By Jane Barrett
TURIN, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi said on Friday that Fiat's honorary chairman, Gianni Agnelli, seemed well after he met privately with the automaker's ailing patriarch, who has not been seen in public for months.
Agnelli, 81, has been battling a prostrate condition, an illness that has forced one of Italy's prominent financiers to cancel all public appearances.
Agnelli "is well, I found him in his usual form," Ciampi said after meeting the powerful businessman in a gallery that houses an Agnelli family art collection.
Agnelli is seen as the family's strongest opponent of selling Fiat's troubled auto business to General Motors Corp. , which already has 20 percent, and unfounded speculation about his death has even boosted Fiat's flagging shares at times on hopes the car sale might be closer.
Agnelli skipped the official inauguration of his art gallery, addressing his guests, who included many top figures in Italian finance, through his grandson and chosen heir John Elkann.
Named a life senator in 1991 for his role in the country's economy, Agnelli has long been influential its corridors of power. Ciampi was Italy's prime minister during many of Agnelli's glory years at Fiat.