Crowds gathered outside the Italian parliament as the non-religious state funeral of Giorgio Napolitano, a former communist who as president navigated Italy through almost a decade of turbulent political times, took place in Rome. Napolitano, the first president to be elected twice, died on Friday at the age of 98.
He is credited with staving off a debt crisis after using his powers to appoint technocrat Mario Monti as prime minister in the wake of Silvio Berlusconi’s resignation amid the eurozone crisis that plunged Italy into financial turmoil.
