Fans and fellow pilgrims to Astori’s coffin
Hundreds of fans of the Italian first division club AC Florence said their farewells to Davide Astori on Wednesday.
The coffin with the corpse of the national football player, who died on Sunday, had previously been taken from Udine to Coverciano near Florence. Members and officials of the club Astori also paid their respects there. The funeral service will take place on Thursday at the Santa Croce Basilica in Florence.
On the coffin was Astori’s purple jersey number 13. Among the mourners were club owners Diego and Andrea Della Valle, UEFA referee chief Pierluigi Collina and the vice commissioner of the Italian Football Association, Alessandro Costacurta, who congratulated Astori’s partner, parents and siblings.
“Astori’s death is a tragedy that has shaken us all,”said former Dortmund’s Ciro Immobile before his club Lazio Rom’s Europa League match against Dinamo Kiev.
Astori had been found dead in his hotel room on the Sunday before the match at Udinese Calcio. Afterwards, the public prosecutor’s office initiated the investigation of unknown persons. However, there had not been any signs of debt from the outset. The autopsy revealed that the 31 year old Astori had died in the sleep of a natural death.
