Italy remembers the judge who took on the mafia and paid with his life

Giovanni Falcone was killed in a bomb attack in 1992 but his work lives on, reports Sofia Barbarani in Rome

In a photo taken in October 1986, Italian Judge Giovanni Falcone (2ndL), is surrounded by his bodyguards in Marseille to meet his French counterparts to investigate in the Mafia ‘Pizza Connection’ criminal plot (AFP/Getty)

Italians on Monday marked the 30th anniversary of the killing of Giovanni Falcone, a pioneering Sicilian judge who was murdered by the mafia after dedicating his career to combatting the criminal organisation.

In a touching tribute in the Sicilian city of Palermo on Monday morning, Italian officials, including president Sergio Mattarella and foreign minister Luigi Di Maio, members of the police force and a crowd of supporters gathered to pay homage to the late judge.

“The firmness of his work was born from the deep-rooted belief that there was no alternative to complying with the law, at any cost, even of life,” President Mattarella said of Falcone.