A small group of family members, colleagues and close friends attended a private funeral on Monday for Giorgio Armani, the legendary Italian fashion designer who died last week at the age of 91.

The service was held at the church of San Martino in Rivalta, a village about 100 km (60 miles) south-east of Milan and close to Piacenza, the city where he was born.

Italian media reports said Armani would later be cremated and his ashes laid to rest in a family chapel in Rivalta that houses the remains of his parents and older brother. There was no official confirmation of those arrangements.

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In a mark of respect, Armani stores closed on Monday afternoon. The city of Milan, Armani's base since his family moved there in the late 1940s, held a day of mourning for one of their favourite sons, as did Piacenza.

"We will say goodbye to him as a family and then move forward as he would have wanted. Everything is ready to remember him with his fashion," his partner Pantaleo Dell'Orco was quoted as saying by Corriere della Sera daily.

Armani died after a five-decade career in which he built a business empire spanning haute couture to home furnishing, with his name becoming synonymous with elegant simplicity.

He had no children but worked with a trusted group of family members and long-term confidants who are expected to carry on running the business over which he exercised tight control.

Right up to his death, announced last Thursday, Armani was working on a retrospective exhibition and a fashion show to celebrate 50 years of being in business, during Milan Fashion Week in late September. His company has to date not announced any changes to the programme.

Over the weekend, thousands came to pay their respects to the man known as "Re Giorgio" (King Giorgio) as his wooden casket, adorned with white roses, was put on display at Armani's headquarters in Milan.

"I feel very saddened, because he was a man of great style who, of course, has left an indelible mark... We are definitely losing a great, truly great talent," Milan resident Alessandra Torchio said on Monday.

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