Italy bid farewell to its coronavirus dead on Sunday with a haunting Requiem concert performed at the entrance to the cemetery of Bergamo, the hardest-hit province in the onetime epicenter of the outbreak in Europe. President Sergio Mattarella was the guest of honor, and said his presence made clear that all of Italy was bowing down to honor Bergamo’s dead, “the thousands of men and women killed by a sickness that is still greatly unknown and continues to threaten the world.”

To respect social distancing rules, the guest list for the outdoor evening concert was limited to Mattarella and mayors of Bergamo’s 243 cities acting as representatives of their communities. RAI state television, which broadcast the concert live, said a few health care workers and representative of families who lost loved ones to the pandemic were also invited.