Italy issues stamp dedicated to Sassoli.

David Sassoli, the Italian politician and former European Parliament president who died on 11 January aged 65, has been honoured with a new stamp issued by Italy's postal service.

The stamp was presented on Monday by Italian foreign minister and deputy premier Antonio Tajani, who paid tribute to Sassoli as his "friend" and a "decent person".

There were 315,000 stamps issued - part of the "Senso civico" series - featuring a smiling Sassoli accompanied by his name along with '1956-2022' and 'Italia'.

#Filatelia #francobollo dedicato a David Sassoli. All’avvio del suo terzo mandato da eurodeputato, viene eletto nel 2019 Presidente del Parlamento. È stato tra i promotori della Conferenza sul futuro dell’Europa. Visita lo store online https://t.co/jTtRuh3QyZ@MISE_GOV @IPZS pic.twitter.com/OSbU7z1MVx— Poste Italiane (@PosteNews) December 19, 2022

A member of the centre-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, Sassoli was president of the EU Parliament from 2019 until his death in northern Italy earlier this year.

He received a state funeral in Rome, attended by the top leaders in the EU and Italy, including former Italian premier Mario Draghi who remembered Sassoli as "an attentive and authoritative voice" who "defended European values and the rights of the weakest".