Respects paid to Blow-Up director

Antonioni's widow, Enrica Fico, was at the ceremony

Cinema fans and family members have been queuing up to say goodbye to Italian film director Michelangelo Antonioni, who died on Monday, aged 94.

The film-maker, whose most famous works include Blow-Up and The Passenger, is lying in state in Rome's City Hall.

Among those paying respects were his widow, Enrica Fico and former La Scala theatre ballerina Carla Fracci.

A funeral is scheduled for Thursday in the northern city of Ferrara, where Antonioni was born in September 1912.

"We have lost a great man, first of all, and a great artist," said Fracci "We will miss him."

Antonioni (centre) released his first film in 1950

Actress Daniela Silvero, who starred in the director's 1982 film Identification of a Woman, brought flowers to lay by his coffin.

"He was a great friend," she said. "For cinema, especially Italian cinema, he represented everything."

Oscars

Antonioni's portrayal of modern angst and alienation won him a cult following among cinema-goers.

After winning favourable reviews at the Cannes Film Festival with 1957's The Cry, he scored his first real international success in 1960 with L'Avventura.

Fans queued to pay their respects

He gained two Oscar nominations for the iconic release, and was awarded an honorary Academy Award for his life's work in 1995.

The Oscar was presented by Hollywood star Jack Nicholson, who played the lead in his 1974 film The Passenger.

"His look was very special, truly unique," his widow told reporters at the ceremony, where a large screen showed black and white footage of Antonioni around his film sets and backstage.

Antonioni's death so shortly after that of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman leaves European cinema without two of its most significant personalities.