Around 200 people fill Piazza Duomo this evening for the torchlight procession in memory of Daniela Zinnanti, the 50-year-old killed last March 10th by her ex-partner. Lighted candles, flowers and “Messina together against feminicide” banners transform the Cathedral square into a collective embrace. Not a procession, but a silent and compact presence: everyone stopped in the square, united in memory.
In the front row, with the framed photo of her mother clutched in her hands, there is her daughter Roberta – the same one who this afternoon, during the funeral, knelt in tears on the coffin – together with her nephew Umberto, her sister’s son. Next to them, the associations, friends, citizens who want to say no, once again, to violence against women.
Carmen Currò of Cedav and Senator Dafne Musolino take the floor. Then, all together, they sing And tell me you don’t want to die by Patty Pravo: Daniela always sang it, and tonight that song becomes the most affectionate farewell that the square could offer her.
In a large image on a red background posted in front of the Cathedral, Daniela’s smiling face and the words “Voice for Daniela – yet another victim of feminicide”. On the ground, a white banner with the writing that sums it all up: «Free to live! Not to die.”