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ROME Former Italian president Francesco Cossiga, who died Tuesday aged 82, will be remembered as much for his brilliance as for the hot-headedness that took over by the end of his long political career.
Cossiga was prime minister briefly in 1979, then elected president - a largely ceremonial post - in 1985.
He performed the role quietly for five years before launching a juggernaut for reform, slamming political machinations in such harsh terms that he earned the nickname “Il Picconatore” (The Pickaxe-Wielder).
Through fiery interviews and speeches at every possible opportunity, he seemed to revel in creating controversy, managing to alienate his own Christian Democrats.
He even described himself as a “wildcat that it is better not to scratch.” Cossiga, advocating a presidential regime, stepped down in April 1992, three months before the end of his mandate, to cede the post to a “strong president,” he said.
After this memorable run as president, he became senator for life - an honour accorded to all former presidents - during which he alternated periods of calm with sometimes spectacular outbursts.
At the end of the 1990s he assumed the role of kingmaker as the Christian Democrats began falling apart in a massive collective corruption scandal.
Born July 26, 1928, in Sardinia, Cossiga belonged to the post-war monolith Christian Democratic party from the age of 17.
A lawyer with a doctorate in constitutional law, with sharp intelligence and a biting sense of humour, Cossiga was a straight arrow in the early years of his political career.
Beginning as a provincial party secretary, he went on to serve as a lawmaker for 30 years.
He was several times a junior defence minister, then served as interior minister between 1976 and 1978, a job he left after the brutal assassination of former prime minister Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades.
During the 55 days of Moro's captivity, Cossiga was constantly criticised for his handling of the affair.
Many Italians would remain convinced that he was aware of the darkest intelligence secrets of the 1970s, when hundreds of people were killed by left-wing and right-wing extremists.
Cossiga had a son and a daughter with Giuseppa Sigurani, whom he married in 1960.
It took the Vatican nine years to grant an annulment to his marriage, in 2007.
His wife, who never appeared in public with Cossiga, even refused to move into the Quirinal, the presidential residence. - AFP
