Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and President of the European Commission Antonio Tajani joined Megalizzi's family, friends and colleagues at a ceremony in the 29-year-old's home town of Trento.
“Once more blind and absurd violence has cut off a young life, struck at the heart of a family forever, and stunned a community,” said the archbishop of Trento, Lauro Tisi.
“Part of heaven came down to the earth and now it's returning to it,” he said.
Grande commozione a Trento per l'ultimo saluto al giornalista Antonio Megalizzi, morto nell'attentato di Strasburgo. La bara, sorretta dagli amici, è entrata in Duomo avvolta dalla bandiera italiana e da quella europea (? Claudio Martinelli/LaPresse… https://t.co/sd2owk3SRh pic.twitter.com/vZdbe1iVpl
— Corriere della Sera (@Corriere) December 20, 2018
Megalizzi's body, draped for the funeral in both Italian and European flags, returned to Italy from France two days ago. He and a colleague, Polish national Barto Pedro Orent-Niedzielski, died in hospital of their injuries over the weekend.
Megalizzi, a radio journalist who was in Strasbourg to report on the latest session of the European Parliament, spent three days in a coma after being hit in the head in the shooting last Tuesday.
Today in my hometown in #Trento we remember #AntonioMegalizzi, killed in the #strasbourgshooting last week while he was reporting on the EU Parliament for @europhonica. Non ti dimenticheremo Antonio, che la terra ti sia lieve pic.twitter.com/0XzGKwV0pk
— Delina Goxho (@delinagoxho) December 20, 2018
Trento paid tribute to him with a projection of his image onto buildings in the city's main square, with the title “Antonio the European”. Meanwhile the local university radio station was running a 48-hour marathon of Megalizzi's reporting.
Across Italy, flags flew at half-mast on Thursday outside all public buildings.
Goodbye Antonio, european guy. #AntonioMegalizzi pic.twitter.com/nHyViYVynr
— Antonella Napoli (@AntonellaNapoli) December 20, 2018
In total five people were killed in the Strasbourg attack and a dozen others injured.
French police later shot dead the gunman responsible, 29-year-old French national Cherif Chekatt, who is believed to have been radicalized by Islamist extremists.