St Peter's Square: The queue is vast and Rome is braced for tomorrow's funeral, reports Paddy Agnew.
At about a 8.45am yesterday, Giorgio and Franca from near Frosinone in Lazio were just about whacked. They had been in the queue to file past the body of Pope John Paul II since 9.30pm on Tuesday night.
Even worse, they still had some long way to go since they were speaking from the top of Via Della Conciliazione - in other words, they still had to get into St Peter's Square itself and make the long trek up to the basilica.
They had brought food and water but admitted to being very tired.
"The thing is, there are so many of us, you can't even sit down or try to take a nap for fear of being trampled on," Franco said. "We're a bit hungry, but it's worth it, this is once in a lifetime, he was a great man, a great Pope."
On the countdown to the funeral tomorrow, Rome continued to struggle to deal with the unprecedented influx of pilgrims arriving in the Eternal City.
Estimates varied wildly with suggestions that up to four million people, many from the Pope's native Poland, could pour into Rome this weekend.
Even the man charged with co-ordinating Rome's civic security, Guido Bertolaso, had to admit, with disarming frankness. "We've got no real accurate forecast [ of the numbers of pilgrims arriving] and we will have to update the plan depending on the situation. There will be critical moments."
Even if the arrival of more than 200 world leaders, including President Bush, for the funeral inevitably prompts massive security concerns about a possible terrorist attack, civic authorities are more concerned about dealing with the huge numbers of visitors.
The extraordinary impact of the much-travelled Pope, the low cost of modern air travel and, perhaps most important of all, the emotional impact of the Pope's death on his fellow Poles, are all combining to make this the most dramatic invasion in these parts since the Barbarians arrived at the gates back in the fifth century AD.
Hundreds of thousands of Italians are also expected to descend on Rome. By way of warning, all mobile phone clients in Italy yesterday received text messages about the difficulties of travelling to the city: "If you're going to Rome in homage to the Pope, use public transport. Queues organised but very long. Hot by day, fresh by night," read the message.
Crowd-control operations on the ground have been in place almost from the moment the Pope became seriously ill last Thursday.
As of yesterday, the whole area around St Peter's was peopled by a moving mass of pilgrims, all being marched up and then marched down again as the queue to see the Pope followed a circuitous path around the Borgo area close to the Vatican.
Reception centres offering tents, camping space and, in some cases, beds have been set up all over the city in places as diverse as the university campus of Tor Vergata outside the ring road and the Olympic Stadium, just up the road from the Vatican.
Signs of the security preparations were also seen yesterday when, at about noon, a convoy of heavy military transport vehicles made its way along the bank of the Tiber just down from Castel Sant'Angelo beside the Vatican. On board the lorries were anti-aircraft missiles.
As of yesterday morning Rome was a no-fly zone for private aircraft, while anti-aircraft missiles and a Nato surveillance plane will both be deployed in and around Fiumicino International Airport, landing point for visiting delegations.
Some 10,000 military personnel and police, aided by a 5,000 strong body of volunteers, are currently on hand to deal with the crowds.
As always, there are those willing to take dishonest advantage of the moment. Some visitors have been charged up to €5 for a sandwich, more than double the normal bar price, while others have been victims of pickpockets, making the most of the crowded buses and underground trains.
One colleague, Brazilian TV reporter Sergio Fernandez, was robbed in the underground.
"There where a whole group of them on the subway and one reached right into my jacket pocket, while I was looking at him. We told the police later, but they couldn't do anything."