All of the nation’s schools observed a minute’s silence to pay respect to the victims, including the six Italians.

Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara observed it with the pupils at Milan’s Orsoline di San Carlo school, which one of the victims, 16-year-old Achille Barosi, attended.

The funerals of Barosi and Chiara Costanzo, also 16, were taking place in Milan, while those of their peers Giovanni Tamburi and Riccardo Minghetti were being held in Bologna and Rome respectively.

Valditara was set to also attend Chiara Costanzo’s funeral at Milan’s Santa Maria delle Grazie church.

The family of Emanuele Galeppini, a promising golf player from Genoa who was almost 17, asked for the time and place of his funeral not to be revealed.

The funeral of Sofia Prosperi, an Italian-Swiss girl, is taking place in her hometown of Lugano.

“It moves me and shows me how much my son was loved,” said Giovanni Tamburi’s mother Carla Masiello at the funeral in Bologna cathedral attended by a big crowd of mourners, many of whom were young people.

“I think he is very happy too, because I know he is watching over us.

“It would be impossible to find a photo of him without a smile, because he was always smiling.

“I have lost a piece of my life, but I must move on for my other children, but I think the Lord performed a miracle because he wasn’t disfigured; he remained an angel.

“Now, I’m focused on mourning him. Then I trust that justice will be done.

“It’s scary that things like this can happen, especially in a country like Switzerland, with such strict rules.”

Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri, Health Minister Orazio Schillaci and Sports Minister Andrea Abodi were among the many present at the funeral of Riccardo Minghetti’s at Rome’s Saint Peter and Paul Basilica.

One of his school friends paid tribute to him during the service.

“One morning after things had gone badly at school, he came over to me and said, ‘Look, don’t worry, everything’s fine, it’s just a grade’,” she recalled.

“I always respected him. He was a nice, kind, affectionate boy. What happened must never happen again.”

Riccardo’s father Massimo recalled all the 40 people to have died in the disaster and the 119 injured.

“Riccardo will always be present in our lives,” he said.

ANSA