Mr Napolitano was the first former Communist to rise to Italy’s presidency.
Giorgio Napolitano, the first former Communist to rise to Italy’s presidency and the first person to be elected twice to the mostly ceremonial post, has died aged 98.
As a prominent member of what had long been the largest Communist party in the West, Mr Napolitano had advocated positions that often veered from party orthodoxy.He sought dialogue with Italian and European socialists to end his party’s isolation, and he was an early backer of European integration. The pontiff, who is on a pilgrimage to France, noted he had personal meetings with Mr Napolitano, “during which I appreciated his humanity and long-range vision in assuming with rectitude important choices, especially in delicate moments for the life of the country”.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Mr Napolitano was among the staunchest supporters of his party’s reform path, which would eventually lead to changing its name and dropping the hammer-and-sickle symbol.Premier Giorgia Meloni, whose far-right party is at the opposite end of the political spectrum of the late president, expressed condolences in the name of her government.
While the presidential role is mostly ceremonial, the head of state can send Parliament packing sooner than its normal five-year term if it is hopelessly squabbling, a not-rare occurrence in Italy’s long history of short-lived governments. A year later, Parliament would make him president of Italy, the first former Communist — and so far the only one — to serve as head of state.
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