MILAN, June 14, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Devotees of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi flocked to Milan Wednesday to say farewell at a state funeral for the controversial billionaire, which closes a 30-year chapter in the country's history.

The ceremony for Berlusconi, who died Monday aged 86, will be held in the city's Gothic Duomo cathedral and thousands of the tycoon's supporters gathered in the square in front, ready to watch live on giant screens.
"Berlusconi is my first and last political love. It's a very sad day for Italy," Luigi Vecchione, a 48-year-old textile worker from the northern Piedmont region, told AFP.

"He was a charismatic leader who created jobs and had empathy for everyone. He will be missed," he said, as he joined the crowds, sporting a large red heart on his black T-shirt.

Berlusconi, adored and loathed by Italians in equal measure, had been ill for several years, though he remained the official head of his right-wing Forza Italia party, a member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's coalition government.

Lucia Diele, 30, from Puglia in Italy's south, described Berlusconi, who entered politics in 1994 and went on to be prime minister three times, as "the greatest politician in the history of Italy".

"He leaves a huge void that will be impossible to fill. Giorgia Meloni is a great prime minister, but no one will take Silvio's place," she said, as the crowds chanted Berlusconi's name.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Meloni and fellow coalition partner Matteo Salvini, head of the far-right League, were set to attend the funeral, while the European Union will be represented by its economy commissioner Paolo Gentiloni.

- 'Great man' -
Large wreaths in the colours of the Italian flag were displayed outside the Duomo, where the ceremony was to begin at 3:00 pm (1300 GMT), presided over by Archbishop Mario Delpini.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's office said he would be present. Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani was also expected, Italian media reported.

The longest-serving premier in Italy's post-war history, and re-elected to the Senate last year, Berlusconi was famed for his controversial gaffes on the international stage.

He counted President Vladimir Putin among his friends -- but the Russian leader is subject to an international arrest warrant and cannot travel to 
Italy.

Amateur photographer Gianfranco Diletta, 65, said he had come to "immortalise this mass phenomenon".

"I never voted for Berlusconi, who embodied for Italy the modern populism of the 1990s... and was a friend of Putin's to the end, a strategic error which put Italy's national security in danger," he said.

Berlusconi is survived by his 33-year-old girlfriend, Marta Fascina, with whom he held a fake wedding last year and who was at his bedside as he succumbed to a rare type of blood cancer.

She is expected to be joined in the front pews by at least one of Berlusconi's two ex-wives and his five children, some of whom helped run his empire, recently estimated to be worth around $7 billion.

"You were a great man and an extraordinary father to our children," his first wife Carla Dall'Oglio wrote in a eulogy Tuesday.
- 'Extreme' -

Flags were lowered to half-mast on all public buildings from Monday in tribute to a leader whose influence extended well beyond politics, thanks to his extensive TV, newspaper and sporting interests.

Parliament was suspended for three days and the government declared a national day of mourning for Wednesday -- the first time for an ex-prime minister.

The decision was criticised by Berlusconi's detractors, who accused him of cronyism, corruption and pushing through laws to protect his own interests.

Senator Andrea Crisanti said he was "strongly against" such national honours for "someone who had no respect for the state", pointing to Berlusconi's definitive conviction for tax fraud in 2013.

Rosy Bindi, former head of the Antimafia Commission, said it was "inopportune" for "a person as divisive as Berlusconi", and the Repubblica daily said the "institutional shutdown" was "extreme" and compared it to Britain's protocol for Queen Elizabeth II's death.

Berlusconi built a pharaoh-inspired marble mausoleum at his villa in Arcore, near Milan, to house his family and friends when they die.
His family planned to cremate his remains and place his ashes in the mausoleum, Italian media reported.