Seven-time former Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti dies, 94
A staunch pro-Catholic leader, he was also said to have close ties with organised crime
Giulio Andreotti, a Machiavellian seven-time Italian prime minister who dominated the political scene for decades, died on Monday at the age of 94.
Andreotti, a key figure in the once-dominant Christian Democratic party, died at his home in central Rome. He had suffered ill health in recent years and was hospitalised in August last year with heart trouble.
A private funeral will be held today in Andreotti's local church for the staunchly pro-Catholic politician, who had close ties with the Vatican and was accused of shadowy links to the mafia and the Holy See.
Andreotti was "a leading protagonist for over 60 years of public life", said Prime Minister Enrico Letta.
"He was the engineer of this country's reconstruction" after the second world war, Paolo Cirino Pomicino, a former minister under Andreotti, said.
His supporters said he served his country like few others, helping transform Italy from a war-devastated agricultural backwater to a leading industrial power in the space of a generation. But many Italians believed he was the quintessential back-room wheeler-dealer, overseeing a political system riddled with cronyism and corruption.