«Professor Francesco Alberoni has written a lot about love and among the many things he has given us, he has taught us that love is learned, that love must be known even in its most contradictory and obscure expressions. Otherwise, the risk is to take it for granted. Even the Gospel says the same thing: love is learned”.
The homily for the most famous “sociologist of love” could only revolve around love. Indeed, it was with these words that Monsignor Carlo Faccendini, abbot of the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio, recalled Francesco Alberoni at the funeral of the sociologist who died last August 14 at the age of 93.
In the front row, in front of the light wooden coffin on which a cushion of white roses has been placed, are the children Francesca, Paolo, Margherita and Giulio. On the other hand, the president of the Senate Ignazio La Russa, the councilor Gianluca Comazzi representing the Lombard council, the senator of the Brothers of Italy Riccardo De Corato, the deputy mayor of Milan Anna Scavuzzo, the former mayor of Milan Gabriele Albertini .
“But the starting point for knowing what love for the Gospel is is the heart of God”, continued the abbot who then invited us to understand “death as a landing in the heart of God. I am deeply convinced – he concluded – that now Francesco Alberoni is in the presence of God with amazement, like a schoolboy, to learn what love is». An applause then accompanied the departure of the hearse.
In the front row, outside the basilica of Sant’Ambrogio, squeezed between family members, the president of the Senate Ignazio La Russa. He maintains the privacy of his family, despite his father’s decision to celebrate public funerals. “There is a public Alberoni but we have a private Alberoni”, were the only words of Paolo Giovanni Agostino, one of his sons.
The memory of Ignazio La Russa: a friend who honored the whole of Italy
«I believe that a person like Alberoni above all honored the whole of Italy and I believe that his books mark an imperishable testimony of his genius and his ability to use simple words to express deeper feelings. I think this is his great merit », said the president of the Senate, Ignazio La Russa, at the end of the funeral. La Russa then recalls the «political» Alberoni, the days of his candidacy with the Brothers of Italy in the 2019 European elections, which he lost: «I met Alberoni many years ago. There was even an attempt to offer him, together with Fini, a candidacy in the National Alliance which he politely declined. Then I had the honor of nominating him many years later with the Brothers of Italy. He honored us with his closeness ». «I could not miss this funeral – he concluded – I was advised by my family, with whom I have an excellent relationship. And despite the August moment, the people who came to greet him today I think is a testimony of the trace of affection he leaves behind him”.
The initiative: a festival of emotions in his name
In Sant’Ambrogio, on a very hot August day, even citizens who wanted to say their personal goodbye to Alberoni, and colleagues from the academy, psychoanalysts. Among these, Cristina Cattaneo Beretta, a psychotherapist who wrote one of her latest books with Alberoni: «We have launched the idea of a great festival of emotions and feelings» to be organized in Pavia, the city where Alberoni studied, tells this “we sent an appeal to President Fontana, President Meloni and the Minister of Culture”. A sociologist who feels indebted remembers him thus: «My adolescence and that of many others was marked by his writings on love, thanks to him we grew up with clear categories of thought. He is our national Bauman ».