Mattarella and Meloni attend Rome ceremony.Italy held a state funeral in Rome on Tuesday morning for four military personnel killed when an Italian Chinook helicopter crashed in Bosnia-Herzegovina last week.  The ceremony took place in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Piazza della Repubblica, in the centre of the capital.   President Sergio Mattarella and prime minister Giorgia Meloni were in attendence, along with senate president Ignazio La Russa, chamber of deputies president Lorenzo Fontana and senior military officials.   Defence minister Guido Crosetto, foreign minister Antonio Tajani and opposition leaders Elly Schlein (Partito Democratico) and Giuseppe Conte (Movimento 5 Stelle) were also present. Crash victims The four were killed on 29 October when their CH-47 Chinook crashed during a training flight as part of the EU’s international EUFOR Althea mission.   They were army aviation sergeants Simone Ruggia and Claudio Marchesi, both based in Viterbo, and Lieutenant Franco Adriano Zecchillo and Sergeant Laura Procacci of the Italian Red Cross’s volunteer military corps.   The coffins, draped in the Italian tricolour, arrived at Rome’s Ciampino airport on Monday aboard a C-130 transport aircraft. They were met by relatives, Mattarella, Meloni, Crosetto and Tajani. After military honours and a religious blessing, Mattarella paused in silence in front of each coffin, resting his hand on it.   A lying in state for Ruggia, Marchesi and Zecchillo was opened to the public at the Celio military hospital in the afternoon, where colleagues, friends and relatives paid their respects.   Procacci’s body was first taken to Tor Vergata Polyclinic for an autopsy ordered by Rome prosecutors. She had been taken alive to a Bosnian hospital after the crash but died shortly afterwards. Investigation Rome prosecutor Francesco Saverio Musolino is investigating persons unknown on suspicion of negligent disaster, manslaughter and injuries. An external examination in Bosnia found that the three other victims died of severe crushing injuries.   The most likely explanation at present is a mechanical failure, although further answers are expected from a technical expert report. Investigators will focus on the wreckage of the Chinook and the flight data recorder. Military prosecutors are also investigating the negligent loss of an aircraft.   Investigators have questioned the three pilots and the survivors through officers sent to the scene, and may speak to them again. Days of mourning Flags in Salerno, Ruggia’s home city, are flying at half-mast for the funeral. Orvieto, Marchesi’s home town, has declared two days of mourning on 3 and 4 November.   In Andria, in Puglia, mayor Giovanna Bruno has declared a day of mourning for Wednesday, when funeral services for 32-year-old Procacci will be held at the city’s sanctuary. Her body is due to arrive on Tuesday afternoon in Montegrosso, the village where she grew up.   The funeral comes the day before Italy marks National Unity and Armed Forces Day, an annual event on 4 November.   Image: Memorial at the Villaggio Difesa in Rome's Circus Maximus to the four military personnel who lost their lives in the Bosnia helicopter crash. Photo Wanted in Rome, 1 November 2026.