Naples (Italy) (AFP)

Collected in front of his portrait and a candle like so many makeshift altars erected in the poorly paved alleys of the city, the bereaved Neapolitans mourned Diego Maradona on Thursday, whose flamboyant and tragic life between "love and anarchy" merged with theirs.

In Naples, city of piety, mafia and football, the poorest had recognized themselves and had projected their desires into the extraordinary fate of the kid from the slums who came to wear the colors of their club between 1984 and 1991.

"I represented a part of Italy that did not count", confided the Argentine in the documentary devoted to him Asif Kapadia in 2019.

For Il Mattino, the daily newspaper in the large port city of southern Italy where the unemployment rate has reached 30%, three times the national average, Naples is now "the tomb of Maradona".

Despite the confinement restricting freedom of movement in the Campania region hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, a tearful crowd has been paying tribute to the calcio "bad boy" since the announcement of his death at the age of 60 on Wednesday.

Camped in front of a banner made with a simple sheet on which one could read "To the immortal king, your flag flies forever", three masked fellows sang the song of the "tifosi" of the golden age of SSC Napoli: "Oh mum , mum, mama, you know why my heart beats, I saw Maradona, I saw Maradona, and oh mama, I fell in love ".

Police officers tried to cut through the crowd by asking, in vain, the hundreds of people who had come for communion not to form gatherings.

In front of the many cameras, Rosario, 77, famous for being the poet of the stadium, declaimed an ode composed the day before: "I heard this singing voice and our choir. You made us win and we carry you in our hearts ".

- Example for poor children -

Fervor and meditation also in the "Quartieri Spagnoli", the historic and popular heart of the city whose churches, fresh fish stalls and places of debauchery have made the legend.

On the seafront, in the district of San Giovanni a Teduccio where the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia, replaced the canning and locomotive factories, a fresco bearing the likeness of Maradona adorns the side of an austere bar of building.

For young people from poor families who dreamed of pushing the narrow walls of their existence, "Maradona was an example to follow", confided at the foot of the huge portrait Ciro Cocozza, a 51-year-old actor interviewed by AFP.

Resident of the building, Fernando Carfora, an unemployed 46-year-old, explains that he lives "on the third floor, at the level of Maradona's neck".

"Maradona was our Sunday hobby, no matter what time he played it was a day of celebration. When he wasn't playing we were all sad."

The mayor of Naples, Luigi de Magistris, who decreed a day of mourning on Thursday, has pledged to name Diego Maradona at the San Paolo stadium, whose player trod the lawn for the first time on July 5, 1984 in front of 60,000 supporters.

On Thursday, the Napoli players were preparing to receive Croatian club Rijeka in the Europa League in the evening and to pay a final tribute to their illustrious predecessor with a minute of silence.

Behind closed doors and without supporters, because of the confinement.

© 2020 AFP