Greatest has left -Benigni on Bertolucci

(ANSA) - Rome, November 26 - Oscar winning comic, actor and director Roberto Benigni said on Bernardo Bertolucci's death Monday that "the greatest of them all has left us, the last emperor of Italian cinema." He said Bertolucci has been "a piece of our family, a fraternal loving, intelligent friend, full of genius, unpredictable, extremely rigorous and implacable in always telling us the truth".
    "His cinema will remain among the marvels of the 20th century," said the Life Is Beautiful star in a statement with his wife, actress Nicoletta Braschi.
    Other tributes came from Culture Minister Alberto Bonisoli, who said "he marked the history of cinema"; director Marco Bellocchio, who said "his death is ours too, in a small way"; the Turin Film Festival, which paid homage to a "visionary dreanmer"; and Stefania Sandrtelli who said "farewell my 'last emperor'".