life in the Obituary for the Maestrone.
Only a few dozen people gathered—family and close friends. That was exactly how Guccini had wanted it: no state mourning, no procession, no cameras in front of the coffin. It lay on a bed of twigs, berries, and flowers gathered from the woods surrounding the village. Next to it lay a Maigret novel and a photo collage. Those who came from the surrounding area laid down flowers one by one and then left.
„A giant who shares rather than counts“
The ceremony was presided over by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and president of the Italian Bishops„ Conference. He described the deceased as “a giant who shares rather than counts, who gives rather than possesses„—a phrase that paid tribute to a man whose relationship with the Church remained strained throughout his life and who, in *Dio è morto*, settled accounts with the certainties of his generation.
His daughter Teresa spoke last. She talked about mortadella sandwiches at the village bar, about the questions she’d never been able to ask her father, and about his greatest gift: that he’d shown her where to look. Her final words were simply, „Buon viaggio, Dad.“
From the Mulino di Pavana to the „Locomotiva“
Pavana was never just a backdrop for Guccini. Born in Modena in 1940, the singer spent his childhood with his grandparents in the old mill, the Mulino di Pavana, and later returned there permanently. The village, its dialect, and its stories shaped his novels just as much as they did his songs.
He became known for plays that have long been part of the repertoire of several generations: „La locomotiva,“ about the anarchist Pietro Rigosi; the early „Auschwitz,“ which he wrote as a young man; „Dio è morto,“ which was banned by RAI in 1967; and „Bologna,“ the ode to the city where he lived and taught for decades. He had retired from the stage years ago, but records and books continued to follow.
Guccini will be laid to rest surrounded by his family. Public mourning will thus remain where it has been taking place these past few days anyway: in his songs.
