Gianroberto Casaleggio, the co-founder of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), has died in Milan, the movement said on Tuesday.
"This morning Gianroberto Casaleggio, co-founder of the 5-Star Movement, passed away," read a post on the blog of M5S leader Beppe Grillo. "We are all close to his family. Gianroberto fought till the end".
He was in hospital at an Istituto Scientifico Auxologico clinic and had had health problems for some time. In April 2014 Casaleggio underwent urgent surgery for a brain edema at Milan's Policlinico hospital. Last week Casaleggio dismissed rumors he might step down due to health problems, calling the the author of a post reporting this "a jackal" on M5S leader and fellow founder Beppe Grillo's blog.
Casaleggio was sometimes called the "guru" of the movement that has become Italy's second political group after the center-left Democratic Party (PD) of Premier Matteo Renzi.
Nobel Literature Laureate Dario Fo on Tuesday described the death of Casaleggio as a "gigantic loss" for the M5S. He said Casaleggio was distinguished by his "culture," "extraordinary knowledge," "modesty" and "generosity of behavior". "His humility is difficult to find in the sphere of everyday politics," said Fo, an M5S supporter.
Grillo said Tuesday that the funeral will be on Thursday.
"The funeral of Gianroberto Casaleggio will be held on Thursday April 14," Grillo said via Twitter. "The time and place will be announced shortly".
The entrepreneur, mass media specialist, Internet expert and atypical politician from Milan began his career with Olivetti in the 1970s before creating the joint venture communications consultancy Webegg. In 2004 he established his Casaleggio Associates and started to take an interest in politics. He met Genoa comedian Grillo after a show the following year and suggested they work together, creating Grillo's hugely popular blog that would go on to become the on-line platform for the movement. This also marked the start of Grillo's political ascent.
In 2007 Casaleggio Associates produced the videos "Prometheus - The media revolution" and "Gaia", a vision of the future in which traditional media have disappeared and the world is governed by Web-based intelligence. The films contributed to creating his aura of mystery and to accusations that he belonged to the esoteric freemasonry - a claim he repeatedly denied.
Casaleggio and Grillo founded M5S in 2009 and the party went on to take 109 seats in the Lower House and 59 in the Senate in 2013 elections. With a few rare exceptions he kept out of the limelight, letting Grillo be the movement's front man. He took to the stage in Rome's Piazza San Giovanni for the close of the European Parliament election campaign in 2014 and again for the '5-Star Party' at Circo Massimo.
His friend Grillo was always by his side.
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