Flamboyant Renault F1 boss Flavio Briatore married top model Elisabetta Gregoraci in lavish style here Saturday serenaded by British pop group Duran Duran.
F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone himself witnessed the union along with Benetton group chairman Luciano Benetton and right-wing politician Daniela Santanche, while the more than 300 guests also included Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Spain's former prime minister Jose Maria Aznar.
French Cardinal Paul Poupard celebrated what the Italian press has dubbed the "wedding of the year," uniting the 58-year-old playboy and Gregoraci, 28, in the 12th-century Santo Spirito in Sassia near the Vatican.
"I'm as excited as if a Grand Prix race was starting," Briatore was quoted as saying, with press reports noting that his bride had coaxed him towards faith, along with a health scare in 2006, when kidney cancer was averted through an early diagnosis.
Some 500 hours went into creating the gown worn by Gregorachi, a former Miss Calabria, the Italian press reported.
Afterward, Briatore's Spanish protege Fernando Alonso drove the newlyweds to the reception at the Castello di Torcrescenza, a sumptuous castle residence just north of Rome.
Festivities had began Friday with a dinner at the posh Casina Valadier, and were to continue Saturday.
Briatore, one of the richest men in Formula One, was behind the emergence of Michael Schumacher with Benetton in the 1990s and Alonso with Renault.
The unabashed party animal and quintessential Italian playboy has chalked up an impressive array of romantic conquests including Naomi Campbell, Nicole Kidman, Heidi Klum and Vanessa Kelly.
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