From altar boy to Mr Italy, Giulio Andreotti has come a long way.

The boy who spent a hard childhood in Rome, brought up by his mother under severe financial constraints, evolved into Italy’s world-famous elder statesman and can name several US Presidents and British Prime Ministers among his personal friends. He has survived many political crises and court cases, and dominated Italian politics since the end of World War II.

Giulio Andreotti was born in Rome on January 14, 1919. His father died when he was quite young, and it was left to his mother to raise Giulio and his two elder siblings. During those hard childhood years, his life was interwoven with the church, and, as an altar boy orchestrating the duties of his colleagues, he practiced the administrative skills that he would display to such advantage in adulthood.

He studied Law, became President of the Catholic Action Students Movement and also worked as a journalist, contributing to an underground Catholic Democrat paper, but it was a chance meeting in the Vatican library that led to his meteoric rise in the field of politics.

He met Alcide de Gasperi, an old Catholic politician, who was working at the library, waiting for the Fascist regime to die, and de Gasperi took the young man under his wing. In time, Andreotti became de Gasperi’s right hand man. He quickly rose to the top of the power echelon in the Christian Democrat party. When de Gasperi became Prime Minister, Andreotti was appointed to the influential post of Undersecretary to the Council of Ministers in 1947. His tact, negotiating skills and problem-solving ability as well as his sound knowledge of parliamentary procedure made him an invaluable asset.

During the years of apprenticeship, so to speak, Andreotti honed his skills of power broking and survival. He was elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1946, and has sat in Parliament uninterruptedly ever since. He was made a Senator for life in 1991.

During his remarkably long political career, he has held practically every Ministerial post, including that of Foreign Minister six times. He shaped Italy’s policies vis-à-vis such important issues as NATO, the European Union and the Arab world.

Nurtured in a system of factional and coalition politics, Andreotti became the quintessential wheeler-dealer, fine-tuning the art of compromise to stay in power. In the 1970s, he led the way to the Historic Compromise, an alliance between the government and the Communists.

He was Prime Minister seven times between 1972 and 1992, and finally bowed out of active politics after allegations of corruption and links to the Mafia surfaced.

These allegations grew in force, culminating in his conviction in November 2002 for ordering the murder of a journalist, Mino Pecorelli, who was to publish a book charging that he had links with the Mafia. He went on appeal, and an Appeals Court overturned the original verdict in 2003. Statutory considerations also saw him being acquitted of the charges of having Mafia connections, but not before witness after witness testified to his ties with the underworld organisation, to which he was known as “Uncle Giulio”.

A staunch catholic throughout his life, Andreotti attends Mass every day, and was a confidante of several Popes.

He is known for his loyalty to his constituents, answering letters and calls from them and also regularly meeting people and distributing food. He also did a lot for Rome, bringing businesses, factories and public works projects to the region. Small wonder then that he can claim the credit of receiving more votes than virtually all other Italian politicians.

His workaholic nature is fuelled by insomnia. Andreotti sleeps for very few hours, and spends the rest of the time working and writing. Living in semi-retirement, he now regularly writes articles on Corriere della Sera and has acted in a TV spot show.

He has been a student of history all his life, and this, he says, has helped him put things in perspective. He has also been guided by a philosophy instilled in him as a child by one of his aunts: “Never overdramatize things; everything can be fixed. Keep a certain detachment from everything; the important things in life are very few”.

As a person, he is famous for wit and irony. Many of his pithy sayings have become legendary in Italy, and he used his talent in this respect to turn aside many an allegation during his career. One example is his response to a question regarding the fact that many of his close associates had tarnished reputations. Asked why he chose to surround himself with people of such poor standing, he is reputed to have replied: “Trees need manure to grow”.

As a politician, Guilio Andreotti has lived a full and colourful life, achieving a great deal for modern Italy and for himself. The only post that has eluded him is the coveted one of President.