AVELLINO – Former Italian prime minister and secretary of the Christian Democrats (DC), Ciriaco De Mita has died at age 94.

 The news came from Nusco’s deputy mayor Walter Vigilante, who said De Mita died Thursday morning in his nursing home in Avellino, southern Italy, where he was recovering from surgery on a fractured femur after a fall at home.

 One of Italy’s wiliest postwar politicians, age was no barrier for De Mita whose political career spanned more than six decades -- he was mayor of Nusco in the Campania region from 2014 until his death.

 At the height of his career - the late 1980s – De Mita was simultaneously the secretary of the Christian Democrats and prime minister, practically the most powerful man in Italy, writes La Repubblica.

 The son of a tailor, he moved from his hometown of Nusco after finishing high school to Milan’s Cattolica University.

 Elected to the House in 1963 he remained there for 30 years.

 Leader of the ruling DC from 1982 to 1989, De Mita led the government from 1988 to 1989.

 He served national parliament until 2008 and was a member of the European Parliament until 2014.

  While many of his colleagues in the DC party saw their careers crash in the tangentopoli bribe city corruption scandal that erupted in Italy in 1992, destroying the Christian Democrat party, De Mita emerged with his reputation unscathed.

 jp-cc