Former Italian president Giorgio
Napolitano, 96, was discharged from a surgery ward Monday after
a successful operation on his abdomen a week ago, doctors at
Rome's Spallanzani Hospital said.
The former Italian Communist Party (PCI) moderate and Left
Democrat interior minister, who served as the longest-lasting
president of Italy from 2006 to 2015, is now undergoing a
"regular" post-surgery rehab process in another ward. the
doctors said.
The first Italian president to be re-elected to the presidency,
with current head of State Sergio Mattarella being the second,
Napolitano had a sometimes-dominant position in Italian
politics, and critics sometimes referred to him as Re Giorgio
("King George").
Surgeon Giuseppe Maria Ettorre said the president emeritus "is
well and has got over the operation. His condition is compatible
with that of a patient of his age".
It is Napolitano's second operation since he left office at the
start of 2015, two years after being reluctantly persuaded to
stay on amid a government and sovereign-debt crisis.
He had a complex operation on his aorta after suffering a heart
attack in April 2018.
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