The home of Nutella bid farewell to Michele Ferrero, who turned a pastry shop into a confectionery empire and became a rare symbol of global success despite Italy’s declining economic fortunes.

Ferrero, Italy’s richest man, died aged 89 at his home in Monaco, after months of illness. He was buried in his hometown of Alba in northern Italy, where he took over his father’s shop in 1949 and dreamt up the chocolate-hazelnut spread, Ferrero Rocher pralines, Kinder eggs and Tic Tac mints.

High-profile mourners including Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, ministers and top industrialists mingled with thousands of workers at the funeral.

“I came here to honour a great Italian, an incredible story of talent, local ties and human values,” Renzi said.

Ferrero is one of the few Italian companies to have maintained its position as a global conglomerate through its home country’s 20-year economic decline. It has remained privately held, shunning repeated partnership and merger propositions from rivals around the world.

Ferrero has also become a model of ‘corporate welfare’ in a country where a cash-strapped State is cutting back on social services. Ferrero helps pay for its employees’ medical fees, hosts nurseries in its factories and organises buses to ferry employees.

Giovanni Ferrero, Michele’s 50-year-old son and chief executive, reiterated that the company was not for sale.

In Alba, more than 10,000 people, including Ferrero retirees and executives such as Fiat Chrysler chief executive Sergio Marchionne, paid their last respects during a 12-hour-long public casket viewing in town.