Former Italian prime minister Emilio Colombo dead at 93 ROME (Reuters) - Emilio Colombo, 93, who served as prime minister and was the last surviving member of the group that wrote Italy's post-war republican constitution, has died, his office said on Tuesday. Colombo, a life senator who also served as president of the European Parliament in the 1970s, died at his home in Rome on Monday night. A native of the southern region of Basilicata, one of Italy's poorest, Colombo was elected to the constituent assembly that wrote the new constitution after a referendum in 1946 chose to end the monarchy and establish a republic. First elected to parliament in 1948, he was a key leader of the now-defunct Christian Democrats for nearly four decades. He served as prime minister for 18 months from 1970 to 1972 and held various portfolios in his long career, including treasury minister and foreign minister. Reporting by Philip Pullella, Editing by Mark Trevelyan