Condolence and emotion accompanied the last farewell to Lorenzo Toffolini, manager of Udinese, whose funeral was celebrated yesterday morning in a cathedral packed with hundreds of people.
It was the archpriest Don Luciano Nobile who officiated the last farewell, calling those present to reflect on the mysterious meaning of life and death that tore Toffolini away from his loved ones last Tuesday morning, seized by a sudden illness while he was driving, in Ciconicco di Fagagna.
Since then, disbelief and dismay have given way to emotion, palpable also by the rigorous silence with which relatives and friends awaited the arrival of the coffin in the churchyard. Upon entering the church, a Udinese shirt with number 32 is clearly visible on the coffin as well as the wreaths of flowers.
This was his telephone extension in the office occupied for more than thirty years in the headquarters of the Juventus club, passing from the role of director of the youth sector to that of team manager, up to the last of general affairs manager.
“She was a corporate manager in the best sense of the term”, recalled the general manager Franco Collavino, after having defined “excruciating pain felt by the Udinese family”.
Collavino spoke on behalf of the company, represented by Magda Pozzo, the president Franco Soldati, the vice president Stefano Campoccia and the administrative director Alberto Rigotto, while the player Adam Masina, in black suit, represented the first team among the emotion of those boys of the Primavera for which “Toful”, as he was called by everyone, always had advice.
That familiar nickname, the AUC has printed it in large letters on the banner “A friend who will always be with us … Mandi Toful”, proudly hoisted before the function and also at the end, when for his wife Sonia and their son Luca the time has come for condolences and thanks.
“There is a continuity that does not break. Reassure dad, everything is fine, and if you love me your smile is my peace », Luca had said earlier from the pulpit in the church, also recalling his father’s pride in working for Udinese.
Pride that many former players and coaches also showed yesterday, from Gigi Delneri to Rodolfo Vanoli, who remembered him like this: «We have lost a friend. I called him “my president”, a person who was always cheerful and available ».
Among the former players present, the “Baron” Franco Causio, Alessandro Calori and Valerio Bertotto: «It is paradoxical to think of the tears spent when with him instead you had moments of pure joy – said the former captain -. He was a person with a great kindness of soul and the people who gathered in the Duomo witnessed the human warmth that he was able to transmit ».
For Felipe he was the first team manager: «I had a special bond and his absence leaves us an incredible human void, demonstrated by the large presence of the people who greeted him for the last time».