Today was the funeral.  It was chilly and rainy, which seemed appropriate.  We met Nonna and her cousin at the funeral home where many people had gone for the viewing.  I skipped that.  As far as I'm concerned there is no point in looking at a dead body.  It's like an empty peanut butter jar.  All the good stuff is gone.  There was a procession behind the hearse to the church where literally hundreds of people were waiting.  Aldo had been in local government, had owned a business in town for many years, has spent his retirement volunteering in various capacities.  He also spent his entire 84 years in the same town of 9,000 inhabitants.  He was a well known and much liked man.  The funeral was in a famous baroque cathedral in the center of town.  It's huge and ornate, with lots of gold and intricate carvings and walls covered in murals depicting all sorts of tragic stuff. 


The mass lasted for about 45 minutes.  Catholic mass is so complicated and exhausting.  So much to memorize, so much standing and sitting...  After the mass we made our way through the crowd kissing and hand-shaking and trying to remember who is who.  The burial followed.  Cemeteries are small cities unto themselves with tombs of relatives all in the same locale, marble statues and monuments for the well-to-do, drawers in high walls for the not so fortunate.  GP's family has two big tombs, one for his mother's side and one for his father's.  At the burial, the men who work for the funeral home removed a giant slab of marble, pried open a metal door inside and lowered the casket.  Photos and depictions of all the ancestors are on the main wall of the tomb.  I find it all a little macabre.  I've instructed Grace to cremate me and sprinkle me in the ocean.  xxoo meIl Duomo di Carignano