Today, the Italian media ran special sections about Pavarotti and his life. The newspaper La Repubblica ran with the headline "The World Weeps for Pavarotti." Italian media have been reporting Pavarotti's death in great detail and there have been special programmes on television. The funeral is due to be broadcast live in Italy.

Meanwhile, Pavarotti was laid out in Modena’s cathedral wearing a black dinner jacket in a white coffin. In his hands the "tenorissimo" was holding a white handkerchief, as he did at most of his concerts, and a rosary.

Some 9,000 people had already come to the cathedral late Thursday to pay their last respects to the world’s greatest tenor. Among the first mourners were his widow Nicoletta Mantovani and his three children from his first marriage.

The doors of the cathedral were reopened at 7 am Friday morning. Silences were held in the great opera houses of the world where Pavarotti had taken to the stage during his 45-year career.

Pavarotti's funeral has been scheduled for Saturday with musicians from around the world expected to attend, including Ireland's Bono, lead singer of the band U2.

Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli was expected to sing the famous religious aria Panis Angelicus at the funeral service, while the Frecce Tricolori (Tricolour Arrows) from the Italian Air Force put on an aerobatic display.

Also today Britain's Prince Charles Friday paid tribute to Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti, saying the world will seem "an emptier place" without him.

Prince Charles said he was "profoundly grateful to have lived during a period when such a prodigious talent inhabited this Earth."

"The world will seem an emptier place without him, and without his generosity of spirit, and our hearts go out to the Italian people at such a sad time.", he added.

A billion television audience from all throughout the world was mesmerized by Pavarotti’s last performance at Turin Winter Olympics on February 10, 2006, leaving everybody breathless with his unequaled interpretation of Nessun Dorma from Puccini's Turandot. This was taking place five months prior to his cancer operation. Everybody cknowledged that it would be the last concert, including him, and everybody opened their souls to give, respectively receive his incredible songs.

The Italian star tenor Luciano Pavarotti passed away at his home in Modena, Italy. He was 71. On October 12, he would have turned 72.

Associated to the fame of Maria Callas gained in terms of the high selling classical singer , Pavarotti earned the nickname “Pavarotti Ltd” from critics. He sold more than 100 million records, video tapes and CDs and was the pioneer of classical artists to gain pop music success, with his collaborations with the Spice Girls, Stevie Wonder or B King.

A UNESCO world heritage venue, the Modena cathedral will shelter the funeral service. Modena's mayor Giorgio Pighi said “A great artist has left us, a good man. Luciano Pavarotti brought glamour to Modena”, announcing also that the Modena theatre will be named after the artist.

The United Nations also paid tribute to the unforgettable artist, declaring him UN Messenger of Peace, and praising his work, “a profound contribution not only to music and the arts, but also to people in need around the world,” as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said. “His work for children - particularly those affected by armed conflict - stretched from Afghanistan to Liberia and beyond.”

Pavarotti held concerts in in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Angola and Zambia, helping the Un refugee programme to earn more than $7million.

Walter Irvine, the UNHCR representative for Italy expressed his sadness caused by the tenor’s death: “UNHCR extends its condolences to Luciano Pavarotti's wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, and to his family. He was fondly remembered by the many UNHCR staff around the world who had the pleasure of working with him."