Giorgio Napolitano, former Italian president and first ex-Communist in that post, has died at 98

By FRANCES D’EMILIO
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Italy’s presidential palace says Giorgio Napolitano, the first former Communist to rise to Italy’s presidency, has died. He was 98. Napolitano was also the first person to be elected twice to the presidency. A statement issued on Friday night by the Quirinal presidential palace confirmed Italian news reports of the death of Napolitano, who had been ailing at a Rome hospital for weeks. The current president, Sergio Mattarella, hailed his predecessor as head of state, saying in a statement that Napolitano’s life “mirrored a large part of the history” of Italy in the second half of the 20th century.