Devotees of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi flocked to Milan Wednesday to say farewell at a state funeral for the controversial billionaire, which closes a 30-year chapter in the country’s history. The ceremony for Berlusconi, who died Monday aged 86, will be held in the city’s Gothic Duomo cathedral and thousands of the tycoon’s supporters gathered in the square in front, ready to watch live on giant screens. “Berlusconi is my first and last political love. It’s a very sad day for Italy,” Luigi Vecchione, a 48-year-old textile worker from the northern Piedmont region, told AFP. “He was a charismatic leader who created jobs and had empathy for everyone. He will be missed,” he said, as he joined the crowds, sporting a large red heart on his black T-shirt. Berlusconi, adored and loathed by Italians in equal measure, had been ill for several years, though he remained the official head of his right-wing Forza Italia party, a member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s coalition government. Lucia Diele, 30, from Puglia in Italy’s south, described Berlusconi, who entered politics in 1994 and went on to be prime minister three times, as “the greatest politician in the history of Italy”. “He leaves a huge void that will be impossible to fill. Giorgia Meloni is a great prime minister, but no one will take Silvio’s place,” she said, as the crowds chanted Berlusconi’s name.