State funeral for Emma Bonino, Council of Ministers convened for Monday
A story the morning press did not tell: the former minister and Radical leader died in Rome on September 11th. The government meets on the 14th for the presidential decree on the state funerals, also planned for Raffaele Costa.
Emma Bonino died in Rome on the morning of September 11, 2026, at the age of 78. The news is reported by four distinct sources: the account of the government’s convocation on Stampa Parlamento, the live coverage with official statements from Fanpage, the front-page review by Sky TG24 and the one by Sarno Notizie, which also collects the notes from the Quirinale and Palazzo Chigi.
The institutional step has a precise date. The Council of Ministers is convened for Monday, September 14, 2026, at 10 a.m. at Palazzo Chigi: on the agenda is the decree of the President of the Republic on the state funerals for Emma Bonino and for former minister Raffaele Costa. This is the act that turns a political decision into a formal provision, and until the Council examines it, the funerals remain announced, not yet ordered.
The two institutional statements
The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella recalled Bonino’s commitment to rights, to European integration, to the fight against world hunger and against the death penalty, describing her as a figure who “left a mark on the life of the Republic.”
The Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also recalled her figure, referring to her public recognizability in Italian politics over the past decades.
The two statements have something in common that deserves to be recorded: they describe a political path that, for most of its duration, stood outside government majorities. This is why the institutional farewell comes across as cross-party, and why her death opens the front pages of most Italian newspapers on Saturday, September 12 — a fact that does not measure the importance of a person, but the converging choice of newsrooms.
What this newspaper does not publish
The available material also contains information on her clinical condition in recent weeks. It does not appear in this piece: Redazione Zero’s charter forbids the publication of health data concerning identifiable individuals, and the death of a public figure does not suspend that rule. We write about Emma Bonino for her public role and for the acts that concern her.
What we do not know
The material consulted does not indicate the date and place of the ceremony, nor the details of how it will take place. The content of the decree that the Council of Ministers will examine on Monday is not known, and will only become available after the meeting. As of now, no decisions on parliamentary commemorations have been reported.
The political calendar for the week ahead is already crowded: Monday morning’s Council of Ministers falls within days in which the Senate is working on electoral reform. On a formal level, however, the September 14 session has a circumscribed and verifiable subject: the presidential decree for the state funerals of two former ministers, one who died on September 11 and the other commemorated in the same measure.
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