Coronavirus in Italy

Ciao Giorgio: Italy's premier mourns bodyguard

07 Apr, 2020

Italian prime minister joins police officers in honouring Giorgio Guastamacchia in Rome.

Italy's premier Giuseppe Conte bid farewell to his bodyguard, police officer Giorgio Guastamacchia - who died of complications from Coronavirus - with a moving ceremony at Palazzo Chigi on 6 April.

Giuseppe Conte with the late Giorgio Guastamacchia.

Guastamacchia was 51 and left behind a wife and two children aged 28 and 29. The officer died at Rome's Spallanzani hospital on 4 April. His death was described by Conte as a "moment of great pain."

Ciao Giorgio pic.twitter.com/Hzqs9Nv5bq— Giuseppe Conte (@GiuseppeConteIT) April 6, 2020

More than 16,500 people in Italy have died of Coronavirus since the crisis began in February, the highest death toll from Covid-19 anywhere in the world.