THE MALTA SUMMIT : Raisa Takes Her Turn Amid Italy’s Cheers

Tens of thousands of cheering Italians gave Raisa Gorbachev, wife of the Soviet president, an emotional welcome Thursday when she visited Messina to honor Russian sailors who saved 1,000 lives during an earthquake in 1908.

The Soviet First Lady laid a wreath at a plaque dedicated to the sailors of imperial Russia who brought the first relief to the devastated Sicilian island port 81 years ago. She met and hugged a group of survivors, some weeping.

She also thanked Italy for rushing to the aid of Soviet Armenia when an earthquake struck the republic last December, killing thousands.

On Thursday, crowds of people, including Roman Catholic nuns waving Soviet red flags, lined the streets. Many shouted “Viva Raisa!” and stretched out their hands to touch the woman dubbed “the Queen of Kremlin Chic” by the star-struck Italian press.

It was her main solo engagement during a three-day state visit to Italy with her husband, Mikhail S. Gorbachev. The visit contrasted with trips to luxury shops in Paris and Geneva in 1984 and 1985 that attracted criticism amid Soviet austerity.

Security during her 90-minute stay repeatedly broke down.

Journalists surged out of control into Messina’s Roman Catholic cathedral behind her, and security guards had to force back shouting photographers who milled around the table where she sat during a chaotic ceremony at the town hall.

A Soviet official said crowds had also thronged the streets in Catania, where her plane landed after a flight from Rome. Her armor-plated limousine made unscheduled stops so that she could get out and shake hands.

The smiling visitor, wearing a pleated gray coat and knitted suit of gray wool tinged with glittering silver, clapped her hands at several points on her tour of Messina and shouted “Grazie!” (thank you) from the cathedral steps to flag-waving well-wishers.

About 380,000 people were killed in and around Messina and Reggio Calabria, across the straits that divide Italy from Sicily, when the earthquake struck on the morning of Dec. 28, 1908.

Four warships of the imperial navy of Czar Nicholas II that were in Sicilian waters reached Messina first, donating their water and supplies and sending in teams of sailors to dig out survivors. They are credited with saving 1,000 lives.

“Those Russians were absolute heroes, they were saints,” tearful survivor Maria De Franchi, 88, said after kissing Raisa Gorbachev on both cheeks.

De Franchi said the Russians dug her out after she was buried under fallen masonry for three days.