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Italy’s former President, Giorgio Napolitano will lie in state in the Italian Senate until Monday evening, before receiving a secular state funeral in the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday.
Italy’s senior leaders paid their respects on Sunday, as the coffin of former President Giorgio Napolitano was placed in the Palazzo Madama for the lying-in-state period.
ADVERTISEMENTNapolitano, the first former Communist to rise to Italy’s presidency and the first person to be elected twice to the mostly ceremonial post, died on Friday at the age of 98.
His coffin was carried by the Corrazzieri. It was followed by his wife, Clio and their two sons, Giovanni and Giulio.
Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia party and Italy’s current Prime Minister offered her office’s “deepest condolences” to the former president’s family.
The current President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, recalled the European commitment of the former member of the Strasbourg Parliament, who fought “important battles for social development, peace and progress in Italy and Europe”.
In a telegram to his widow, Pope Francis, who was visiting Marseille, paid tribute to a man who devoted his political activities to preserving the “unity and harmony” of his country.
The chamber will be open to the public from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. local time on Sunday and on Monday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Napolitano’s funeral will be held on Tuesday in a non-religious ceremony at Palazzo Montecitorio, the seat of the Italian Lower Chamber of the Parliament.
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