STORY: Italy bid farewell to former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday (June 14).
The state funeral was attended by political leaders, foreign dignitaries, and his family at Milan’s Cathedral.
His daughter Marina Berlusconi and his partner Marta Fascina shed tears at the ceremony.
Outside the cathedral, hundreds of people gathered, some waving AC Milan flags, a European soccer team that the former premier owned.
Berlusconi’s coffin will return to Villa San Martino, to await cremation.
His ashes will be kept in a mausoleum that he built in the early 1990s.
The former premier died on Monday aged 86.
He was a highly divisive figure who set the mould for other businessmen-turned-politicians like former U.S. President Donald Trump.
His career was punctuated by scandals and legal trials.
He continued to divide the country even after his death.
A decision by the government, which includes his former party, to honor him with a national day of mourning on Wednesday sparked controversy.
Some Italian opposition politicians, including former premier Giuseppe Conte, refused to attend the service.
Italian premiers have been given state funerals in the past, but this is the first time that a national day of mourning, an unprecedented honor, has been called as well.
It is up to the government to declare it.
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