Pasquale Pagano, 45, who dressed in a Father Christmas costume, collapsed and died on Friday while giving out presents at a Christmas party in a southern Italian school for pupils aged around 11-13.
The school, the Gino Rossi Vairo Iinstitute in Agropoli, a seaside town about 100 kilometres South-East of Naples, said the cause of Pagano’s death was not known.
According to a local newspaper, InfoCilento, it quoted the mother of one of the pupils as saying that Pagano’s face turned blue, suggesting that he might have had a heart attack.
An ambulance was called and they tried everything to save his life, but there was nothing they could do for him.