Giorgio Napolitano obituary

President of Italy who steered three prime ministers into government, none of whom had led their party to election victory

An Italian president does not have the direct, executive powers of a US or French head of state. Sometimes the role is dismissed as largely ceremonial. Giorgio Napolitano, who served as president from 2006 to 2015, showed just how wrong that description is.

In late 2011, as it became clear that the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, was unable to cope with the crisis then ravaging the eurozone, Napolitano artfully lined up a successor by giving the former EU commissioner Mario Monti a seat in parliament as a life senator.

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