The coffin of Fiorentina director Joe Barone has arrived at the Viola Park training facility, where there will be a private ceremony this evening, then fans can pay their respects tomorrow.
The general manager suffered cardiac arrest at the team hotel in Bergamo ahead of Sunday’s match against Atalanta and died in hospital this afternoon, the day before his 58th birthday.
Fiorentina announced that the Viola Park will be used to allow people to pay their respects, as is traditional in Italy, before the funeral.
There will be a private ceremony with friends and family this evening, then the Viola Park will be open from 9am to 9pm local time.
A mass will be held in his home town of Pozzallo in Sicily over the next few days, but the funeral will be in the United States, where his family moved when he was eight years old.
The flags at the Viola Park centre were flying at half-mast tonight and a big screen used for matches had a slideshow of photographs of Barone.
This training centre was his project, he was there at the very beginning when the ground was broken in 2019 and proudly took centre-stage when it was opened last year.