The non-religious State funeral of
Giorgio Napolitano, Italy's first two-time president who died
aged 98 in Rome on Friday, got underway at the Lower House on
Tuesday.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, French President Emmanuel
Macron and German President Frank Walter Steinmeier were among
the officials present.
Napolitano's son Giulio, biblical scholar Cardinal Gianfranco
Ravasi, European Commissioner for Economic Affairs and former
Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni, former Italian Premier and
expert in constitutional law Giuliano Amato and former
magistrate and centre-left politician Anna Finocchiaro are among
the figures slated to speak during the funeral.
Two big screens have been set up in Piazza Montecitorio outside
the Lower House so the public can follow the funeral.
All flags on public buildings and on Italian diplomatic and
consular representations abroad were being flown at half mast on
Tuesday, which has been declared a day of national mourning.
Napolitano will be buried in Rome's Non-Catholic Cemetery.
English poets John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley, Russian
painter Karl Briullov and Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci are
also buried there.
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