with the creation of Eurocommunism and his substantial work towards contact with the moderate (and particularly the Catholic) half of the country. Berlinguer nevertheless had many enemies. Opposition within the PCI claimed that he had turned a workers' party into a sort of bourgeois revisionist club. External opponents noted that the strappo took several years to be completed: this was seen as evidence that there had been no definitive decision on the point. However, the acceptance of NATO is generally seen as evidence of the genuine autonomy of the PCI's position. Despite notably successful communist local governments, Berlinguer's efforts failed to bring the PCI into government. His final platform, the "democratic alternative", was never realised. Within a decade of his death, the Soviet Union, the Christian Democrats, and the PCI all disappeared, transforming Italian politics beyond recognition. Impact on Italian society Italian singer-songwriter Antonello Venditti posthumously dedicated a song, "Dolce Enrico" ("Sweet Enrico"), to Berlinguer. Italian actor and director Roberto Benigni declared publicly his admiration and personal love for Berlinguer. Besides making him the protagonist of the movie Berlinguer ti voglio bene (Berlinguer, I Love You), Benigni appeared with Berlinguer during a public political demonstration of the Italian Communist Party (of which he was a sympathiser). Italian folk music band Modena City Ramblers wrote a song about Berlinguer's funeral, "I funerali di Berlinguer", published on their first full-length album, Riportando tutto a casa. Electoral history Writings Enrico Berlinguer, Antonio Bronda, Stephen Bodington, After Poland, Spokesman, 1982, . References Further reading Wilsford, David, ed. Political leaders of contemporary Western Europe: a biographical dictionary (Greenwood, 1995), pp 31–44. External links Profile at Camera.it (in Italian) 1922 births 1984 deaths Burials at the Cimitero Flaminio Deputies of Legislature IX of Italy Deputies of Legislature V of Italy Deputies of Legislature VI of Italy Deputies of Legislature VII of Italy Deputies of Legislature VIII of Italy Italian Communist Party politicians Italian atheists Italian people of Catalan descent Italian resistance movement members Neurological disease deaths in Veneto People from Sassari Politicians of Sardinia