ROME: Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi paid tribute on Thursday to the more than 103,000 people in Italy who have died of Covid-19, as the country marked its first national day of remembrance for victims of the pandemic.

The Prime Minister traveled to Bergamo, the northern province that became Europe’s first major virus flashpoint a year ago, for Italy’s first annual day of mourning for the dead.

"This place is the symbol of the pain of an entire nation," he said at a ceremony on Thursday in a park, renamed the Wood of Remembrance, near the city's main hospital.

"We cannot hug each other today, yet this is when we must all feel closer than ever." Bergamo located in Lombardy region was Italy's (and Europe's) first large pandemic hotspot last year between February and March, reports Xinhua news agency.

The city of around 120,000 inhabitants accounted for at least 670 victims, and the province, also known as Bergamo with a population of 1.1 million, tallied some 6,000 fatalities, Mayor Giorgio Gori said at the ceremony.

On March 18, 2020, long columns of army vehicles plied across the streets of Bergamo carrying hundreds of coffins to various cemeteries. "There is no one in this city who has not had a family member or acquaintance affected by the virus," Draghi recalled, before laying a wreath at the cemetery.

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