MODENA, Italy – They waited all day to give Big Luciano, as they knew him, one more hometown ovation.

Norma Brandoli had gone to school with the boy who would become one of opera’s greatest tenors. She had seen a handful of his concerts, couldn’t count how many of his recordings she had collected and, on this starless night, was standing in a crowded square and staring at the front-page headline of one local paper: “Adio Maestro.”

“I love opera, and I don’t see anyone like him in opera now,” Brandoli, a retired schoolteacher, said quietly. “His voice, his charisma, his personality – no one has that. . . . And he maintained friendships even after he became famous. That was important. He stayed very close to this town.”

The world paid homage to Luciano Pavarotti with fine words and tributes Thursday, but the townspeople of Modena gathered early in the night for a special private mourning.

Hours after Pavarotti succumbed to cancer of the pancreas, those who knew him for a lifetime kept vigil outside the grand white facade of the Duomo di Modena, where he would lay in state until funeral services Saturday. By nightfall, the crowds had swelled to more than 300 people, all who seemed to have some personal memory of the man from Modena.

Shortly before 9, a hearse drew up to the cathedral stairs. A casket was drawn out and the crowd slowly burst into long, reverent applause.

In a coffee bar, owner Paola Sandoni nodded at the Piazza Grande, cluttered with television satellite trucks.

“For the funeral, for the next two days, the world will be here,” Sandoni said. “Today, this is for Modena.”

Sandoni was among those who remembered a Pavarotti of several eras: The youngster whose father sang at weddings to make ends meet, the fresh star who thrilled audiences at La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the grown man who could be seen stopping by her cafe and coming up with plans for public concerts, in Modena and elsewhere, to help the less fortunate.

She referred to Pavarotti as “Big Luciano,” a nickname that she said transcended his art.

“You know what big means to Italians,” she said. “He was the greatest, the No. 1.”

A younger customer, Danilo Porcaro, sidled up to the bar for a quick coffee and suggested yet another interpretation.

“People may have called him that for his large size, but deep down it was because he had a big heart,” said Porcaro, a 35-year-old businessman who spent the evening in the square. “He was very good-hearted. . . . What Modena appreciated was he tried to bring together all styles of music for the sake of humanitarian causes.”


When Pavarotti was in Italy, he spent much of his time in Modena and a villa in the Adriatic seaside resort of Pesaro. He raised money for local schools and selected students every summer to tutor privately.

On a grander scale, he looked beyond the opera world and worked with U2 lead singer Bono to collect aid during the Balkans war of the 1990s. He later established the Pavarotti Music Center in the southern city of Mostar in Bosnia. His well-known pop concerts called “Pavarotti & Friends” – 10 of which were held in Modena – raised money for all kinds of children’s aid.

“He was known for his art – there isn’t anyone here who doesn’t have a recording of “La Boheme,”‘ Porcaro said. “(But) he knew his age and he knew he couldn’t be at the top at a certain point. He tried to use his qualities for other purposes.

“I guess I sort of love him.”

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(c) 2007, Chicago Tribune.

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ARCHIVE PHOTOS on MCT Direct (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): PAVAROTTI

PHOTOS (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): PAVAROTTI

ARCHIVE GRAPHIC on MCT Direct (from MCT Graphics, 202-383-6064): PAVAROTTI

ARCHIVE CARICATURE on MCT Direct (from MCT Faces in the News Library, 202-383-6064): PAVAROTTI

AP-NY-09-06-07 2040EDT