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ROME - RETIRED fashion designer Paola Fendi has gone on trial for trying to bribe her way into Rome's Campo Verano cemetery, the final resting place for Italian nobility and cultural icons, media reports said on Tuesday.
Fendi, 76, a doyenne of Italian fashion, is accused of offering a wedding dress to a top cemetery official in exchange for a plot there.
Another 18 defendants are accused in the case, including 11 local politicians and civil servants who reportedly accepted massive bribes from would-be denizens of the exclusive graveyard, the daily Il Messaggero and the ANSA news agency reported.
Fendi and others allegedly used forged documents to win special permission to be buried at Verano, using noble or papal titles such as 'Gentleman-in-Waiting to His Holiness' or 'Knight of the Italian Republic.'
Cinema greats Marcello Mastroianni, Roberto Rossellini and Luchino Visconti are among those buried there, along with American philosopher George Santayana and Italian novelist Alberto Moravia.
Prosecutors are seeking sentences of between one year and 30 months in prison for the defendants on fraud and corruption charges.
If convicted, Fendi faces a jail sentence of up to 16 months, though at her age Italian law would exempt her from spending time behind bars.
The trial began on Monday and was to continue Wednesday and Thursday, ANSA said.
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