Seven-time Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti, who was said to have had Mafia links, has died.
The 94-year-old was hospitalised last year with heart problems stemming from a respiratory infection.
Andreotti helped draft Italy's constitution after World War II, sat in parliament for 60 years and served as premier seven times. He remained a senator-for-life.
The Christian Democrat was accused of exchanging a "kiss of honour" with the Mafia's longtime number one boss and for being involved in the murder of an Italian journalist.
He denied any wrongdoing and after long and much-publicised court battles was cleared on both charges.
Andreotti held several cabinet positions after the Second World War before eventually becoming prime minister in 1972. His final term lasted from 1989 to 1992.
He was renown for being friends with popes and cardinals and his figure was immediately recognisable to generations of Italians.
Rumours surrounding Andreotti came to a head in the wake of Italy's anti-corruption drive in the early 1990s when he was accused of involvement in the death of journalist Mino Pecorelli, who was killed in a mob-style hit in 1979.
Andreotti with former British prime minister Sir Edward Heath A Mafia informer singled out Andreotti, with prosecutors claiming the journalist was killed at his request.
The "trial of the century" - as Italian media called it - alleged Pecorelli was murdered because he had compromising information about Andreotti.
The three-year case saw the politician cleared in 1999, before being convicted on appeal and sentenced to 24 years in 2002.
A year later, a third and final judgement overturned the conviction and cleared him of the original charge.
"Some might have hoped I wouldn't get here. But here I am, thanks to God," Andreotti, then 84, said at the time of the final ruling.
In a separate case during the same years, Andreotti stood trial in Palermo on charges that he colluded with the Mafia. But he was cleared in that case too.
Mafia turncoats gave evidence and claimed he had once exchanged a "kiss of honour" with Salvatore Riina, the "boss of all bosses" .
Andreotti always denied the charges and said he was a victim of mobsters intent on taking revenge for his fight against the Mafia.
Born in Rome, Andreotti became Italy's youngest interior minister at the age of 35 and went on to write numerous books, some of them best-sellers.
The practising Roman Catholic also wrote articles for Italian magazines and edited the monthly Catholic magazine 30 Giorni.
Il Divo, a 2008 film about Andreotti's life, won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
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