Grenfell Tower fire: Italian victim Marco Gottardi identified after body found next to girlfriend

The body of an Italian graduate presumed dead in the Grenfell Tower fire has reportedly been found and identified.

Architect Marco Gottardi, 27, had been living in the west London tower block with girlfriend Gloria Trevisan, also 27, when the building went up in flames on 14 June.

His body was found next to Trevisan's, which was identified by her dental records last week, in a flat on the 23rd floor, Italian newspaper La Nuova Venezia reported.

"They were found together, as we believed, side by side: now everything is complete," his father, Giannino Gottardi, told the local newspaper on Saturday (8 June).

"Now we wait for the return of both the bodies for funeral arrangements. They'll be back together in Italy. "

An organisation named "Friends of Marco and Gloria" has been set up in their hometown and has created a public memorial and book of condolences for the pair. Organisers also plan to launch voluntary projects in the community in their memory.

The couple had moved to London from Italy about four months ago to find jobs after graduating from university in Venice.

They had been speaking on the phone to their families in Italy while the building was on fire.

They spent their final moments telling relatives they loved them, with Trevisan saying to her mother: "I had my whole life ahead of me. It's not fair. I don't want to die. I wanted to help you, to thank you for all you did for me. I am about to go to heaven, I will help you from there."

In the wake of the fire, Gottardi's father had spoken of how his son had rang him, saying the lifts were blocked and that there was too much smoke to leave

"In the first call they told us to be calm, that everything was under control. But in the second call – and I cannot get this out of my head – he told me that there was smoke, that a lot of smoke was rising up," he had told Italian newspaper Il Mattino di Padova.

Police have put the current number of fatalities of the blaze at 80, with the vast majority of those killed said to have lived in 23 of the west London tower's 129 flats.

Detective Superintendent Fiona McCormack, of the Met Police, said the full death toll will only be known when the search and recovery operation is over – which could be as late as next year.

"We are many months from being able to provide a number which we believe accurately represents the total loss of life inside Grenfell Tower," she had said on 28 June.

"Only after we have completed a search and recovery operation, which will take until the end of the year. What I can say is that we believe that around 80 people are either dead or sadly missing and I must presume that they are dead."

An inquiry led by retired judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick has been set up to investigate the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.